By JAKE THOMAS/The Lund Report
After years of pandemic-induced health care worker shortages, Oregon is adding more licensed nurses than ever and is on track for more. But hospitals and other employers will continue to see shortages even so.
That’s the takeaway from research presented to Oregon lawmakers last week by Jana Bitton, executive director Oregon Center for Nursing. In recent years, lawmakers have approved incentives and other sweeteners intended to boost the ranks of the state’s nurses after many fled from pandemic stresses.
But as lawmakers prepare for the upcoming legislative session that begins in January, Bitton said that addressing nursing shortages means not just training new ones but tackling the underlying factors driving the exodus from the profession.
“If we continue to treat this as a nursing shortage, and we focus solely on producing more nurses, it’s as if we’re pouring water into a leaky bucket,” she told the House Committee On Behavioral Health and Health Care.
With approximately 73,000 licensed registered nurses — of whom about 54,000 are actively practicing — Oregon is home to the highest number of nurses ever, Bitton told lawmakers.
However, she said that hospitals and other employers still complain of shortages. Reports from the Oregon Employment Department have consistently listed registered nurse as a difficult to fill position in recent years.
Bitton said that too many nurses are leaving the profession and cited a figure that 30% of hospital nurses leave within their first year of employment, Bitton said. Two-thirds of those that leave are new graduates, she said.
Nurses are leaving direct care jobs for nurse coaching, clinics of jobs with staffing agencies that provide more flexibility and pay, she said.
Rep. Christine Goodwin, R-Canyonville, and committee vice chair, asked why nurses are leaving when Oregon is among the highest-earning states.
“There needs to be a culture change within healthcare, so that people who work at healthcare are treated as well as the patients who are getting their healthcare,” Bitton responded.
Keeping nurses on the job, Bitton said, means addressing “the physical, mental and emotional occupational risks that nurses and healthcare professionals face.”
It’s crucial that nurses work directly with patients, she said. But these workers are more likely to be exposed to workplace violence, trauma and moral injury. Bitton added “that the tolerance that people have for that is razor thin.”
Oregon lawmakers passed a bill last year that set minimum hospital staffing levels. The Oregon Nurses Association and hospital management have continued to fight over its requirements as it went into effect this year.
Bitton told The Lund Report after the hearing that it is too soon to know how the staffing law will affect things.
Improving working conditions may be beyond the reach of lawmakers, Bitton told the committee. She pointed to Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls as a success story, using peer support and other programs to reduce turnover.
Nurses from out of state
The Oregon State Nursing Board had struggled with processing a surge in applications from out of state nurses. New executive director Rachel Prusak recently told the Legislature the problems are being addressed.
Despite licensing delays, Oregon’s 25 nurse education programs have produced a roughly consistent number of graduates for more than a decade, according to Bitton’s research. Nurses coming from out of state are driving the recent increase in licensed nurses. , her research found.
Republican lawmakers have unsuccessfully pushed for legislation making it easier for nurses and other out-of-state health care workers to obtain licenses. They’ve argued that Oregon’s licensing rules have been a barrier to attracting nurses from out of state.
Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, who led that effort, questioned Bitton on whether nurses from out of state are actually practicing in Oregon.
Bitton said that 60% of out-of-state nurses approved to practice in Oregon live elsewhere. She said those might include traveling nurses working for a staffing agency or those doing telehealth services.
- You can reach Jake Thomas at jake@thelundreport.org
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