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For critical care nurse Emily Johnson, working long hours during the pandemic has meant delaying plans to get a master’s degree and missing time at home with three children under the age of 3, two of them foster kids. “My kids are growing up without me,” said Johnson, 33, who works in the burn center at University Medical Center in central Las Vegas. Despite plummeting COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Johnson and other UMC nurses say they aren’t getting a reprieve. After eliminating incentive pay for overtime last month, the hospital is now reimposing a requirement that nurses work mandatory overtime. (Hynes, 3/17)

Under pressure from short-staffed hospitals and burned-out nurses, lawmakers in several states recently passed bills designed to expand nursing schools. For more than two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed both the importance of nurses and strain on the workforce. Hospitals, long-term care centers and even K-12 schools have been so short-staffed in recent months that they’ve had to cancel procedures, delay moving patients into inpatient beds or reduce other services. This legislative season, that sense of crisis has powered bipartisan efforts to increase nurse training and licensure. The proposals have split somewhat along party lines, with Republican lawmakers in red states emphasizing reduced education regulations and Democrats in blue states emphasizing funding increases. Still, leaders in both parties agree on the need to get more nurses educated and helping patients. (Quinton, 3/17)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many women have had to put their careers on hold to look after children who are remote learning, to care for elderly or ill loved ones or to relocate to be closer to family. They've left their positions temporarily or permanently as they juggle priorities. Since February 2020, more than 1 million fewer women are in the U.S. workforce, whereas men have regained all of the jobs they lost during the pandemic, according to a National Women's Law Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In healthcare, where the workforce is 75% women, the sector was down 2.8% of women's jobs in November 2021 from January 2020, compared to 0.32% of men's jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet, healthcare, like many other sectors, continues to have a high demand for workers. (Christ, 3/17)

Covid-19 has added to caregiver fatigue according to health experts. Caregiver fatigue occurs when the caregiver of an individual feels physically and emotionally exhausted, often leading to a change in attitude, negative feelings toward the role and the care recipient and sometimes feelings of resentment, according to health experts. "We encourage families to try to plan ahead. It can be difficult to face an older loved one’s changing needs, but if you have plans in place for how your family/network will support the primary caregiver in both big and everyday ways you’ll be ahead of the curve," Seniorly Vice President of Partnerships and gerontologist Marlena Del Hierro said in a statement to Fox News. (McGorry, 3/17)

There’s a mountain of evidence showing the devastating toll of the pandemic on health workers. Now, new research lays bare the brutal impact on their counterparts in public health. To capture the experience of public health officials during the pandemic, researchers scoured data from a national survey of local health department workers and combed through media reports of attacks. They turned up nearly 1,500 different instances of harassment against public health workers between March 2020 and January 2021, and also found at least 222 public health officials left their jobs during that time frame. (Mulundika, 3/17)

On a busy day at her primary care clinic in Morehead, Wendy Fletcher might see a teen with a virus, an infant for immunizations and an older adult with diabetes or high blood pressure. Fletcher, an advanced practice registered nurse, also treats opioid use disorder in an effort to repair the damage addiction has brought to her native Eastern Kentucky. "We do stay pretty busy," said Fletcher, president of the Kentucky Association of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives. Now Fletcher's organization is seeking a change in state law it argues would lift unnecessary restrictions on advanced practice nurses, also known as nurse practitioners, and expand access to care, especially in rural and underserved areas. (Yetter, 3/18)