2025 Workforce Impact Report
Our Year in Review
Since 2002, the Oregon Center for Nursing (OCN) has worked tirelessly to advance the nursing profession across the state. As your non-profit nursing workforce center, OCN works toward a future in which our communities have access to the skilled, supported, and diverse nursing workforce they need, and where nursing is recognized and resourced as essential to the health of the state. Together with the nursing community, we made critical progress this year through community education, research, and statewide programming.
A Note From OCN's Leadership
Oregon’s nurses continue to show extraordinary resilience in the face of change. From hospital and birthing center closures to upcoming Medicaid reductions, our healthcare system is under strain. Throughout it all, OCN has remained focused on one goal: strengthening and supporting the state’s nursing workforce.
In 2025, we invested $2.8 million in education grants through the Recruiting and Elevating the Nurse Educator Workforce (RENEW) initiative to public nursing schools to expand faculty capacity and address the state’s growing workforce needs.
We also expanded our research to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of nurses across Oregon. We introduced Oregon’s first Healthcare Workforce Index, a tool that helps policymakers see how every part of the healthcare workforce connects to nursing.
This year also marked another inspiring cycle of our Outstanding Nurse Preceptor Awards, celebrating nurses who dedicate their time and expertise to mentoring the next generation. These preceptors are the bridge between education and practice, helping new nurses build confidence, competence, and connection. In 2025, OCN recognized 20 exceptional preceptors from across Oregon whose leadership strengthens the entire nursing workforce.
Importantly, OCN launched the next phase of our RN Well-Being Project, not only closing our pilot projects and conducting the follow-up to our 2022 Well-Being Survey, but also introducing tools to address manageable stressors, or those mental health risks that are inherent to the healthcare environment, such as vicarious trauma, moral and ethical misalignment, and more.
And each week, our Friday Huddle continues to unite nurses, educators, and leaders from across the state. What began as a simple conversation during the pandemic has grown into a trusted space for sharing insights, discussing challenges, and creating real-time solutions.
As we move into 2026, OCN is growing, too. We’re expanding our reach, strengthening our partnerships, and preparing to launch a refreshed brand that reflects who we’ve become — a statewide organization advancing the future of nursing in Oregon.
OCN is growing to meet the moment: building a stronger, more connected future for Oregon’s nurses.
Jana Bitton, MPA
Executive Director
Oregon Center for Nursing
Pam Fifer, EdD, MSN, RN, CNE
President, Board of Directors
Oregon Center for Nursing
OCN Board of Directors
The Oregon Center for Nursing is guided by a dedicated volunteer Board of Directors. These nursing professionals and leaders represent a diverse range of nursing specialties, practice areas, and geographic areas across Oregon. Learn more about the OCN Board of Directors.
Connecting and Educating the Nursing Community
The Friday Huddle
The weekly Friday Huddle series provided nursing professionals—from nurse managers and bedside nurses to nurse educators and students—with a platform for discussion and peer support, addressing workplace well-being and emerging nursing challenges.
Conversations touched on legislation including the Nurse Practice Act and Safe Staffing Law, closures of birthing centers and rural hospitals, nurse well-being resources, key takeaways from professional conferences, challenges related to Medicaid cuts, and much more.
Oregon’s Outstanding Preceptor Recognition Awards
Since 2020, the Oregon Outstanding Nurse Preceptor Awards has celebrated the vital role of nurse preceptors who guide and mentor new and transitioning nurses. Alongside organizational nominations, the Impact Award invites peers to recognize a nurse who made a personal difference in their career.
In 2025, OCN honored 20 outstanding nurses from across Oregon. The virtual ceremony was filled with joy and gratitude — the chat overflowing with congratulations, emojis, and heartfelt messages of thanks.
Building a Stronger Nursing Workforce for Oregon
The Friday Huddle: Extended Cut
Oregon’s nurses care deeply about their communities — and in 2025, that commitment inspired deeper conversations about health policy. Through Extended Cut sessions of the Friday Huddle, OCN connected nurses with policy experts and leaders shaping healthcare in Oregon.
Guests included Robert Duehmig from the Office of Rural Health, who discussed how the federal budget could affect rural communities, and Senator Jeff Merkley, who addressed upcoming Medicaid changes. Program Director Dawne Schoenthal and Research Director Rick Allgeyer shared results from the RN Well-Being Project, and Rick returned later to unveil Oregon’s first Healthcare Workforce Index.
