PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Plans are moving forward in the legislature to tackle Oregon’s healthcare staffing crisis. House Bill 2697 would require hospitals to make staffing plans to improve frontline working conditions.
But those rallying for change say that’s just the first step.
Hospitals and healthcare unions across the state are teaming up with state lawmakers as Oregon faces a growing healthcare worker shortage – which has been exacerbated by the pandemic and burnout as more leave the industry.
“It’s critical, the workforce is very fatigued, the working conditions are quite poor. And so folks aren’t staying,” said Matt Calzia, a registered nurse and director of Nursing Practice and Professional Development for the Oregon Nurses Association.
He said it’s a problem of recruitment, but even more of a problem of retention.
“Even if hospitals are able to recruit and the education system is able to create a lot of nurses, if you aren’t retaining them, we’re never going to get ahead of the problem and fix the problem,” Calzia said.
Now, HB 2697 would require hospitals to make staffing plans to reduce patient assignments and high workload, while also improving conditions that could then entice more workers to come to the state.
Citing studies through leading medical programs and the National Institutes of Health, Rep. Travis Nelson, one of the co-chief sponsors of the bill says this staffing crisis goes beyond the employees.
“There’s research from Johns Hopkins University that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in this country. There was a recent study put out by the New England Journal of Medicine showing that one out of every four patients in the hospital will experience some type of adverse event and both of those things are related to staffing,” said Rep. Nelson. “We know for sure that short staffing leads to death and unwanted injury in hospitals and I don’t think that should be overlooked.”
This week, the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, came together with many of the healthcare unions like the Oregon Nurses Association to make changes to the bill that work for different types of hospital settings across the state.
This includes adjusting the number of patients assigned to each nurse.
“I think that it’ll improve working conditions, but there’s a lot more that the health systems are going to have to do,” Calzia said. “There’s a lot more collaboration that’s going to have to be done with frontline staff of all disciplines, and those in the leadership positions in the health systems to start to really rebuild the workforce and fix the work environment.”
As other measures also make their way through the session, tackling hospital capacity and healthcare costs, lawmakers and hospital advocates tell KOIN 6 the goal is to not only help current frontline workers and hospitals, but also bring new nurses to the state.
“Nurses are suffering from moral distress and burnout and we’re in this vicious cycle,” Nelson said. “Nurses continue to work, they get burned out, which leads to more short staffing. We’re hoping to interrupt that cycle. We’re also hoping to attract nurses to Oregon, as well.”
The proposed changes to the bill will now head to the House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care on Monday.
Stay with KOIN 6 as this story develops.
