OHIO, USA — A bill introduced Wednesday aims to help retain nurses in the state of Ohio and provide an avenue to cover the cost of education for people looking to enter the field.
State Representatives Haraz Ghanbari and Elgin Rogers Jr. introduced the bill surrounded by nurses of the Ohio Nurses Association.
Short staffing is an issue affecting hospitals, nursing homes and home health care agencies nationwide.
A study in early 2023 by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing found around 100,000 nurses nationwide have left the profession since the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 600,000 are expected to leave or retire by the end of the decade. That shortage leaves the ones still working in nursing to pick up the slack and increase their patient numbers.
"I want to make sure that not only are we able to recruit qualified nurses, that we are able to train those nurses and sustain those nurses,” said Rep. Ghanbari.
"What this legislation does for us today, it ensures we have nurses coming in the rank who are professionally trained and have the resources to come in and do their jobs," said Rep. Rogers.
The bill would set safe staffing standards at every hospital in the state, including minimums and temporary deviations.
"Having those legally enforced standards will allow more nurses to feel comfortable to come back to the bedside. They're not overburdened. They're not stressed. They're not crying leaving their shift or before coming in,” said Catharyne Henderson, a registered nurse for the James Cancer Hospital.
Jacinta Tucker, a registered nurse in Tuscawara County, has been working for 40 years. To her, nursing is about patient contact and compassion just as much as it is the medicine.
"We need nurses. We need people that know what bedside nursing is. It's not just because we're an RN, we go in and pass medicine. It has nothing to do with that,” Tucker said.
In order to bring more nurses into the profession, the bill would set aside $20 million for a loan-to-grant program. Students would take out the loan to cover the cost of education, but it would turn into a grant if they agree to practice nursing in Ohio for five years after graduation.
There are some other provisions in the bill, including the creation of a reporting system for the public and employees to file complaints against a hospital for inadequate staffing.