Sunday, June 25, 2023

Bill Crawford: Nursing Shortage Part of State's Enduring Healthcare Tragedy

 As many hospitals close wings, downsize, and/or reduce services, Mississippi still faces a serious nursing shortage.

“According to data from the Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA), registered nurse vacancies and turnover rates skyrocketed in the past year to their highest numbers in at least a decade,” reported Mississippi Today.

The MHA explained that more and more nurses have been leaving their jobs due to burnout as well as to the lure of higher pay in other states. While nurse pay in Mississippi averaged $67,930 annually in 2022 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only Arkansas and South Dakota had lower average wages. The wage issue is further compounded by Mississippi hospitals’ inability to pay up due to financial struggles and relatively low insurance reimbursement rates.

Mississippi’s nurse shortage is not unique. States across the nation face similar challenges. National Public Broadcasting reported in May that as many as one-third of nurses nationally are looking for other careers. “Four in five nurses experience high levels of stress at work – an increase of 16 points from 2021,” the report stated. In addition to greater workloads and stress, nurses have become more concerned about workplace violence.

The Mississippi Legislature sought to address the problem during the recent session by providing additional funds for community colleges to expand programs. But several issues make that solution problematic. Nursing schools already face faculty shortages. Further, nursing programs require access to hospitals and nurse mentors for student clinical experiences. Closed hospital wings and senior nursing staff shortages make fewer clinic slots and hours available. Many seasoned nurses have abandoned hospital jobs. 

The Mississippi Hospital Association reported state hospitals short 3,038 registered nurses in 2022 according to Nurse News Today. One in four RN positions were vacant, with numbers much higher in rural areas. 

The Mississippi Today report showed the following shortages and safety concerns:

St. Dominic Hospital, based in Jackson: 204

Anderson Regional Medical Center, based in Meridian: 177

Singing River Health System, based in Pascagoula: 183

Forrest General Hospital, based in Hattiesburg: 200

“With the ever-continuing vacancies at facilities, patients are waiting longer in emergency departments, and obtaining transfers for patients to other facilities often takes longer than preferred,” said Teresa Malone, executive director of the Mississippi Nurses’ Association. “The nursing crisis is adversely impacting all aspects of health care and is therefore adversely impacting patients.”

Hmmm.

Just another scene from Mississippi’s enduring healthcare tragedy. The 2023 Commonwealth Fund health system rankings showed Mississippi at the bottom … again.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, and persist in prayer” – Romans 12:12.

Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.


28 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know three RNs who gave up their hospital jobs to join the ranks of 'assignment nurses' who report to work at various locations WITHIN Mississippi. Call them traveling nurses if you wish, but these three don't leave the state.

So, Mr. Crawford...is the entire problem 'lack of trained nurses' or is the shortage also impacted by wage rates causing 'travelers'?

Anonymous said...

8:34 all of the above

Anonymous said...

More gubment is always the answer for Mr. Crawford.

Anonymous said...

Wonder if requiring the jab had anything to do with the shortage ... lots walked off when hospitals started requiring them to inject experimental garbage into their bodies.

Anonymous said...

So, those with the power to do so think the answer is to beef up facilities to accommodate new classes of new nurses and, once they graduate, they'll accept wages at the lower end of the spectrum.

That'll work for awhile. Until they gain experience, warrant higher wages and we're right back in the same place again. Then we can train some more, right?

Anonymous said...

How many of the state universities provide nursing training? Is that part of the problem?

Four Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollar Administrator.. said...

10:35 - Traveling nurses and 'nursing shortages' are not the problem but are symptoms of the problem.

You people always drag up short when searching for the cause of problems. You're too anxious to stop your search early.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps we don’t need hospitals in every little podunk town. Go to a system of regional hospitals.

If hospitals spent money on nursing salaries rather than buying up clinics, it would help some.

Pay nurses more.

Repeal CON laws.

Sadly, we have way too many people on Medicaid with low reimbursement rates or are receiving free care. Able bodied people should go to work and get their own insurance. Job openings are everywhere.

Anonymous said...

One problem is that so many nurses don't want to be an RN or LPN, they want to be a nurse practitioner and they never really work as an actual nurse. This results in shortages of actual nurses in the labor force and also in a lot of undertrained nurse practitioners who have never taken care of patients much at all. NPs should be required to have a set number of years of actual nursing experience before they can go to NP programs and do all the things NPs can do.

Anonymous said...

