For three consecutive sessions, efforts to join a licensure compact for nurses have stalled. The holdup may lie in a standoff between unions and industry.
As of Jan. 1, 2024, there were more than 1,000 open registered nursing positions in Nevada hospitals. Those hospitals would need to hire thousands of nurses to reach the national average of nurse-to-patient ratios, and the problem will only get worse as the existing nursing workforce begins to age out and retire.
Despite that, state lawmakers this session again failed to move forward on a bill that proponents say could help address the problem by attracting more nurses — joining an interstate compact to allow nurses to practice across state lines with a single license.
SB34, brought on behalf of the state’s Patient Protection Commission, would have enacted the Nurse Licensure Compact along with a number of other licensing agreements for various professions, including physician assistants, audiology and speech language pathologists and physical therapists. For nurses, it proposed allowing Nevada to join an agreement giving nurses the ability to hold a license recognized by any of the 41 states and two territories within the compact — but the bill died without a hearing.
SSM Health is offering Student Nursing Externships and Graduate Nurse Residency Programs at its Good Samaritan Hospital in Mt. Vernon and St. Mary's Hospital in Centralia.
The Student Nurse Externship Program provides hands-on clinical training for student nurses, allowing them to earn an hourly wage while gaining practical experience. The Graduate Nurse Residency program is a 12-month educational pathway that helps new nurse graduates develop skills and confidence, offering a sign-on bonus, competitive wages, and a benefits package.
Nurses at University Medical Center in New Orleans are gearing up for their third strike on May 1 as contract talks with LCMC Health remain unresolved, NOLA.com reported.
UMC nurses, backed by National Nurses United, already hit the picket lines twice, once in October last year and again in February this year, over staffing, pay, and safety issues. UMC CEO John Nickens says the strike won’t disrupt operations, with plans to bring in contract nurses from other hospitals to cover the 24-hour period.
The AMA and the Mississippi State Medical Association were successful in their efforts to prevent scope of practice expansions that would have harmed Mississippi patients.
Mississippi House Bill 849 died in committee, while House Bill 1437, a committee substitute, was tabled and didn’t progress to a vote before the state’s legislative session ended on April 6.
A new round of workplace violence in hospitals and clinics is lending urgency to efforts to create a first-ever federal standard for protecting nurses, social workers and others in the medical system. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) this month introduced legislation that would require healthcare employers to write and implement a workplace violence prevention plan.
Deputies fatally shot a man inside a North Carolina hospital's emergency room Tuesday after authorities said he pointed a gun at them. Law enforcement officers arrived at Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in Elizabeth City at 1:18 a.m. in response to a call about a man who had entered the hospital's emergency room with a handgun, according to the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office. The man had pointed his gun at several staff members, and a security guard tried to restrain him before law enforcement arrived, according to authorities. Authorities found the suspect in the emergency triage room and three of the deputies fired at him after he pointed his weapon at them, officials said. The man received medical treatment but was later pronounced dead at the scene.