CHC down to 157 nurses, doctors at 30

The number of nurses at the Commonwealth Health Center is currently at 157, just a one-person drop compared to March of last year when the hospital had 158 nurses, according to hospital administrator Jesse Tudela.

He conceded, though, that recruitment challenges continue due to hard-to-fill positions, change in status, or personal matters that result in some nurses leaving.

“This is the reason for our nursing staff numbers fluctuating every time, despite the efforts in recruitment and retaining nurses,” Tudela said.

He revealed that all of the hospital’s 157 nurses are either registered nurses or licensed practical nurses.

The hospital currently has 30 vacant positions. However, that will change in a few months because, according to Tudela, they are already in the process of hiring 11 more nurses.

Of the remaining 19 vacancies, one is in psychiatry, four is in the Intensive Care Unit, three in Obstetrics/Gynecology, five in Medical Surgical, two in the neo-natal intensive care unit, one for the clinic, one for the operating room, and two nurse supervisors.

Hard-to-fill in positions include nurses who specialize in the operating room, ICU, and NICU.

Tudela belied reports that the recent resignation of some nurses was due to the recent elimination of housing perks for off-island hires.

“Some nurses went back to State-side and others went to the Philippines for personal reasons. One nurse supervisor who is a local resigned for personal reasons. Another resigned today ’cause he got petitioned for a green card and went off-island. Many others are all personal reasons, so it is not the housing benefit that made them resign,” he said.

Tudela said the salary for nurses range from $24,889 to $35,013 per annum, based on degree and experience.

“Our director for nursing said that the number of hires of last year is almost equal to the numbers of nurses that resigned. We’re working hard in recruiting, yet there are many resigning. If it isn’t personal, it’s that they get visas for permanent residence,” he said.

Tudela said the numbers of nurses that they have doesn’t include the number of nurses on Tinian and Rota.

He also clarified that the extended wait times for some patients is not due to the lack of nurses but the high census of rooms that are occupied.

“Sometimes the [census of rooms] remains high and only possible solution for this is to expand areas for more rooms. So far, ICU has only four beds and nursing shortage, but first and foremost the waiting time is on the rooms available,” Tudela said.

Physicians, practitioners, assistants

The number of physicians at the hospital also saw a slight decrease. The hospital now has 30 physicians, not including those on Rota and Tinian as well. That is down from the 33 in July last year.

CHC actually has two other doctors but they are resident doctors from the University of California, San Francisco and are on loan to the local hospital. The funding that the Hillblom Foundation provides to UCSF brings in resident doctors to CHC every month.

CHC now has three OB/GYN, five pediatricians, one gastroenterologist, five in emergency medicine, one in family medicine, one psychiatrist, one nephrologist, one pathologist, three anesthesiologists, seven in internal medicine, and two surgeons.

In an earlier interview, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther Muña said the hospital still needs specialists in orthopedics, cardiology, oncology, and neurosurgery.

Despite the need for more doctors, recruitment is more costly than retention and replacing physicians varies but can cost up to $50,000 per recruitment.

CHCC hires physicians and nurses mostly from the Philippines, U.S, and locally.

So far, Tudela said that they have six physician assistants, a certified nurse midwife, four midwives, and four nurse practitioners.