If you want to know why nurses are leaving hospitals, head on over to the IRS website, search for "nonprofit" organizations, and see how much these hospital administrators make.

Anonymous said...

At 6:39 - Do you have a clue as to how many NPs there are in the state compared to the number of RNs and LPNs? Obviously you don't.

Anonymous said...

The American Hospital Directory lists 122 hospitals in Mississippi. If this is correct, Tate is absolutely right to not expand Medicaid until a hospital consolidation study is performed and implemented.

Anonymous said...

Mississippi should pass Medicaid Expansion.

Anonymous said...

Nurses are leaving Mississippi for the same reasons every other educated person is leaving Mississippi. More money, more opportunities, less crime, less taxes, less welfare mindsets, better standards of living, better educational opportunities for their children…shall I continue???

Anonymous said...

Creating nurse practitioners is akin to creating the portal in college athletics.

One ruined the profession and the other is ruining the sports.

Next thing you know, we'll have primary physicians doing little more than computer keystrokes and referrals to specialists...WAIT!

Anonymous said...

Attn 8:49 I left the delta 50 tears ago and came to the Jackson area because that was where the jobs were. Now the situation almost demands people leave all of Mississippi to find decent jobs and “a safe place to live”.

Anonymous said...

7:20 AM,
You're telling the truth. There are so many NPs now and the Nursing Board doesn't seem to regulate them very well.
And MDs seem to be little more than data entry clerks in many places. Blame EMR requirements for most of that.

Anonymous said...

Mississippi should pass Medicaid Expansion.

Won't save rural hospitals, won't increase the number nurses in the state, won't increase nurse's pay.

Anonymous said...

Brandon Presley walks on water. An inch deep.

Anonymous said...

When does Robert Kennedy visit the state with his sweat-rag around his neck and his tie snatched loose?

Anonymous said...

I'm very conservative, and I still have the stones to say - Mississippi's state government is deliberately "starving" the rural hospitals and overall healthcare system statewide in order to - you guessed it - eliminate as many poor folks as possible. It's happening on a global basis, and it's happening here in Mississippi as a statewide initiative. It's unspoken, but fully understood.

Also, when the global economic collapse takes place - PERS will be thrown into that perfect storm of reasons there was nothing they could do. But it's understood as well: "We got too many dependent on state money." So PERS will very likely go away.

Darker economic times are ahead for the USA, but especially Mississippi. Prepare accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Wise up 6:46 - PERS is not 'State Money'. It's simply managed by the state.

I suppose you think it's 'federal money' Biden sends to Ukraine every other Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

Pers is 9-11% of a State Employee's salary, and about to be 24% of their salary as matched by their employer - which, Einstein - is the State of Mississippi funded through its various executive agencies from taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

It is federal money going to Ukraine - but Congress is authorizing it not Biden... and it's all being washed clean and sent back to them nicely starched!

Anonymous said...

3:21 and 3:01 - Although the point went right over your pointed heads, the point remains that neither is federal money nor state money, it's taxpayer money, yours and mine.

At 3:21; Please produce evidence that congress has authorized a dime of Biden's decision to send billions to Ukraine.

Anonymous said...

Congressional Approval? Bullshit. Bidens handlers behind the curtain are experts at subverting the constitution...

"Especially since 2021, the United States has been providing
defense items to Ukraine via Presidential Drawdown
Authority (PDA), by which the President can authorize the
immediate transfer of articles and services from U.S.
stocks, up to a funding cap established in law, in response
to an “unforeseen emergency” (22 U.S.C. §2318(a)(1)).
Since August 2021, the Biden Administration has
authorized 40 drawdowns valued at $22.1 billion (Table 1)."

Anonymous said...

As a physician I know our state has severe health issues starting with rampant morbid obesity, high rate of kidney failure and an out of control STD epidemic. No amount of welfare dollars or state programs will fix these. We need education, good jobs and a desire to better ourselves by adhering to standards

Anonymous said...

To the physician: Thank you for the useless wish list. How do you propose we educate those who are morbidly obese or are treated for multiple sexually treated diseases?

If nothing else, physicians are expert at crafting pipe dreams. You might as well say we need to bring back the family unit in America.

Good jobs? You obviously know nothing about industrial development or recruitment of business and industry. For 'good jobs' to pop up out of nowhere, the first thing needed is a trainable workforce with a desire to work. That pipe dream can't be realized by your wishing for it.

I was wrong in thinking a physician who states a goal might accompany that wish with a plan.


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