Legislators calling for study of state’s critical nursing shortage

Erin Neff

Thursday, April 3, 2003 | 10:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- After lengthy testimony from union nurses and a brief exchange with a hospital lobbyist, an Assembly committee Wednesday decided the Legislature should study Nevada's critical nursing shortage.

Assembly Bill 313, sponsored by Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, would have established nurses-to-patients staffing ratios for hospitals.

The Assembly Health and Human Services Committee changed the bill to call for just a study of Nevada's nursing shortage. The amended bill will be referred to the Elections, Ethics and Procedures Committee, chaired by Giunchigliani, to determine whether an interim legislative study will be conducted on the matter.

Maryanne Salm of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 4,000 nurses, said nursing shortages are "reaching dangerous levels."

Nevada currently has 14,000 employed nurses, with 6,500 working in hospitals.

"These staffing levels are too low to provide the care to help patients get better," Salm said.

Jim Wadhams, a lobbyist representing the Nevada Hospital Association, agreed there was a critical shortage of 1,300 nurses, but said "arbitrary staffing ratios" would not solve the problem.

"There is no system, whether legislatively or by nurses in hospitals to fill the need," Wadhams said. "They cannot be manufactured out of thin air."

After the hearing Giunchigliani said she welcomed the chance for the Legislative Commission to study the state's nursing shortage in the interim, saying it would give lawmakers more time to examine the problem and seek out true data.