Peter I. Buerhaus, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAANP(h)

Dr. Peter Buerhaus is a nurse and a healthcare economist who is well known for his studies on the nursing and physician workforces in the United States.  He is a Professor of Nursing and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies at the College of Nursing, Montana State University.  Before coming to Montana State University, Dr. Buerhaus was the Valere Potter Distinguised Professor of Nursing and Sr. Associate Dean for Research at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Professor of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University (2000-2015), assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard School of Public Health (1992-2000), and assistant to both the chief executive of the Univeristy of Michigan’s 7 teaching hospitals and to the Vice Provosot for Medical Affairs.  He has published 160 peer-reviewed articles with five publications designated as “Classics” by the Federal Government’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.  Dr. Buerhaus was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 1994 and elected into the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in 2003 (now the National Academy of Medicine).  Dr. Buerhaus has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Maryland and from Loyola University, Chicago. In 2010, Dr. Buerhaus was appointed Chair of the National Health Care Workforce Commission that was created under the Affordable Care Act to advise Congress and the Administration on health workforce policy. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Bozeman Deaconess Health System, and is a member of the National Academies of Sciences National Academy of Medicine Committee on the Future of Nursing, 2020-2030. 

Recent Publications

Yakusheva, O., Rambur, B, Buerhaus, P. (2021). The ethical foundations of value informed nursing practice. Nursing Outlook. Available on-line https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.03.014

Auerbach, D., Levy, D, Maramaldi, P., Dittus, R., Spetz, J., Buerhaus, P, Donelan, K. (2021). Optimal staffing models to care for frail older adults in primary care and geriatrics practices in the US. Health Affairs, 40:9;1368-1376. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.0040

Buerhaus, P. (2021). Current nursing shortages could have long-lasting consequences: Time to change our present course. Nursing Economic$, (September-October 2021). 39(5):247-250.

Buerhaus, P., Staiger, D., Auerbach, D., Yates, M., Donelan, K. 2022. Nurse employment during the first fifteen months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Affairs, 4(1):79-85. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01289

Stellflug, S., Buerhaus, P., Auerbach, D. Characteristics of family nurse practitioners and their preparation for practice in rural vs urban employment settings. (In press 2022). Nursing Outlook https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.12.007