COVID-19 Pandemic Reportedly Exacerbating Nurse Shortages Across US
- November 17, 2020
The Washington Post (11/16, A1, Bernstein) reports that as COVID-19 “stampedes across the country, setting previously unimaginable infection records nearly every day of its third major surge, some hospitals are desperately searching for staffers and paying dearly for it.” The Post adds that “staffing in U.S. hospitals, particularly among nurses, has reflected a patchwork of local shortages in recent years, with a ready reserve of traveling and per-diem personnel deployed in response to sudden demand.” Now, however, “the once-in-a-century pandemic is exposing the liabilities of this just-in-time, cost-conscious approach at some hospitals, chronic staff shortages in others and the toll of the pandemic on an exhausted workforce.”