BARRY SIMMS JOINS US WITH THE UPDA.TE BARRY: THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT TELLS US THE BOARD OF NURSING IS PROCESSING 150 TO 250 PAPER APPLICATIONS DAILY. THEY ARE STILL WORKING TO TRY TO GET THE ONLINE ...

Staffing shortages at hospitals across the U.S. are worsened by state boards taking months to process nursing licenses. It's resulted in a huge backlog in nurses waiting for jobs during the pandemic.

At first, Reeny Pereira didn't mind the wait. The Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing told Pereira it would take about 12 weeks for her to get licensed to work in the state. Pereira had been working ...

Almost 1 in 10 nurses who were issued new licenses last year waited six months or longer, according to an analysis of licensing records from 32 states. More than a third of these 226,000 registered ...