Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
While Travel Nurse Costs Impact Hospitals, Health Hiring Rises
Experts say the state鈥檚 reliance on travel nurses comes at a cost. The practice is expensive and could both demoralize and lure away permanent full-time workers who traditionally make up the core of hospital care here. (Berman, 9/4)
More about health care personnel 鈥
Memorial Hospital of Carbon County聽lost five labor and delivery nurses to travel jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. For a department made up of just 12 people, the impact was immense. The hospital in Rawlins, Wyoming, turned to contract workers and paid three to four times as much for nurses to fill聽vacancies so the maternity department could operate. (Christ, 9/2)
Healthcare employers鈥痑dded an estimated 48,200 jobs in August as hiring rose from the previous month, according to preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday.鈥(Hudson, 9/2)
UW Health nurses notified hospital officials聽Friday of their intention to strike, a legally required 10-day notice. Barring a discussion between nurses and hospital officials in which an agreement is reached to recognize the nursing聽union, SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin, the strike will be held Sept. 13-16. (VanEgeren, 9/1)
When Dr. Jessi Gold would log off from seeing her patients during the pandemic, she would go straight to bed. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know I was burned out until my therapist told me,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 a burnout expert.鈥 (Sultan, 9/4)
Also 鈥
KHN: Meet Mary Wakefield, The Nurse Administrator Tasked With Revamping The CDC聽
It鈥檚 been a rough couple of years for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Facing a barrage of criticism for repeatedly mishandling its response to the covid-19 pandemic and more recently monkeypox, the agency has acknowledged it failed and needs to change. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has tapped Mary Wakefield 鈥 an Obama administration veteran and nurse 鈥 to helm a major revamp of the sprawling agency and its multibillion-dollar budget. Making the changes will require winning over wary career CDC scientists, combative members of Congress, and a general public that in many cases has stopped looking to the agency for guidance. (Whitehead, 9/6)