Nearly 500 nurses gathered at the Bayfront Convention Center today for the 6th annual nursing symposium .

The UPMC sponsored event invited nurses from across Northwest Pennsylvania - not just those at UPMC affiliated medical centers - to discuss the largest issues facing the nursing industry today.

But according to the American Hospital Association, about 100,000 registered nurses left the profession in the past two years. So what is the symposium and UPMC doing to attract and keep more nurses in the profession?

Jim Donnelly, Chief Nursing Officer of UPMC Hamot, says that's one of the goals they're focusing on at today's Nursing Symposium.

"We need more nurses, and our focus today with our symposium is to engage with nursing students from across the region as well as our own nurses and inspire them to continue to serve and find meaning and purpose in their work," said Donnelly.

So what is today's Nursing Symposium doing to attract more nurses to stay in the profession?

"So we had one of our keynote speakers who is actually our chief nursing executive, she provided a very powerful message to nurses that we have currently employed as well as our future nurses," said Jessica Benson a perioperative nurse educator at UPMC Hamot.

"We also have a world renowned speaker with us and she is going to talk to us about Evidence-Based Practice, which is very important to our profession as nurses."

And what keeps nursing students like Aysha Gore looking forward to the future of their nursing profession?

"I always have loved helping people," said Gore. "I'm trying to go ahead and, you know, form a career so that I can make sure that my son is secure at one time when he gets older, like I have a four year old son. So he is the reason why I'm doing this all. He's my pride and joy and my biggest one of my biggest supporters. He told me, he said, Mommy, you got this in and he's the one doing this for. And I love. I love helping people."