Not enough nurses at CHC • DPH calls back nine retired nurses to alleviate the shortage

At least nine retired nurses were called back to work yesterday by the Department of Public Health in efforts to alleviate problems associated with the shortage of nurses to man the hospital.

Last month, the health department was forced to “borrow” nurses from the Rota and Tinian Public Health Centers to ease burdens of on-duty nurses working round-the-clock at the CHC.

In an interview, DPH Secretary Kevin Villagomez disclosed measures have been installed to resolve the crisis which has become a national concern due to increasing demand of nurses even in the mainland United States.

DPH has tapped the assistance of two manpower agencies to facilitate the swift employment of nurses to fill up vacated positions in the Intensive Care Unit, in-patient departments and other critical areas at the CHC.

The nine retired nurses who were signed in yesterday were delegated to the out-patient unit to maximize their services and the expertise of other nurses in other areas of concern.

Of the 200 nurses needed to fully operate the public health round-the-clock, only about 160 are working on alternate basis to render needed medical services to the community.

“It’s okay if the hospital is not that busy, but for the past days, there are a lot of people coming in and we would like to give them the immediate care,” said Mr. Villagomez.

He said there are about 60 retired nurses on island who may be tapped by DPH to carry out various services in the hospital.

But the retired nurses, who were asked by DPH to work back in order to help man the government hospital, are allowed only to work for two years as stipulated by the law.

“That will be the problem. After two years, they can no longer work for the hospital,” Mr. Villagomez said. He added that even if the retired nurses are willing to work longer than two years, the law gets in the way.

Well-crafted mechanisms are now in place to remedy the continued shortfall of nurses on the island.

Mr. Villagomez said two task forces are working closely with the Public School System and the Northern Marianas College to install effective campaign to lure students to take up nursing courses.

This way, he said, shortage problem in the future will be resolved. Nurses hired from overseas can concentrate on the most critical areas like the dialysis department and the emergency room.

The shortage of nurses has already caught the attention of the Legislature, which partnered with DPH in bringing about a nursing forum this month.

House Committee on Health and Welfare Chair Malua Peter said recommendations are now being looked into in order for the lower house of the Legislature to introduce effective measures that will appropriately address the problem.