Burnt-out nurses push back as staff shortages strain hospitals

Bloomberg: Fallout from the nursing shortage that’s plaguing US hospitals got so bad that 16% of the nurses at one western Pennsylvania facility left last year, and 220 of those remaining staged a five-day walkout that halted elective surgery.

Sandra Harrison, an operating room nurse who’s spent her 39-year career at ACMH Hospital, teared up as she recounted working without even a lunch break and years of missed family and events. Her colleague, Stephanie Barrett, is exhausted from doing two, three and sometimes four jobs at a time. “I think pretty much almost everybody has considered, if not leaving health care altogether, taking a different path in nursing,” Barrett said. “I don’t know anybody who hasn’t.”

The nurses said during the March walkout they’re tired of caring for too many patients in 160 beds with too few people. About 5,000 nurses in Palo Alto, California won a new contract after going on strike last month, citing similar complaints.

The rebellions reflect the exhaustion and frustration that’s led to a national wave of nurses quitting even as the need has surged. It predates the pandemic, and it’s not likely to get better by itself: The US forecasts an annual average of 194,500 openings for registered nurses through 2030.

Hospitals and nurses agree there’s a shortage of bedside nurses, and that it’s bad for the patients. Sometimes they die as a result. What the two sides don’t agree on is the solution.

Nursing groups say conditions worsened by the pandemic existed for years, and the cure is to set minimum staff levels. Hospitals say mandates can magnify shortages and deny them control of their largest expense as they fight for their own survival. The idea nevertheless is gaining traction.

“It is important if we want to reduce fatalities, if we want to eliminate harm, the kinds of accidents that can happen in hospitals,” said Illinois Rep Jan Schakowsky, who’s pushing a national bill to set minimums. “We know that patients do better. Mortality is significantly decreased.”

The American Hospital Association’s nursing affiliate has called mandates “a static and ineffective tool that cannot guarantee a safe health care environment or quality level,” and said they don’t account for variables such as how sick patients are.