Asking asymptomatic COVID-exposed staff to work and using 36-hour shifts are among the strategies hospitals have employed to cope with severe nurse staffing shortages during the current wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. AONL member April Hansen, MSN, RN, executive vice president of workforce solutions and clinical services at San Diego-based staffing agency Aya Healthcare, warns the impact on nurses’ mental health may lead to increased turnover. Another AONL member, Meghan Goldammer, JD, RN, chief nursing officer of Sanford Health, headquartered in Sioux Falls, S.D., took deliberate steps to cope with the influx of patients, hiring 300 travel nurses and shifting to team models of care in her ICU. As COVID-19 cases rise in more areas of the country, hospitals are having to compete for travel nurses. (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy News article, 11/30/20)
