A shortage of nursing care is the kind of problem everyone can notice and everyone agrees needs to be addressed.
It’s not, however, the kind of thing where the answer is readily apparent.
See a fire, grab a hose. The solution is literally as simple as water.
But the nursing shortage, while reaching a critical head now during the coronavirus pandemic, is not that easy.
For one thing, it was not caused by the pandemic. For more than 20 years, medicine has been a field that needed more people to step up, and not just in the lucrative fields that everyone associates with their big bills and high insurance deductibles.
While doctors are important, it is the nursing positions that do more of the hands-on patient care. A nursing home is a good measure of that math. It is structured like a pyramid, with a wide base of certified nursing assistants at the bottom, a healthy number of licensed practical nurses above them and several registered nurses supervising everyone.
Despite a growing number of people in the long-term-care age bracket, the number of nurses has been harder to maintain. And that’s a big problem as nursing homes are required to have minimum ratios of nursing hours per patient.
Hospitals, likewise, need enough nursing staff to triage patients, stabilize them, assist in surgery, provide treatment and set them on the road to recovery. So what happens when everyone needs them at the same time? Chaos seems like hyperbole — unless you happen to need a nurse and can’t find one.
”It was a war zone out there,” said state Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R- Westmoreland, noting the pandemic’s effect on both front-line workers like nurses and the hospitals trying to retain them.
But now, $225 million from the American Rescue Plan funding is being directed toward Pennsylvania nursing retention and recruitment, plus debt relief for nursing students that also could make the field more attractive.
Of that, more than $17 million will go to UPMC hospitals, $1.6 million to Excela Health facilities and $3.4 million to Allegheny Health Network locations.
Nurses can receive up to $7,500 in loan forgiveness if they spend three years working in Pennsylvania’s health care facilities — a big boon in a state with high tuition.
Maybe this will help. It definitely doesn’t seem like it can hurt. What is important is recognizing the fire and grabbing whatever hose is at hand to try and put it out, because nurses are necessary and irreplaceable.
— The Tribune-Review (TNS)
