The nursing shortage is hitting counties across California, but the California Nurses Association says it's not so much a nursing shortage as it is a staffing crisis.

In Stanislaus County, local nurses say the issue isn't about finding more people to join the field; it's about getting experienced nurses back to the bedside.

Doctors Medical Center nurse Kristi Carson said the current staffing crisis is a manufactured one.

"In California alone, there are more than 150,000 licensed nurses with active licenses who choose not to work at the bedside because of the working conditions," Carson said.

The number is actually slightly higher, according to the California Nurses Association, with 180,000 registered nurses not employed as RNs across California in May of last year and over 1.1 million

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