Emergency response systems in the Pacific Northwest are facing a great deal of strain due to inadequate staffing levels and rising 911 call volumes.
In response, some cities are turning to nurse navigation programs to address that burden.
Under the program, dispatchers can direct low-level 911 calls to a team of nurses instead of sending an ambulance. Those nurses can give callers medical advice or help them set up an urgent care or telehealth appointment.
Nurses at UnityPoint Health-Des Moines hospitals have announced that they intend to form a union over their concerns about compensation, working conditions and patient care.
Nurses behind the union will hold a rally Tuesday afternoon to garner support for their efforts, and to raise awareness about the conditions at the Des Moines hospitals that have prompted them to seek union representation.
Massachusetts has taken a big step when it comes to addressing the nursing shortage in the state, but some people say it still won’t solve current staffing problems.
On Wednesday, Gov. Maura Healey signed the state’s economic development bill, which included a measure to join the Nurse Licensure Compact. The agreement allows nurses to practice in other NLC-participating states — in person or via telehealth — without having to obtain a new license for that location.
Nurses gave passionate, at times pointed, testimony to lawmakers during a recent committee hearing where Ohio representatives heard more details about a proposed bill on staffing ratios that nurses said could be life-saving.
House Bill 285 would set limits on the maximum number of patients a nurse working in a hospital setting would be responsible for, and establish a $20 million forgivable loan program to incentivize people to enter the profession.
New Jersey will see a 25% shortage in the number of registered nurses to adequately care for its burgeoning older population by 2036, according to an analysis this year by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
In raw numbers, that would be a deficit of 24,450 nurses — ranking New Jersey fourth in the nation in nursing deficit.
It comes at the worst possible time for New Jersey, as an exodus of health care workers and an increasingly older population converge to strain the system.
Silda Melo has been a nurse for a decade. And in that time, the Lynn resident, who practices in Boston, has seen no shortage of challenges and changes in her industry.
Four years after the COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the entire health care sector, one of the most vexing remains a staffing shortage that’s hurt morale and pushed concerns about deteriorating patient care to the front of the queue.