OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma lawmakers – echoing many other states -- held an interim hearing last week to try and get to the root causes of the state’s nursing crisis.
Oklahoma, like many other states, has seen the number of nurses drop to dangerous levels.
State Rep. Marilyn Stark, R-Bethany, urged members of the House Health Committee to try and identify potential solutions for what many are calling a public health-care crisis.
"We obviously have a pipeline problem," Stark said. "We have nurses coming into our health care facilities, but if they leave at the same rate, that's net zero. We need to find ways not only to recruit and train more nurses but to keep them in the field once they enter it."
Stark’s study follows a measure that lawmakers passed this spring, which allocated $55 million of the state’s American Rescue Plan Act funding to establish grant programs to help 21 state colleges, universities and technology centers address the nursing shortage.
That measure would earmark funds across the state, including more than $9 million for Oklahoma City Community College and $110,000 to Cameron University in Lawton.
The measure passed the Senate on a 42-3 vote and was endorsed by the House of Representatives 70-4. On May 27, the bill became law without Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s signature.
“Last year, we held a public meeting to look at the impact of the pandemic on Oklahoma, and one of the things we learned about was the shortage of nurses at all levels, in hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers and other facilities,” said Sen. John Haste, R-Broken Arrow.
Haste, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding, said the grants provide financial assistance to state institutions to expand their nursing programs, “enabling us to better meet this crucial need in our state.”
Stark, a nurse since 1984, said she was approached at the end of the legislative session and tasked with examining the state's nursing shortage. She said the problem has existed for decades but was exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic.
Bobbi Six, a former nurse, told lawmakers she left the profession after working for a hospital. She and Cheryl O'Neill, a long-term care nurse, explained the challenges facing nurses.
Both nurses detailed concerns over being properly trained to care for patient needs, while being asked to work long shifts and take on extra responsibilities in challenging settings
One former nurse said she is more than $40,000 in debt for a degree she no longer uses because she could find better compensation and more personal fulfillment in another field.
Hospitals and other health care providers said they were attempting to incentivize their nursing staffs.
Don Blose, CEO for the Spanish Cove senior center in Yukon, said the state and the nation face major health care problems because populations continue to live longer than previous generations and resources to care for them cannot keep pace. He said he agreed with Stark's comment that the pandemic had exacerbated the nursing shortage.
"For a long time during the pandemic, it felt as if the Rapture had come, and God only took nurses," he said.
In Cleveland County, the Norman Regional Health System is working with local colleges to bridge the gap between students in the classroom and at medical facilities.
That program, the Nurse Partner Program, gives state nursing students hands-on experience in the hospital during their last semester of school as well as compensation for the clinical hours needed to graduate.
Stark said she was pleased so much attention was being focused on the problem.
“Much is already being done, but there is much left to do,” she said. “It is my hope that having many parts of the industry represented in the room will lead to more meetings and active discussions that result in real solutions to an ongoing problem. Nursing, all aspects of it, is a high calling and should be a very respected profession."