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.
The CDC reported 84 more measles cases, boosting the national total to 884, keeping the nation on pace to experience its worst year since the nation eliminated the disease in 2000. So far, 30 jurisdictions have reported cases, up 5 from the previous week. One more outbreak was reported, bringing that total to 11, the largest one centered in West Texas. The CDC said 820 (83%) of the cases so far are part of outbreaks.
A Maryland man who took Ozempic and then became legally blind is suing the drug's manufacturer, arguing it had an obligation to warn patients that loss of sight could be a possible side effect. Todd Engel, 62, was prescribed Ozempic in 2023 to manage his Type 2 diabetes. The lawsuit said about four months later, Engel was diagnosed with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, a condition in which a loss of blood flow to the optic nerve causes sudden and irreversible vision loss.
At HHS, 10,000 jobs are gone. Billions of dollars in research sent to scientists and universities was shut off. Public meetings to discuss flu shots and other vaccines have been canceled. Fluoride in drinking water may be the next to go, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy has done a blitz of his "Make America Healthy Again" campaign at day cares, schools and health centers around the country where he has promised to work with Trump's other agency leaders to prohibit soda from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, limit dyes in the food supply and call for fluoride to be removed from drinking water.