Turnover rates among the nursing profession in the Southeast account for some of the highest in the nation, according to a recent NSI Nursing Solutions, Inc. report.
In response to Alabama’s nursing shortage, the Alabama State Nurses Association (ASNA) is asking for financial assistance from the state legislature.
ASNA, a nursing advocacy organization governed by industry professionals across the state, is calling on the legislature to allocate funding to be applied toward the retainment and recruitment of nursing staff. The organization states that Alabama nurses have yet to receive significant funding from federal COVID-19 pandemic relief dollars provided to the state.
ASNA advises that in surveying nurses across the state, many feel as if their concerns are not being properly addressed by state government. The organization notes that low staffing levels have served to further exacerbate the turnover rate, which it says has increased the burden on nurses who continue to serve during the pandemic.
The nursing advocacy association is currently in talks with the Alabama Hospital Association and legislators to obtain funding they say is critical in resolving the issue.
ASNA president Lindsey Harris, while appreciative of funding that the legislature has appropriated toward hospitals, wishes for funding to be specifically appropriated toward the nursing community.
“The main concern is that nurses have not received any [funding]. The nurses that we’re referring to are the nurses that have remained here in the state of Alabama, who remain loyal and consistent with their hospitals they’ve been working at prior to and throughout this pandemic,” Harris told Yellowhammer News. “No state funding has gone toward that. State funding has gone toward hospitals, state funding has even gone toward travel nurses – which we have said many times that we definitely appreciate that because it really helps with the hospitals with some of the staffing. But we also understand that it doesn’t help essentially some of the long-term.”
She continued, “When we think of the long-term, we think of the nurses who have been there who have remained in the state of Alabama, we think of recruiting nurses here in the state as well and keeping nurses. We felt like when we applied for some of the CARES Act funding, we felt like that was a way to help really support those nurses that are here and keep those nurses here in the state.”
Harris went on to express her desire for nurses to be “seen as being valued.” When asked where ASNA would like for funding to be allocated, Harris asserted that retention bonuses would assist the nursing shortage issue.
“Essentially, we want to do something like a retention bonus for those nurses,” said Harris. “We’ve come up with some ideas, but one the major things is possibly a retention bonus for the nurses who have remained here in the state throughout these trying times.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.