For years, Yakima County hospitals have had a symbiotic relationship with the nursing programs at area colleges. Schools have supplied the hospitals with new nurses every year, and in return, hospitals have provided students with opportunities to get real-world nursing experience while still in school.
A shortage of nurses, which was greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has contributed to a loss of services and available beds in hospitals in Yakima County and across the U.S. With many health care professionals leaving the field during the pandemic, nursing programs in universities and colleges across the country remain the greatest hope for a return to normalcy.
In September, Memorial cut its traveling staff of more than a dozen nurses to address financial losses. This left the hospital with a total of 35 open positions for registered nurses. A shortage of nurses is a statewide issue, with 6,100 nursing positions open in Washington, according to a 2021 survey from the Washington State Hospital Association.
In December, Astria Health in the Lower Yakima Valley ended many of its cardiac services and closed a maternity center in Toppenish because of financial and staffing issues.
Hospitals were not the only ones affected by the pandemic. In Yakima County and across the country, nursing schools took their students out of their medical rotations and put them instead in on-campus or digital simulation labs for several months in 2020.