She became a vaccine celebrity by accident. Since being hailed as the first person in the United States to get a COVID-19 vaccine, New York nurse Sandra Lindsay has become a prominent face in the country's biggest-ever vaccination campaign. She has been promoting the shots on panels, in Zoom town halls and at other events.
Iowa anticipates spending $9.2 million to shore up health care staffing at strained hospitals amid the latest COVID-19 surge.
The Des Moines Register reports that 100 out-of-state nurses and respiratory therapists began arriving in Iowa earlier this month. They are being placed in 17 facilities in Davenport, Des Moines, Iowa City, Mason City, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Waterloo, Council Bluffs, Ames and Sioux City.
The New York State Nurses Association is reacting to the CDC's new guidance, reducing the isolation period for healthcare workers. Its statement includes "this guidance is inconsistent with proven science, vague and doesn't provide definitions or explain standards at a time when decision-making for healthcare systems is critical."
Nurses who serve in the Legislature are questioning whether Gov. Jim Justice’s plans to bolster nursing education programs will help with the current, urgent need for medical staffing.
Hospitals leaders have said capacity is reaching urgent levels through a combination of the delta strain of covid-19, seasonal flu and acute health concerns for many patients who put off care earlier. They are worried about whether there is enough staff to treat all those patients, particularly if the situation extends or gets worse.
Across the country, hospitals are buckling under the strain of nursing shortfalls and the spiraling cost of hiring replacements.
For Watsonville Community Hospital on California’s Central Coast, those costs became too much to bear, and contributed to the facility’s bankruptcy this month, according to a person familiar with the situation.