Latest news with #nursingcrisis
CBS News
29-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital nurses to call for "historic union election"
Nurses at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital will be calling for a union election this afternoon. The union for nurses and healthcare workers in the state says the substantial majority of the more than 1,000 nurses at Magee say they support forming a union in what's being called the largest organizing effort by nurses in recent history in Pennsylvania. Those forming the union would include registered nurses and advanced practice professionals including midwives, nurse practitioners, and others, who say the insurance executives' priorities are getting in the way of the needs of medical providers. The organizing efforts come as Pennsylvania faces the worst nursing crisis in the country and the union says there are nearly 20,000 empty healthcare worker positions, which was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. The union says Magee nurses are lacking the staff and resources to deliver the care they want to provide to their patients and that nurses are leaving their jobs after years of unsustainable working conditions along with a lack of benefits and investments in their industry and say that UPMC, the largest healthcare provider and private employer in the state "has a moral responsibility and the resources to lead in finally solving this crisis." Magee has the largest Level IV neonatal intensive care unit in Pennsylvania and delivers half of all babies born in Allegheny County. The nurses officially filed their request for the election with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this week and are expected to formally call for a union election Thursday afternoon.
Malay Mail
20-05-2025
- Health
- Malay Mail
Why do we keep letting our nurses leave?
MAY 20 — The New Straits Times editorial on May 16 rightly sounded the alarm: Malaysia is facing a full-blown nursing crisis — not just in numbers, but in experience, morale, and the soul of our healthcare system. For decades, we've exported our best nurses to countries that see what we refuse to: their worth. From the UK and Australia to the Gulf and Singapore, Malaysian nurses are snapped up for their skill, discipline, and compassion. And why not? They're trained in a system that still delivers quality — despite being underpaid, understaffed, and undervalued at home. But here's the bitter irony: as global demand for Malaysian nurses grows, we are bleeding them out of our own hospitals. We aren't just short of hands, we are losing institutional memory, clinical judgement, and the quiet leadership that holds our system together. This is a strategic failure. Every departure takes with it years of experience and the kind of wisdom that no syllabus can teach. And yet we've done little to stop the exodus, because deep down, we've treated them as replaceable. Yes, we must train more nurses. But we need to ask: are we training them for service, or for survival? For our wards, or for someone else's? If we do not change the conditions they work in, we are simply preparing them to leave faster. Those who remain are burning out. Twelve-hour shifts. Soaring patient loads. Compulsory overtime. Little support. Even less recognition. And the cost? Not just early retirements, but a growing number of young nurses leaving the profession entirely. The system is exhausting its people, then acting surprised when they walk away. An undated file photograph shows healthcare workers at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama pic We need more than gestures. We need reform. Yes, raise salaries. But don't stop there. Build real clinical ladders, offer housing and transport support, digitise routine work, and — most critically — put nurses at the table when decisions are made. Not as tokens, but as partners in shaping care. And let's stop pretending Nurses Day posters, cupcakes, and recycled slogans are signs of respect. Real appreciation is reflected in policy, pay, protection, and purpose. You can't keep praising their sacrifice while budgeting their well-being to zero. We must also tackle the pipeline. The current output — just a few hundred graduates a year — is a drop in the ocean. The government must urgently encourage more nursing schools to open, especially in the private sector. Provide full scholarships, living allowances, and job guarantees. Not just for those in public colleges, but for any student willing to serve. This is not charity, it's national survival. Yes, hiring foreign nurses may buy us time. But it won't buy us back what we've already lost. If we can't retain our own, the problem isn't availability. It's values. And perhaps that's the most uncomfortable truth. This isn't just a crisis of policy. It's a crisis of priority. Of what we choose to reward, and what we allow to decay. Because if we don't act, decisively and deliberately, we may soon have gleaming hospitals, state-of-the-art equipment, and digital dashboards lighting up empty wards. Beds are easy to build. But hands that treat? That takes a nation that truly cares. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
The Independent
18-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
‘I slept in my car just to attend classes': Inside the financial hardship faced by student nurses at university
Student nurses are being forced to sleep in their cars and go to food banks due to a lack of financial support, the government has been told. Financial hardship is forcing nurses into 'devastating' situations while studying and, as graduates also struggle to get jobs after university, according to the Royal College of Nursing. The nurses' union said the situation was 'disgusting' and has written to health secretary Wes Streeting and education secretary Bridgette Phillipson, calling for better financial support for student nurses. RCN general secretary and chief executive professor Nicola Ranger said:'Your nurse education should be about fulfilling your potential, but instead many of our students are saddled with debt, whilst poor financial support drives them into poverty. To make matters worse, more and more say they are unable to secure a job when they qualify and at a time when there are widespread vacancies. It's disgusting and a tragedy for patients.' 'It was the lowest point in my life' One nurse in the West Midlands, Jess Dodds, 29, revealed she was homeless during her first year of university and had to sleep in her car for a week just to attend classes. She told The Independent: 'It was the lowest point in my life, I was away from home from, my parents, trying to make something of myself, yet I felt that I had nothing and I did not want to worry any of my family members back up north of my situation, I pretended everything was fine. 'I was embarrassed and ashamed that I had nowhere to go and call my own. After university, I would find somewhere cheap to eat or sometimes have nothing at all, then find somewhere to park and sleep for the night, whether that was in the university car park or a nearby industrial estate. She said: 'I would not sleep much because of fear someone would see me or call the police. Before university I would freshen up at a local gym or at the university toilets ready to start my day and repeat for some time until I found permanent accommodation.' Ms Dodds said as a result of her financial position her studies were impacted as if she was not able to connect to Wifi she would have to catch up before class. Reforms to the nursing bursary by the government in 2017 saw the removal of maintenance grants for student nurses to support living costs, worth at least £1,000 a year. The total value of the bursaries, no longer in existence, was up to £16,454 a year. In January 2024 the number of applicants to UK nursing degrees dropped to 31,100, from 45,090 in January 2017. 