EDITORIAL: As our population ages, more nurses are needed
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Nurses on Uniontown Hospital’s 1 West COVID wing discuss a patient’s care at the work station in this file photo from 2022.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A nurse slips on an isolation robe in Washington Hospital’s critical care unit in this file photo from 2022.
When the contractions start, when the device next to the hospital bed is beeping loudly, or when indigestion might actually be something more serious, you want a nurse to be there.
Problem is, we are dealing with a critical shortage of nurses. The caregivers who guide us through those moments when we are at our most sick and vulnerable have increasingly been retiring or otherwise decamping from the profession. It’s an issue in this region, across Pennsylvania and around the country. Physician assistants are also in increasingly short supply.
Here are some numbers: Vacancy rates stand at 32% in Pennsylvania for certified registered nurse practitioners and support staff, according to a recent industry survey. The vacancy rates are at 30% for registered nurses providing direct care, and 17% for clinical nurse specialists. Overall, Pennsylvania has one of the worst nurse shortages in the country. To give you an idea of where things stand, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported earlier this year that UPMC had more than 3,000 openings for nurses. Though nursing pays relatively well, some nurses reached a breaking point following the extreme stresses of COVID-19 and decided to abandon ship.
Wayne Reich Jr., president of the Pennsylvania Nurses Association, pointed out, “They come out of nursing school, they see what the conditions are like, and they leave the profession.”
And a look at the commonwealth’s demographics does not offer reassurance – we have a large population of older residents, with more and more baby boomers creeping into the years when they will need more and more health care. The National Nursing Workforce Survey found that the median age of registered nurses is 52 – given the demands of the job, many of these nurses will want to retire over the next 15 years or so. It’s estimated that nursing numbers will need to increase by 9% in order to meet our health care needs by 2030, and we’ll also need 33% more nurse practitioners and 34% more physician assistants.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) hopes to relieve the shortage by requesting an infusion of $12 million from the Legislature, a portion of which it would use for financial aid for students interested in pursuing careers in nursing or as physician assistants. The Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania has said the state needs to create a health care workforce council. State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, the Carroll Township Republican, is one of the forces behind a sensible measure that would do away with the requirement that nurse practitioners must be affiliated with a doctor. If it is finally approved – versions of the bill have been in the pipeline for almost a decade – it would allow nurse practitioners to work independently.
Also, more steps need to be taken to bring men into the profession.
Barack Obama once said, “America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system.” We can’t afford to let that heartbeat get fainter.