These conversations helped nurses stay informed, connected, and ready to influence the policies that shape their work and their patients’ lives.
The RENEW Initiative
The Retaining and Elevating the Nurse Education Workforce (RENEW) initiative strengthens Oregon’s nursing education system by improving faculty recruitment, retention, and support. Funded through a $5 million investment from House Bill 3396, it focuses on public nursing programs and community colleges — the foundation of Oregon’s nurse pipeline.
In 2025, OCN awarded $2.8 million in grants to ten public nursing schools. Projects address urgent needs such as faculty workload, simulation training, rural recruitment, and helping clinicians transition into teaching roles.
By 2028, each project will share results, building a statewide library of tested strategies to strengthen Oregon’s nurse educator workforce and create a more resilient education system.
The RN Well-Being (RNWB) Project
Supporting the emotional and mental health of Oregon’s nursing workforce is key to long-term stability in healthcare. The RN Well-Being (RNWB) Project takes a systems-level approach — addressing the workplace conditions and structures that contribute to burnout, emotional strain, and turnover.
Last year, with support from the Oregon Department of Health and Human Services, the RNWB Project awarded $846,000 in grants to organizations statewide for pilot programs focused on nurse well-being. In 2025, we shared the results of these pilots, giving healthcare employers and educators evidence-based strategies they can use to strengthen their own work environments.
We also launched a new RN Well-Being Project microsite — wellness.oregoncenterfornursing.org — a central hub for research, resources, and lessons learned from our statewide pilot projects. The site highlights manageable stressors that employers and leaders can address within their organizations, such as workload, communication, and support systems. It offers practical strategies, case studies, and tools to help healthcare organizations create environments where nurses can thrive.
Garnering Nursing Workforce Insights Through Research
Oregon Healthcare Workforce Index
In 2025, OCN released Oregon’s first Healthcare Workforce Index to help stakeholders understand how nursing fits within the state’s broader healthcare labor market. Adapted from a model developed by the Michigan Health Council, the Index compares workforce stability and demand across 35 healthcare occupations, including nursing.
Each occupation was analyzed using four key indicators — growth, shortage, turnover, and wage — and given both individual and overall rankings. The results reveal where workforce pressures are most acute and how those pressures intersect across professions.
The Index offers leaders a data-driven view of Oregon’s healthcare workforce, supporting smarter policy and investment decisions.
Nurse Well-Being Survey and Portfolio
OCN first launched its Workforce Well-Being Survey in 2022 to better understand the realities of stress and burnout among Oregon’s nurses. Three years later, the 2025 survey provides a valuable comparison — revealing what has changed and what remains consistent across care settings.
In November, OCN shared the findings during a Friday Huddle Extended Cut, where Program Director Dawne Schoenthal and Research Director Rick Allgeyer discussed how well-being varies by practice area, the emotions and physical symptoms nurses report most often, and where they turn for support.
OCN also released case studies of all 18 projects funded by the RN Well-Being Project, offering employers and policymakers real-world examples of how organizations are addressing occupational health and workforce well-being.
Redesigned Research Insights
In 2025, OCN prioritized expanding and modernizing its online research resources to make data and insights more accessible. The redesigned Research section of our website now makes it easier for organizations to request expertise, browse reports, and explore our full archive of original research.
From strategic briefs to podcast conversations, OCN’s work brings Oregon’s nursing workforce into sharper focus. We distill data, elevate lived experience, and clarify what matters most to leaders, funders, educators, and policymakers. Whether visitors are shaping systems or simply staying informed, our new layout makes it easy to find what’s new and what’s next.
Acknowledgments
The Oregon Center for Nursing is proudly supported by the Oregon Nursing Advancement Fund, a legislated program that designates a portion of each Oregon nursing license fee to OCN’s mission. We are grateful to our organization partners, including the Oregon State Board of Nursing (OSBN) and the Oregon Nurses Association, who worked to make this fund a reality and are strong partners year after year. Through these collaborations, we are building a stronger future for nursing in Oregon. To learn more, visit the Oregon Center for Nursing website at www.oregoncenterfornursing.org.
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