The COVID-19 pandemic has created excessive pressure on the country's healthcare system, with many facilities and patients impacted by staff shortages and caregiver burnout. 

The COVID-19&nbsp;pandemic has created excessive pressure on the country&#39;s
 healthcare system, with many facilities and patients impacted by staff
 shortages and caregiver burnout. Add to that the complexity of nurses and
 physicians having to navigate state-by-state licensure requirements, and the
 staffing shortages become even more challenging to stem.



 To satisfy the growing national demand for nurses and aid the nationwide
 staffing shortages, we need to make changes to existing nurse licensure,
 whether it&#39;s more states joining the
 <a href="https://www.nursecompact.com/about.htm" target="_blank"
 >Nurse Licensure Compact</a
 >
 (NLC) or the inception of universal nursing certifications and requirements.
 The over-arching goal should be to ensure improved quality of care and
 alleviate overworked clinicians.



 Due to current legislative policies, nurses and physicians are licensed by
 states and cannot practice across state lines. Moreover, each hospital uses
 different forms and requirements to credential and hire a given nurse,
 restricting qualified local nurses from helping at other regional hospitals in
 urgent situations.



 This partitioned system perpetuates the long-growing shortage&nbsp;of nurses
 in the U.S. and amplifies disparities in care. If providing high-quality care
 to patients is the goal of modern health care, then we cannot allow simple
 obstacles to limit the calling of our health care heroes.



 You can read the complete article in
 <a
 href="https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/566310-physical-boundaries-should-not-compromise-patient-care?rl=1"
 target="_blank"
 >The Hill,</a
 >as reported by John A. Martins, group president of delivery at Cross Country
 Healthcare.

State-based boundaries limit patient care available from nurses and physicians