Page 38 - BusinessWest July 11, 2022

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marily new graduates.”
Contending with this gap is just one of the challenges facing
hospitals, said those we spoke with, adding that COVID pushed more nurses into retirement and other professions, while it inspired others to join the ranks of travel nurses, and, in doing so, earn much more than they were making.
SPIROS HATIRAS
“From day one, I’ve implemented, one of, if not the most generous education benefits in the valley, to help people go back to school and advance their degrees.”
“We had a large group of nurses that jumped on the travel nurse wave,” said Chevalier, adding that for many in the profession, the chance to earn the wages being offered by travel-nurse agencies was an opportunity they could not pass on.
Hatiras agreed.
“Some people don’t mind traveling and bouncing around from facility to facility and seeing the country,” he noted. “Because of the shortage, the amount of money these agencies were offering nurses to do that was incredibly high, so more nurses left regular full-time jobs to do that. It’s a supply-and-demand issue.”
All three hospitals we spoke with have been working hard to increase the number of staff available on their floors, many of which are again operating at or near full capacity as COVID cases wane.
One way that facilities are combating the issue of staffing is moving staff to areas where the help is needed most and make greater use of certified nursing assistants (CNAs).
“Before, we only had a few (CNAs) on the floor,” said Hatiras. “There were only two nurses and four CNAs on the floor. Now, we’ve teamed up every nurse with a CNA and they work as a team. It’s a one-to-one ratio, and it has helped out a lot,” said Hatiras.
CNAs are able to assist nurses by fulfilling tasks that don’t require a nursing license, such as gathering supplies and medica- tions, documenting important information, assisting in proce- dures, and transporting patients.
JOANNE MILLER
“We’re investing in and learning more about the antidote to fatigue and burnout — that is the ability for our nurses to become resilient. In order to identify and address stress, we’re creating an environment where
we can openly share and discuss these feelings.”
Each facility has its own kind of float pool to help nurses in other areas of the hospital. Nurses are able to volunteer to be moved to other areas that need more assistance, said Hatiras, stressing the importance of volunteering; moving nurses from a unit they enjoy can cause “a lot of dissatisfaction.”
Hospitals are also taking steps to improve the pipeline of nurses from area colleges through various programs designed to only pro- vide experience but introduce them to the institutions in the hope that they will stay with a hospital after they graduate from college.
Baystate and Mercy have partnerships with colleges in the region whereby nurses are able to join an internship program, known as clinicals, and can have a paid position with the facility.
“It’s a great opportunity to be exposed to nursing from an ancil- lary level with some infusion of higher level of learning from a reg- istered nurse’s perspective,” said Chevalier. “It’s a great way for us
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