Becker’s Healthcare Podcast Building a Stronger Nursing Workforce and Advancing Equity with Dr. Katie Boston-Leary
Mar 17, 2026
Dr. Katie Boston-Leary, Senior VP of Equity and Engagement at the American Nurses Association and 33-year nurse leader, discusses nursing workforce challenges and maldistribution. She explores specialty and rural shortages. She reflects on leadership inequity and building rapport across cultures. She also talks about technology and AI reducing administrative burden and sparking nurse-led innovation.
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Link Equity To Workforce Sustainability
- Nursing workforce strategy must link diversity, equity, and sustainable staffing to remove the long-standing instability in the profession.
- Katie Boston-Leary connects equity work with building a viable workforce so nurses can meet growing population clinical needs without recurrent crises.
Graduation Numbers Mask Maldistribution Crisis
- The U.S. graduates many nurses but faces maldistribution as new grads avoid acute care and rural areas where needs are highest.
- Boston-Leary warns this gap delays care and labels the nurse shortage a public health crisis requiring policy and rural-focused grants.
Specialty Gaps Cause Specific Patient Harm
- Specialty shortages create unique harms beyond general staffing gaps, e.g., lack of SANEs leads assault survivors to forgo critical testing and counseling.
- She highlights forensic and sexual-assault nursing as urgent gaps affecting prosecution and patient healing.