Andrea Dilworth authored the following press release for UMC.
Hospitals across the state are caught up in yet another battle of supply and demand, and this time it’s not machines, gear, or even nurses. Instead, UMMC is one of many working feverishly to recruit and retain qualified respiratory therapists.
Respiratory therapists are trained to provide specialized care for patients who are having difficulty breathing on their own. They evaluate patients through diagnostic lung testing, chest exams and blood specimen analysis to recommend the best treatments to physicians, which include ventilators and other artificial airway devices.
Unfortunately, the pandemic has caused a shortage in respiratory therapists. Brady Holder, interim director of respiratory care, ECMO and associated clinical programs at UMMC, said he has talked with other department heads across the state, all of whom are having difficulty finding staff as the industry contends with “burnout,” the cost of having fewer respiratory therapists on staff to treat the sickest of patients.
“Staff numbers and the inability to hire respiratory therapists is my largest indicator,” explained Holder. “We have seen several staff members retire or retire early. We have also had one or two leave the profession completely.”
UMMC has therefore had to find ways to compete. “We are currently offering increased pay options through relief contract positions, bonus pay for extra shifts, as well as working with outside staffing agencies to find qualified staff,” he explained.
Yet, they’re competing with a formidable opponent: The travel market, which Holder said pays respiratory therapists “anywhere from 2 to 5 times what their standard salary would be depending on the location, type of contract and if they have any specialty experience -- pediatrics, transport, acute care, ECMO.”
Holder calls the travel market the primary “driving force” behind the increase in pay. Though it has been recruiting respiratory therapists for some years now, taking an assignment meant having to move either to the West Coast or the Northeast. But in today’s market, respiratory therapists can take on assignments within hours, even minutes, from home, and UMMC has lost some therapists as a result.
Robert Mashburn, who has worked 17 years at UMMC – 15 as a respiratory therapist and two before that as an emergency room technician -- knows he could earn more money elsewhere but has no intention of leaving. And he has his reasons.
“I feel like I make a difference, I enjoy the work I do,” said Mashburn, who now serves as clinical coordinator of respiratory therapy.
Dr. Driscoll DeVaul, who served as the director of respiratory care, ECMO and associated clinical programs before becoming assistant dean of academic affairs for the School of Health Related Professions in August, said recruitment efforts - many held virtually - have increased despite the pandemic, as UMMC has strengthened contacts with directors of respiratory therapy schools in the state and most recently ventured into Arkansas to recruit.
“The demand for RTs is a boost for the profession but also a concern for hospitals like UMMC,” DeVaul explained. “With COVID-19 being a respiratory disease caused by an airborne virus, respiratory therapists have been relentless in demonstrating their expertise in pulmonary physiology and respiratory diseases, which has ultimately proven very beneficial in caring for COVID-19 patients.
“The impact of respiratory therapists to health care is largely felt in the caring of premature babies with immature lungs, heart attack and stroke patients, and patients living with asthma and other chronic pulmonary conditions.”
DeVaul said hospitals must remain committed in the investment in respiratory therapists as critical members of the health care team because understaffing of the specialized health care practitioners can severely compromise the ability to provide optimal care and the promotion of improved patient outcomes.
Only a handful of community colleges in the state offer the two-year respiratory therapy program, said Holder, and they graduate relatively small classes each year, which makes it all the more challenging when trying to replace those who have left the profession.
“I reached out to a director at one of the local schools we work closely with,” Holder said. “She said that they are beginning to get more applications now. The biggest issue is finding qualified applicants. She said that they may receive 50-60 applicants, but only 25-30 may meet all the requirements to enroll into the program.”
Most programs in the state require an ACT score of 18 or higher, a C or better in prerequisite college courses, and a background check. No state institutions currently offer a bachelor’s degree in the field.
DeVaul, who just transitioned from practitioner to academics this year, said he continues to lend his years of experience and expertise to the respiratory care program, as needed.
“Breathing is fundamental to life, and respiratory therapists live by the motto: ‘Our work is so important, we are wired with the belief that if you are not breathing, nothing else matters; it doesn’t matter what kind of drugs, blood, or other medical interventions are given, we want to give our patients the best chance possible, the best respiratory care possible’,” said DeVaul.
“SHRP looks forward to future collaborations with UMMC’s adult and children’s respiratory departments, as well as other related programs, as we work to recruit and retain a strong clinical workforce.”
7 comments:
One would think that the idiot community college leaders would be aware of this shortage and be way out in front of it. Instead, heard from a friend they're trying to run off most of their staff.
Kids should be able to participate in high school/ career prep programs like respiratory theripast, practical nursing and other in need jobs during their senior year in high school. Kids would be able to finish up their career program a year after high school, have work skills, be able to get a job making decent wages and we wouldnt have these problems. Plus kids wouldnt have crazy amounts of student loans. But instead of coming up with real career plans, we focus on stopping critical race theory, which no one has proven they even teach.
Ahhh, it’s “burnout” and not the requirement they take the clot shot
Totally agree about high school opportunities needing to be the norm again. Problem is, they gotta keep all those fat cat college administrator salaries flush....lots of family members have to be taken care of simply because of who they know.
To your last point: CRT isn't being taught directly....but it's been openly practiced now for probably 40 years in the form of affirmative action. America's "educational" system is bankrupt to the bone. There is zero accountability like before, say 1980. Now, it's pass everyone at all costs - parents don't complain, and funding remains flush. The last two generations of youth don't know who they are or where they came from, while crying - "With the lights out, it's less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us. I feel stupid, and contagious. Here we are now - ENTERTAIN us."
Sorry if off point KF.
Nursing programs DO EXIST in 'some' high school tech buildings. Should be mandated by the legislature. You think the state department of education under Carey Wright emphasizes career tech opportunities? Show us evidence of the last time she's ever mentioned it. Not part of the narrative and our legislature only gives these programs lip service.
Took our community college system forty years to get serious about truck-driver training programs and industrial start up programs for manufacturing. Mississippi was the national model for a statewide 'junior college training network' but we're suckin' hind tit on what we're actually doing now to accommodate business, high school graduates and the workforce. Meanwhile, everybody and his brother, including Dickie Scruggs is running his scam to make money in this arena.
These positions must have an 18 ACT and a C average? Why are the standards so high?
@10:35pm Great question. Answer: Because America did away with vocational pathways in high schools over 30 years ago....remember "shop" class?.
Now every student, regardless of actual lack of ability or a minimal effort given is conditioned to believe they should be, and are capable of going to college. Hence, the need to get those ACT scores up! In reality, it's used to given a performance grade to every school. It's also only to perpetuate those streams of state and federal financial aid that covers billions in tuition for colleges/universities who have hundreds of millions of bloat that is impossible to justify.....and campuses are constantly asking for, and adding more...all in the name of preparing young people for the future or getting more students to come to their school.
The educational industrial complex in Mississippi is merely a large group of individuals with dime-store doctorates (they attended on weekends or online only) that further the obscene ocean of money going into those superfluous administrative positions that have nothing to do with any actual education of children or youth. Basically, they're openly pimping young people for a gravy train of state/federal funding - education and preparation for life hardly factor in the equation.
In China, a student's "aptitude" is determined by 8th grade....and their pathway is adjusted accordingly. American used to do the same, except now "no child is left behind" regardless of effort or ability. School performance grades, and the allocation of state/federal money is really what is behind their "value" of each child to the bloated bureaucracy that is long overdue for an enema.
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