With the pandemic still raging, health care will be on the minds of Oregon lawmakers when they gather in Salem next month.
Lawmakers will consider a variety of health related bills. One is aimed at helping hospitals and care facilities tackle an ongoing shortage of medical professionals. The measure would allow the state board of nursing to issue nurse internship licenses to nursing students as a way to get them into the field more quickly.
But Rep. Rachel Prusak, D-West Linn, who’s also a nurse practitioner, said even that will take time to ramp up.
“There’s nothing that we can do now to create more nurses for the now," she said. "It's going to be a lot more pain, suffering and exhaustion over the next year.”
Prusak, who supports the measure, spoke at an online forum previewing health care legislation. The event was sponsored by the Oregon Health Forum.
Other lawmakers who spoke during the event echoed the concerns about staffing shortages. Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, said he's aware of the problem in his coastal district.
"It greatly impacts the ability to utilize facilities," he said. "Certainly if you don't have nurses, you can't use that physical bed even if you have it."
While COVID-19 has placed extra stress on hospitals, the Oregon Employment says the health care field in general in Oregon has faced challenges for nearly a decade when it comes to hiring enough workers.
The 2022 legislative session begins Tuesday, February 1st. It's scheduled to last about five weeks. All committee hearings will take place exclusively online as part of the effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. All floor votes will take place in-person. The building itself is open to the public.
