On Feb. 24, Hospital Council participated in a meeting of north state CNOs to discuss the need for nurse educators and the bottleneck that presents for hiring nurses. Meghan Hardin was introduced as new RVP for Redwood Coast and North Bay counties. Hospital Council is working with the leaders of a number of Northern California community college nursing programs to find more nurse educators. New educators need to be found urgently to maintain and grow nursing programs. A meeting is planned with nurse leaders to request their help in identifying and reaching out to nurses who might be interested in becoming educators.
The discussion also centered around staff burnout, getting staff to vaccinate, and the need to get kids back in school to relieve hospital staff of the burden of home schooling. In addition, providing behavioral health care continues to be an issue for hospitals, as there simply aren’t services, especially for pediatrics.