- Currently Georgia reportedly has 21% fewer registered nurses than it needs, according to the federal Health Resources Service Administration.
- The HRSA expects that Georgia will see the second-highest estimated shortage among U.S. states by 2035.
- Watch the video to see how healthcare providers in Bainbridge are working to meet that need.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"Nursing is a very hard career,” according to chief nursing officer forMemorial Hospital & Manor, Lori Eubanks.
I'm tracking just how Memorial Hospitals and Manor has managed to stabilize staffing by bringing traveling nurses back home.
"My family got the opportunity to see that portion of the United States,” said Stephanie Gay, a registered nurse and supervisor for Memorial Hospital & Manor.
Gay is talking about her time working as a traveling nurse while based in Montana back in 2019.
But, it didn't take long before Gay said she was ready to retrace her steps back home.
"Because of the stability, because of our family being here.. I don't have to secure a travel contract. I don't have to worry about my travel contract being canceled,” said Gay.
In April of 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic traveling nurses like Gay were in high demand.
"We were just bombarded with an [increased] number of very sick patients. We had to have those contracts to survive and to take care of those patients,” said Eubank.
Eubanks told me during the COVID-19 pandemic the hospital was at full capacity with many patients in critical care units, which escalated the need for traveling nurses to step in.
Currently Georgia reportedly has 21% fewer registered nurses than it needs, according to the federal Health Resources Service Administration.
How is the hospital managing during an ongoing nurses shortage?
"Some of those traveling nurses have come back [home] and are working here full time now,” said Eubanks.
The HRSA expects that Georgia will see the second-highest estimated shortage among U.S. states by 2035 due to the demands of Georgia's growing population compared to the number of registered nurses statewide.
Studies show that rural areas have experienced a greater need due to pay gaps. However, here and Bainbridge traveling nurses turned full time care providers are filling that need.
"I'm in my hometown community so it makes me feel really proud that I can help my hometown,” said Gay.
