CHC nurses down to 130 by end of 2012

The number of nurses at the Commonwealth Health Center is expected to go down to about 130 by the end of the year and the public hospital’s nursing department has already begun its recruitment efforts, according to nursing director Leticia Reyes.

In her report to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. board Thursday, Reyes said that of the 167 nurses that CHC had in January, 20 have already tendered their resignations and 10 have verbalized their intent to resign, while seven more will be staying until November.

These nurses-registered nurses, licensed practical nurses or LPNs, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and nursing assistants-will start leaving by the end of May.

Reyes noted that the nurses who will be leaving gave the hospital at least three months’ notice, giving CHC the chance to look for replacements. The nurses who quit will also help train the new hires, she added.

According to Reyes, there are a lot of factors why CHC nurses are leaving, including the approval of their U.S. visas, which now allow them to work in the U.S. mainland.

Board member Pedro Dela Cruz said that the corporation should start looking at hiring nurses that can commit to stay for at least many years to allow the corporation to recoup the funds they spent in hiring these nurses.

Dr. Jeremy Richards, Medical Affairs director, argued that the corporation should create a work environment that would entice these nursing professionals to remain with CHC.

According to Richards, losing nurses is “really crippling” to the operations of the hospital as physicians rely on these staff and replacing “experienced and valuable” nurses with inexperienced ones is not the same.

On-island hires

Reyes disclosed that they already found 24 nurses on island who are willing to come in and work at CHC after an interview with many applicants about two weeks ago.

According to Reyes, all 24 nurses are qualified and have passed the National Council Licensure Examination or NCLEX and are currently working in private clinics and health agencies on island.

Reyes recently attended a presentation conducted by David Gulick, Honolulu district director for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and found out that if these 24 nurses have prior CW1 approval and CHC decides to start their petition process, the nurses can start working right away as soon as they get the petition receipt.

When asked if the 24 nurses are still willing to work at CHC despite the corporation’s financial situation, Reyes said the nurses are familiar with the situation through news reports and still expressed their willingness to be employed.

She said these nurses are still willing to come in even with the possibility of permanently losing any housing benefit.

In anticipation of the declining nursing staff level, Reyes disclosed that they plan to expand their recruitment efforts to the Philippines since the number of available nurses on island will not suffice to meet the hospital’s needs.

“But of course, as much as we can, we want to retain our nurses. They’ve been here for a long time. We don’t have to train them.In my case as director of nursing, we just have to be prepared with any situation,” added Reyes.

Human resources director Marciana Igitol disclosed that she is in communication with the University of Guam nursing director to look at the possibility of hiring the 26 graduates of the institution’s nursing program this year.