When Ochsner Health announced last week it was laying off 770 mostly back-office and administrative employees, hospital officials relayed another surprising statistic: they were also struggling to fill more than 800 open nursing positions — a figure that represents roughly 9% of all nursing positions in the massive health system.
Ochsner, which has 42 hospitals and 200 clinics across Louisiana and Mississippi, is not alone.
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, which includes Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, has more than 500 unfilled nursing slots, according to officials there. New Orleans’ LCMC Health declined to provide specific numbers, but its website shows some 530 open nursing positions.
The Ochsner Center for Nursing and Allied Health on Delgado Community College's campus in New Orleans has numerous labs, work stations and a simulated hospital. (Photo courtesy of Delgago Community College)
LCMC, with nine hospitals, and the Franciscan system, with seven, are significantly smaller than Ochsner, suggesting that the need for nurses in those systems could be larger.
The open positions underscore how difficult it has been for hospitals to attract and retain talent in a profession with long hours, stress-filled working conditions and until recently, low pay compared to other clinical positions.
Health systems across the U.S. have struggled with the problem for years, particularly as a growing number of nurses reach retirement age.
The pandemic made attracting nurses even harder, and though local health systems have created programs with local universities and incentives to address the shortage, the need remains.
Estephanie Alvarez, center, wears a nursing sash as she stands with fellow graduates at Delgado Community College's graduation ceremony at the Kiefer Lakefront Arena on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
“It is not as bad as it was a year ago, and that is hopeful” said Virginia-based health care consultant Jeff Goldsmith of Health Futures. “But it is still a problem...These continue to be extremely tough times.”
Filling the gap
Statistics on the national and local nursing shortage are grim. More than 100,000 registered nurses in the U.S. left the workforce in 2021. In Louisiana, a shortage of some 1,845 RNs just three years ago is expected to top 7,200 by 2025.
Travel nurses helped fill the gap during the pandemic, though the hefty fees and higher rates charged by nursing agencies made using them costly for health systems. The federal government picked up the tab for during the pandemic but stopped reimbursing hospitals for the cost of hiring travel nurses last summer.
The Ochsner Center for Nursing and Allied Health on the campus of Delgado Community College in New Orleans. The $44 million facility recently opened. (Photo courtesy of Delgado Community College)
Ochsner officials said last week that their agency costs have increased eight-fold over the past three years and that overall labor costs have gone up 9%, which was among the reasons they cited for the layoffs.
While Ochsner acknowledged it did lay off some nursing supervisors, in the days since pink slips went out, the health system has contacted those supervisors with current clinical credentials and offered them positions providing patient care.
“There is an incentive package to place them into front line roles,” Ochsner Executive Vice President and Chief External Affairs Officer David Gaines said. “We think it is extremely competitive and the responses have been positive.”
He declined to provide the number of nursing supervisors who have accepted the hospital’s offer or whether it will make a noticeable dent in filling the number of open positions.
'Everybody has a job'
In recent years, all three health systems in the state have created programs to help add to the nursing pipeline.
Ochsner has created partnerships with Southern University, Loyola University and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to help fund new and accelerated nursing programs.
LCMC has partnered with Tulane and Chamberlain University, and even created a tuition-free training program for nurses.
Nursing graduates Jena Brupbacher, left, and Shameka Brown, center, smile as they wait for their names to be called at Delgado Community College's graduation at the Kiefer Lakefront Arena on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Nationally, statistics indicate such efforts are starting to pay off. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the nation’s largest publicly traded health system has seen its hiring of nurses increase nearly 20%.
Locally, the opportunities and incentives are starting to pay off. More than 200 freshly minted nurses graduated Tuesday from Delgado University.
Algiers native Jena Brupbacher was among them. Even before she had her diploma, she had her pick of job offers from three LCMC hospitals — University Medical Center, West Jefferson Medical Center and East Jefferson General Hospital.
She chose East Jeff, where she will work in the emergency department.
Shameka Brown wears a graduation sash recognizing her degree in nursing as she waits for her name to be called at Delgado Community College's graduation at the Kiefer Lakefront Arena on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
“Everybody in our graduating class that I know has a job and people are going right into specialties like neo-natal ICU,” Brupbacher said. “You don’t usually see that.”
Her classmate, Shameka Brown, is one of the few who doesn’t have a job yet, but she’s not worried. She put herself through school working as a licensed practical nurse with a specialty in geriatrics and is confident she’ll be able to find a job in that field as a registered nurse soon.
“I’m just taking it all in and considering all the options out there and will go where God calls me,” Brown said.