'If the bursary had not been cut, it would have allowed me to have more money available so I could have rented somewhere quicker rather than having to wait a while to save up the bond and deposit money. I felt let down by the system, especially with the type of profession I am studying for. I can only hope that no other student has to experience homelessness and lack of security,' Ms Dodds added. The situation for some is forcing students to use food banks and lectures having to offer to buy them food, according to the RCN. Annette Davies, a nurse and university lecturer, said: 'I can't believe I'm sending students lists of food banks where they can get food. I shouldn't be doing that, that's not right.' 'I have a colleague who, the other week, bought one of the students sandwiches. She had no food. She's got a 14-year-old son at home. We gave her money out of our pockets. We shouldn't be doing that, but what else were we to do?' The warning comes a year after health secretary Wes Streeting settled a pay dispute with nurses. However, warnings have come that the government could see new strikes over pay this year. According to the RCN, applications to nursing courses in 2021 have 'collapsed' by 35 per cent, while a survey from the union last year revealed seven in ten students were considering quitting due to financial difficulties. Meanwhile the RCN has warned nurses have reported difficulties finding jobs after graduation as the NHS seeks to cut down on its agency staff. A government spokesperson said: 'These reports are shocking and deeply saddening. They are a shameful marker of the broken NHS we inherited and our overworked, undervalued and demoralised workforce. 'We hugely value our student nurses, and we are supporting them with a grant of £5,000 per academic year, on top of maintenance and tuition fee loans. 'Through our Plan for Change, we are rebuilding our NHS for the benefit of patients and staff, and ensuring nursing remains an attractive career choice.'
The National
12-05-2025
- Health
- The National
Nursing targets 'off track' as global shortfall worsens
A global nursing crisis has been highlighted in a detailed report that says a 5.8 million shortfall in frontline professionals could destroy the ability to deliver appropriate care. The second State of the World's Nursing report by the World Health Organisation found 78 per cent of nurses treated fewer than half the global population (49 per cent) with Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean regions most exposed to poor access. While the number of available nurses has increased from 27.9 million in 2018 to 29.8 million in 2023, the world's population has grown alongside a demand for care. Analysts forecast nursing access will continue to deteriorate and increased the predicted shortage by 2030 from 10 million to 11 million from previous estimates. A gender bias was also highlighted, with more than 70 per cent of nurses women, and 19 per cent over the age of 55, placing further focus on the need for better recruitment to replace retiring staff. Speaking at a Dubai nursing summit hosted by the Ministry of Health and Prevention and Emirates Health Services, Dr Hanan Balkhy, the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean director, said the region was braced to take on a quarter of the global shortfall by 2030. 'Progress is off track and, without targeted action, nursing workforce gaps will persist beyond 2030, especially in the most vulnerable regions,' she said. 'We face tough realities: deteriorating working conditions, gaps in education and training, weak regulation, deep inequities and the immigration of nurses. 'To make matters worse, more than 60 per cent of global attacks on health care occur in our region. We urgently need targeted, high-impact and sustainable investments in jobs, education, leadership and service delivery.' The WHO's regional flagship initiative on investing in a resilient health workforce aims to accelerate these efforts. The drive promotes increased investment in the health workforce, with a strong focus on primary health care and essential public health functions. It aims to expand access to care and strengthen emergency response, with midwives and nurses prioritised. And with 56 per cent of nurses in the region below the age of 35, the potential for transformation is immense, Dr Balkhy said. One of those is Jood Hamad, 24, an Emirati paediatric nurse at Al Qassimi Women and Children's Hospital in Sharjah. Her generation is viewed as pivotal in inspiring other young people to consider a career in nursing. "In 2018 I wanted to study something that nobody I knew had entered into, so it was completely new to me,' she said. 'When I'm telling somebody that I'm a nurse, they are surprised, but it is important to show that we, as locals, can also do this work. 'I was still a student during the pandemic so it was difficult, but over time I found the challenge and the experience enjoyable.' Her colleague at the hospital, Bincy Bindu Raj, 33, a nurse from India, is mother to a 10-year-old daughter and has been in the profession since 2014. 'As nurses, we are dedicated and work hard, but are facing some challenges,' she said. 'Without dedication to this job, we cannot possibly do what is required as we must firstly focus on the patient care and their satisfaction. 'But it is a rewarding career – you see people get better, get well and move on with their lives.' Density of nurses in Europe is five times that of Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, a region that includes the Gulf. There has also been a huge increase in the number of nurses choosing to work in high-income countries rather than in the Global South, leaving much of the world's population with limited access to vital nursing services in maternity, childcare and chronic disease management. Dr Sumaya Al Balooshi, director of the nursing department at Emirates Health Services, said significant steps had been taken in the UAE to increase nursing recruitment and retention of staff. 'Worldwide we need more investment in jobs, education and leadership in nursing,' she said. 'In the UAE, we do not face these shortages because we work intensively to strengthen our national workforce and our graduate rates are increasing year by year.' A national strategy launched in 2020 to increase nursing recruitment aimed to safeguard UAE hospitals against recruitment challenges. Dr Al Balooshi said nurses are the backbone of the UAE's health system, making up more than 50 per cent of the care workforce. There was particular demand for nurses in critical care and mental health, as well as more male nurses, she added. 'We are proud that females are the dominant force, yet we are calling for gender equity, as both are required for the profession,' she said. 'Strategies must be invested towards attracting more male nurses and that's what we are doing. It can be very difficult to convince people to join a health profession in general, not only nursing, but once they join us, they love it.'
