Travel Nursing Impacts Harney District Hospital

U. S. Senator Ron Wyden held a town hall Friday for Harney County residents. Dan Grigg, Chief Executive Officer for Harney District Hospital, stated that the hospital was being impacted by nurses leaving to seek the higher pay of travel nursing. The  travel nursing  trend may require the hospital to raise nurse wages at a time when it is already operating on a tight budget. Wyden responded that the market is responding to a chronic shortage of nursing labor,  and that problem is exacerbated by nurses leaving their profession because of burn-out. He further stated that government policy can help with the front-end solution to the problem: Increase the number of people being trained for nursing careers.

Hopefully Governor Kate Brown's $200 million jobs training plan known as Future Ready  Oregon will help alleviate the nursing shortage. The bill aims to boost jobs training in healthcare, manufacturing, and construction.

Read the Vox article How the Era of Travel Nursing Has Changed Health Care for more information about this issue.