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May-29-2021 00:19printcomments

COVID-19 Challenges Facing the Nursing Workforce in Oregon

The demand for educated nurses will continue to rise.

COVID-19 Oregon

(SALEM, Ore.) - For many aspects of our daily lives, the coronavirus pandemic has been a wake-up call. Nurse regulators had to respond quickly to the challenges that the nursing profession faced.

Some solutions represent a rational and appropriate response, which have also been formulated on sound evidence to what can be referred to as long-overdue change.

Other solutions have functioned as trade-offs or stopgaps between two or more scenarios that have proved to be less ideal.

As COVID-19 continues to ravage the state of Oregon, there has been a shift in the challenges facing the nursing workforce.

The nursing workforce in Oregon has encountered some serious problems, including greatly increased healthcare demands particularly among the aging population due to the prevalence of chronic conditions and the effects of COVID.

As a result, nurses in Oregon have encountered high levels of anxiety, stress, depression, and other forms of mental health conditions since the pandemic began.

Based on a report from the Oregon Center for Nursing (OCN), there has been a sharp increase in mental health issues among the healthcare workforce during the pandemic.

The education pipeline

Even years before the pandemic struck, the education pipeline has always been a source of concern in Oregon for nurse leaders; high workloads and low pay led many educators to leave nursing education, causing a shortage of teaching staff and facilities.

When COVID-19 struck, the healthcare facilities in Oregon began to cancel students’ clinical placements and graduate residency programs, causing a deficit in qualified nurse graduates.

As a large number of nurses with Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (Ph.D.) and Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) retire, the demand for educated nurses will continue to rise.

You can check on Wilkes University nursing program reviews if you need to pursue advanced nursing degrees for positions in family care, academics, and oncology.

Nurses’ stress and burnout

The coronavirus pandemic has strained the healthcare infrastructure across the United States and the globe, overwhelming the local healthcare system as well as compromising the well-being of front-line healthcare workers such as nurses.

After more than one year of battling the coronavirus, many nurses in Oregon are stressed, burned out, and increasingly wanting to quit.

While the development of several effective vaccines has given a huge ray of hope, Oregon has to first deal with the current spike in the number of COVID-19 patients.

As hospitalizations, infections, and deaths continue rising to unprecedented levels, it’s clear that the gravest effects of Oregon’s pandemic on the healthcare system are still ahead.

A recent study established that many healthcare workers were experiencing anxiety, high levels of stress, with some of them exhibiting depressive symptoms.

The study also found that two-thirds of nurses had a significant change in their career due to the pandemic, a reason employers have realized increased turnover rates as healthcare staff look for new positions or consider early retirement.

As the pandemic continues to strain the healthcare system, employers may eventually need to invest in additional supports for nurses experiencing burnout and stress.

Source: Salem-News.com Special Features Dept.

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