ANA said it is “ deeply concerned that this severe shortage of nurses , especially in areas experiencing high numbers of COVID-19 cases , will have long-term repercussions for the profession , the entire healthcare delivery system , and ultimately , on the health of the nation .”
Administration acknowledge and take concrete steps to address a more dire shortage : a crisis-level human resource shortage of nurses that puts our ability to care for patients in jeopardy .”
ANA said it is “ deeply concerned that this severe shortage of nurses , especially in areas experiencing high numbers of COVID-19 cases , will have long-term repercussions for the profession , the entire healthcare delivery system , and ultimately , on the health of the nation .” The ANA is asking the administration to address the current fatigue and mental wellbeing of nurses ; develop strategies to retain the current nursing workforce ; adopt new payment methodologies that recognize the value that nurses bring to patient care ; remove barriers to practice faced by nurses ; address the persistent barriers that limit the number of qualified nursing students that can be educated each year ; and build and maintain a resilient workforce to meet current and future healthcare needs .
Also concerned that the federal vaccine mandate could exacerbate a severe worker shortage is the American Hospital Association ( AHA ), which , despite supporting the vaccination mandate , also acknowledged in a statement by CEO Rick Pollack , that as a practical matter , “ this policy may result in exacerbating the severe workforce shortage problems that currently exist .” He called for the federal government to develop “ aggressive and creative ” strategies to address the workforce issue . The American Medical Association ( AMA ) has said that the mandate , alongside increased testing and boosting supplies of monoclonal antibody treatments , can “ help us reach vaccination thresholds necessary to defeat COVID-19 .”
Not every organization is buying into the healthcare workforce shortage as a natural phenomenon , but rather some artificially created separate from the vaccine mandate . In late August , National Nurses United ( NNU ) asserted that the hospital industry is to blame for the crisis it created . The union , representing 175,000 members , stated , “ The U . S . is not experiencing a nursing shortage , only a shortage of nurses willing to risk their licenses or the safety of their patients by working under the unsafe conditions the hospital industry has created . By deliberately refusing to staff our nation ’ s hospital units with enough nurses to safely care for patients , the hospital industry has driven nurses away from direct patient care . When we add the complete failure by the hospital industry to protect the health and safety of nurses and patients during the COVID pandemic , many nurses have made the difficult decision to stop providing hands-on nursing care to protect themselves , their nursing licenses , their families , and their patients . “
NNU continues , “ Except for a handful of states , there are sufficient numbers of registered nurses to meet the needs of the country ’ s patients , according to a 2017 U . S . Department of Health and Human Services report on the supply and demand of the nursing workforce from 2014 to 2030 . Some states will even have surpluses . The report identifies an inequitable distribution of nurses across the country , rather than a nationwide shortage .” To ensure a strong pipeline of new nurses for the sustainability of the profession , NNU says it has “ long advocated for more funding for public nursing schools and better pay for nursing faculty ; one of the main barriers to becoming a nurse is the exorbitant expense and lack of admission slots in nursing education programs .”
NNU adds , “ The hospital industry is crying false tears over the lack of nurses willing to stay in direct care when these untenable working conditions are entirely of their own making . For decades and even before COVID , the hospital industry has driven nurses away from direct nursing care in multiple ways . Hospitals intentionally understaff every unit , every shift with fewer numbers of nurses than is required to safely and optimally care for the numbers of admitted patients and their severity of illness . Hospitals do this to maximize profits and excess revenue . Hospital administrators prefer to staff shifts with a bare-bones number of nurses , which often fails to account for deterioration in patient conditions ; new admissions , transfers , and discharges ; coordination of care with other departments ; the need for nurses to safely take meal and rest breaks ; and other complicating factors . Instead of scheduling greater numbers of nurses to ensure that each RN has a manageable workload and patients are safely and properly cared for , hospitals have historically routinely forced the nurses on duty to sacrifice their own health and safety and make morally distressing choices about how to allocate their available time for nursing care . … It ’ s clear that hospitals have no excuse for a staffing crisis they have created . The solution we can start implementing today is for hospitals to immediately staff up every unit , every shift , and create a safe , sustainable work environment where nurses can feel confident about their ability to provide the best nursing care possible for their patients .”
In its rebuttal to NNU , Federation of American Hospitals ( FAH ) president and CEO Chip Kahn stated , “ National Nurses United must be experiencing a different reality than the rest of us . All over the country stressed frontline caregivers , including nurses , are performing valiantly in the face of an ongoing tragedy . But the truth is these heroes are in short supply . Hospitals are doing everything possible to make sure we are providing the best care for every patient who comes through our doors seeking treatment . Our facilities are meeting the challenge to ensure we are properly staffed and that caregivers have the necessary protective equipment and supplies . But , to deny the headwinds we are facing with staffing reflects a regrettable lack of understanding of the unimaginable stresses the COVID-19 pandemic continues to place on caregivers , hospitals and the patients that depend on us .”
Reacting to the Biden Administration ’ s Sept . 9 vaccination mandate announcement , NNU said it was reviewing all the specifics of the policy , and that