Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Areas face shortage of health care workers

Argen Duncan El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

Socorro County health care facilities are struggling to keep up with needs as the area, and the nation, see a shortage of trained medical personnel.

Nurses, nursing assistants, doctors, pharmacists and therapists are hard to find, and the ones who are employed are working overtime to fill in the gaps, several county healthcare facility leaders said. The shortage is a particular problem in rural areas.

"It's one of the biggest challenges we face in managing rural health facilities, is shortage of adequately trained workforce," said Socorro General Hospital Administrator Bo Beames.

Beames also said making sure enough people were in the pipeline to enter the field was critical to hospital success.

Every Socorro health clinic has lost a doctor or nurse practitioner in the past year. With fewer local doctors and high occurrence of respiratory diseases such as the flu, Socorro General has seen more people in the emergency room.

Inpatient numbers have risen as well this year, but Beames said the current staff was able to handle it. The hospital is working to bring in more staff and using temporary staff members. Beames said the emergency room is and will continue to be adequately staffed and open 24 hours a day.

With temporary medical staff, Beames said, the hospital sees a loss of productivity and efficiency, as new staff members have to become familiar with procedures, other personnel and the community.

"The quality of the care is maintained, but it does have a financial impact on us, too," he said.

The expense of inefficiency is hard to quantify, Beames said, but estimates indicate temporary staff from agencies cost 25 percent to 40 percent more than permanent employees.

Good Samaritan Village Administrator Craig Thomes said his facility has two out of eight full-time nursing positions open. Nursing Coordinator Lynn Major said they have been advertising the position for months.

"I mean, you take whatever you can get, it's just such a desperate thing," she said.

Thomes said the retirement center copes with the nurse shortage by calling agencies and having in-house staff work more hours.

To attract more nurses, Thomes and Major plan to increase the wages to better compete with the market and offer incentives such as sign-on bonuses.

With certified nursing assistants, Major said, attendance becomes a problem because people don't show up to work, and she has to take corrective action and lose them. The retirement center is conducting a class for nursing assistant certification in attempt to lessen the shortage.

Major said the lack of doctors is almost critical. Thomes said the center has only two attending doctors, one of whom sees two patients.

To combat a shortage of therapists, Thomes is trying to find contract workers.

Major worries about medical staff burning out.

"All health care workers are working extra to cover from top to bottom," she said.

Magdalena Medical Center nurse practitioner Margreet Jenness decreased her employment from full time to one day a week after burning out due to having little time off.

"It's really hard to find people to fill in, cover," she said.

Jenness had little trouble finding medical assistants, who are trained at the clinic, but keeping them presented a problem.

At the Alamo Health Center, Health Services Director Pat Renfro spoke of problems replacing employees who leave.

The center needs one more nurse, and Renfro would like another provider to serve as backup. The current clinic nurse and the school nurse help cover for the shortage in their area, and qualified personnel fill in as needed.

"It's just kind of like everybody pitches in and does what we have to do to get it covered," she said.

Renfro's clinic tries to offer housing, when it's available, to attract people. They are looking into getting more housing and considering a sign-on bonus. She said salaries are competitive with the rest of the area, but the remote location causes difficulties.

In the nursing shortage, Thomes said, the biggest problem comes from lack of space and faculty to train nurses.

"There's a lot of interest," he said. "We just don't have the space, or the staff to teach them."

Practicing nurses tend to make more money than nursing instructors, Thomes said, and cited a report from the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence. Major said only so many nursing students can participate in one training clinical because of the hands-on experience.

Thomes said experts are expecting an influx of baby boomers needing more health care at the same time many nurses are reaching retirement age and possibly needing more care themselves. According to the report, in 2007, 47 percent of registered nurses and licensed practical nurses were over age 50.

Opinions about the future of the shortages vary.

aduncan@dchieftain.com

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