>> More than three years since
the start of the pandemic, there
are still long waiting times at
both hospitals and for in-home
care.
Stephanie sy explores how the
medical staffing shortage is
affecting patients and why
nurses are leaving hospitals for
other jobs.
>> Brandon, a first grader at an
elementary school outside of
Phoenix, Arizona, has been
through a lot.
Even attending school was a
victory.
His clap suggests he's having a
good day.
>> Brennan is six, almost seven,
he was born with half a heart.
He's got a lot of other medical
complexities, as well.
>> His mom says he's had 21
surgeries and has been in and
out of the hospital since he was
born.
Since the covid pandemic, his
care has suffered.
She recalls her recent visit to
a local children's hospital.
>> That was a respiratory issue.
We were in the er for 24 hours
before they could find a room
for him.
They did not have enough beds or
nurses.
>> When you did get care, did
you feel rushed?
>> You can tell they were
stressed them selves, which I
don't blame them.
He was put in an icu setting,
they had more patients than they
should have.
>> The national learning
shortage of back decades.
The covid-19 pandemic pushed it
to crisis levels.
In the next two years, there
will be a shortage of up to
450,000 bedside nurses in the
U.S.
In countries around the world,
medical workers are pleading for
more support.
Earlier this year, thousands of
nurses in New York went on
strike to protest their
caseloads.
In the U.K., nurses and
ambulance staff staged the
largest protest in national
health services history last
month.
Recently in Spain, hundreds of
thousands of public health
workers protested budget cuts.
No organized protest, but an
emergency department packed with
patients at valley wise health.
A public hospital in Arizona's
largest county.
Like many hospitals, they are
having a hard time keeping and
attracting nurses and other
medical staff.
>> We strive really hard to keep
the beds open.
>> The chief nursing officer has
been at valley wise for over 18
years.
Exactly how severe is the
shortage?
>> About 440 positions we could
fail.
>> 440 positions unfilled.
>> We're utilizing contract
labor to cover a lot of those
positions.
We might stay a few rotations
and moved to the next state or
job.
For us it puts a lot of pressure
on us to have stability
foundation for the care worker
providing.
>> They are so
shortstaffed, they have close
behavioral health units,
patients are on a waiting list
for care.
Last year, Arizona ranked among
the top five states with the
most critical staffing
shortages.
Many workers are leaving their
permanent hospital jobs in
search of less stressful work.
The pandemic was brutal on
frontline medical workers.
>> The patients were very sick
and a lot of physical, mental,
and emotional stress in the
hospital for the patients and
staff caring for them.
>> Many quit, but a single
mother stayed.
>> You are not getting as much
break and having as much time to
spend with the patients.
Really being rushed to get
things done and meet the same
obligations you need to meet to
get the job done.
>> She was one of more than a
dozen nurses who attended a
recruiting event for a private
nursing service.
>> So we can fill the gap so
people get the care they need.
>> Jasmine is cofounder of navi
nurses, providing home nursing
care on demand.
>> Hoping with our new model of
care, we cannot only help retain
the nursing workforce, but we
can provide better health
outcomes.
>> She was a practicing nurse
until about a year and a half
ago.
>> I was just tired, exhausted,
definitely burned out.
My heart hurt from everything I
had seen and worked through.
>> She says she saw firsthand
how high nurse to patient ratios
could affect patients.
>> There was one night at work I
question whether or not nursing
was for me.
It was because by 11:00 P.M., I
had not been in to see three of
my five patients.
Two of my patients I had to send
off to the icu, one almost died.
It makes me feel defeated.
>> That is because there should
have been enough nurses for you
to do two or three, not five >>?
Right?
>> Not at that level of care
that these people require.
It is not safe.
It was not safe that night.
>> The shortage also extends to
home health care.
Paula suffers from multiple
sclerosis and has needed a home
nurse for several months to
dress a wound on her lower back
she cannot reach.
But finding reliable home nurses
was difficult.
>> People should be able to get
the treatment and care they
need.
The nurse that comes four times
a week is a bright spot in her
day.
Attentive, thorough, and
experienced.
But the service is not currently
covered by insurance.
>> I have to pay for concierge
nursing, which I did not know
was a thing before.
I went through my savings.
>> While she burns through her
savings,lll Lori is burning
through vacation
timellllll,lllll caring for her
son.
Lllllllll the shortage of home
health care nurses means she's
having to pullllll double duty.
>>Llllllllllll we are taking so
many days off, just because we
have no helplllll area I was
worried about losing my job.
>>Lllll she still depends on
therapists and other providers.
It takes a caring teamlllllll to
give brandon what he needs.
Llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
lllllllll --
it takes a caring team to give
Brandon what he needs.
But the team is strong.
He recently got pneumonia and
Lori decided not to go to the
hospital.
>> We made the decision as a
family to battle this year.
>> Caring for him at home seemed
safer than going to the
understaffed emergency
department.
Has it affected his health, his
nursing care?
>> Had we had consistent nursing
home and in hospital settings,
maybe those illnesses where they
come on and we had to take him
to the hospital, may be the
nurse would have been able to
catch it ahead of time and said
let's get him to the doctor and
on antibiotics, and may have
prevented those er visits.
>> His next medical emergency is
never far from Lori's mind.
For the pbs newshour, Stephanie
sy.