Philadelphia Inquirer September 6, 2021
More patients are trying to get caught up on the routine testing and elective procedures they skipped during the pandemic.
A lack of nurses is keeping Alexander Vaccaro, president of Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, awake at night. When the spine surgeon operates at local hospitals, he finds the nursing staff down about 25% from before the pandemic.
There’s also been a shift in how nurses are being employed. Some left the field completely, but others became traveling nurses during the pandemic layoff, often for salaries greater than what they had earned before.
“It’s causing consternation among the nurses who didn’t leave because they are seeing these visiting nurses getting paid more and it kills morale,” he said.
A lack of staff...