Florida’s rapidly growing and aging population is increasing the need for accessible primary care across the state. The challenge is especially significant in rural communities, urban medically underserved areas and populations that may experience difficulty accessing consistent healthcare services.
Family Nurse Practitioners can help address these gaps by providing primary and preventive care across the lifespan. They assess patients, manage chronic conditions, promote wellness and help individuals receive ongoing care before health concerns become more serious.
Registered nurses who advance their education can prepare to serve in these high-demand advanced practice roles. The online Master of Science in Nursing — Family Nurse Practitioner program at the University of West Florida (UWF) is designed to help working nurses take that next step.
What Is Driving the Nursing Shortage?
The nursing shortage reflects several intersecting forces, none of which is easy to reverse in isolation. Understanding those forces is the first step toward addressing them.
An Aging Population Needs More Care
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that more than 61 million Americans, or 18% of the total population, are now 65 or older — up from 12.4% in 2004. That share continues to grow: The 65-and-older population increased 13% between 2020 and 2024 alone, far outpacing growth in any other age group.
Older patients typically manage multiple chronic conditions simultaneously. The National Center for Biotechnology Information notes that treating comorbidities requires coordinated teams of specialists, increasing the number of clinical interactions per patient and driving demand for nurses at every level of care.
Nurses Themselves Are Aging
The picture from inside the profession is sobering. In the National Council of State Boards of Nursing‘s 2024 workforce study, almost 40% of nurses said they expect to retire or step away from the profession by 2029, and more than 138,000 nurses have already left the workforce since 2022.
Those departures take years of bedside judgment with them just as the patient population gets older and sicker. The NCSBN study identifies stress, burnout, and unsustainable workloads as the leading reasons nurses leave alongside retirement — conditions that must be addressed to slow the attrition.
A Shortage of Nursing Faculty
A Need for Primary Care in Underserved Communities Access to primary care can vary significantly across communities. Patients in rural areas may need to travel long distances to reach a provider, while individuals in urban medically underserved areas may face limited appointment availability, financial barriers or difficulty establishing an ongoing relationship with a healthcare professional.
These access challenges can be particularly consequential for patients who are uninsured or underinsured. Without consistent primary care, individuals may delay preventive screenings, struggle to manage chronic conditions or rely on emergency services for concerns that could have been addressed earlier.
Family Nurse Practitioners can help strengthen the primary care workforce by providing patient-centered care across the lifespan. Their ability to assess patients, develop treatment plans, manage chronic illnesses and promote preventive health makes them an important part of improving access within communities of need.
Florida’s Nursing Shortage: A Closer Look
Florida faces a particularly acute version of the national problem. The state’s population has grown rapidly in recent years, driven largely by retirees and roughly 5.09 million Floridians are now 65 or older, representing 21.8% of residents, one of the highest proportions in the country.
The BLS continues to rank Florida among the states with the highest nurse practitioner employment. Even so, demand is projected to outpace supply through at least the mid-2030s: The Florida Hospital Association projects a statewide shortage of 59,100 nurses by 2035, even after recent gains that cut hospital nursing vacancies from more than 58,000 in 2022 to roughly 16,000 in 2024.
What the Nursing Shortage Costs Patients and Hospitals
Workforce shortages in nursing are not abstract. They translate directly into patient outcomes. Studies link elevated nurse-to-patient ratios to higher rates of medication errors, longer hospital stays, increased patient mortality, and greater nurse burnout, which compounds the shortage itself.
For hospitals, the financial consequences include higher agency staffing costs, reduced capacity and difficulty maintaining accreditation standards. For patients, the shortage can mean delayed care, reduced access to preventive services and gaps in chronic disease management.
UWF Online Nursing Degrees
Learn more abut the University of West Florida’s innovative online MSN FNP program.
Learn More about MSN FNPPathways to Addressing the Nursing Shortage
Solutions exist, but they require coordinated action across educational institutions, healthcare systems, and policymakers. No single intervention, whether expanding enrollment, retaining experienced nurses, or accelerating advanced practice pathways, is sufficient on its own.
Increasing Nursing School Enrollment
Expanding nursing school capacity requires more faculty, clinical sites and funding. The AACN‘s 2024-2025 survey reported a 4.9% increase in BSN enrollment, alongside growth in master’s and DNP programs, indicating that interest in nursing careers is rising.
Yet 80,162 qualified applications were turned away from U.S. nursing schools in 2024 because of insufficient faculty, clinical placement sites and classroom space. Demand is not the limiting factor. Supply of training capacity is.
Upskilling Nurses Into Advanced Roles
Experienced RNs who advance to nurse practitioner or nurse educator roles extend their impact, whether by providing more complex care directly or by training the next generation of nurses. BLS projects 35% employment growth for nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners as a combined category from 2024 to 2034, with approximately 32,700 openings projected each year over the decade.
Nurse practitioners can practice independently in some states, providing primary care services in underserved communities where physician access is limited. Florida’s growing and aging population makes the FNP role particularly consequential for addressing the state’s most pressing healthcare access gaps.
Providing Comprehensive, Patient-Centered Care
Family Nurse Practitioners build ongoing relationships with patients and provide care across different stages of life. Their responsibilities may include conducting health assessments, ordering and interpreting diagnostic tests, developing treatment plans, prescribing medications within applicable regulations and educating patients about preventive health.
Because FNPs care for individuals and families over time, they can also help identify health concerns earlier and support patients as they manage chronic conditions. This continuity is particularly valuable in communities where access to primary care may already be limited. By combining advanced clinical knowledge with a focus on education and prevention, FNPs can help patients become more active participants in their healthcare.
How Advanced Education Fits Into the Solution
Nurses who earn a Master of Science in Nursing can move into family nurse practitioner roles that directly extend healthcare access, or into faculty positions that increase training capacity. Both paths address the shortage from different angles.
UWF’s online MSN — FNP program is designed for working nurses seeking to advance without interrupting their careers. The program prepares graduates for board certification as Family Nurse Practitioners and for leadership roles in clinical and educational settings.
Explore the online MSN — FNP at the University of West Florida and become part of the solution to the nursing shortage.
About UWF’s Online MSN — Family Nurse Practitioner
The University of West Florida’s online Master of Science in Nursing — Family Nurse Practitioner prepares registered nurses for advanced practice in primary care settings. The program is fully online, designed for working nurses and includes clinical practicums that students complete in their home communities.
UWF graduates enter FNP practice with the skills to provide independent primary care across the lifespan, addressing some of Florida’s most pressing healthcare access challenges. Learn more about UWF’s online MSN — Family Nurse Practitioner.