Response to the editorial, “Oregon needs a many-pronged attack to improve nursing shortage.”

It is not a secret that Oregon faces an unprecedented nursing crisis. Countless nurses leave the profession due to exhaustion and burnout; schools can’t keep up with demand, reports of unsafe working conditions due to poor staffing are common.

Meanwhile, the Oregon Workforce Needs Assessment of 2023 published by OSU for the Oregon Health Authority, states that one of their main goals is to: “have a more diverse workforce to achieve the strategic goal of eliminating health inequities.”

Some of their key recommendations include:

• “Increase investments in training, recruiting, and retaining health care workers who can provide culturally and linguistically responsive care.”

• “Reduce barriers to entry and advancement for people of color in the workforce.”

As an experienced registered nurse who also happens to be bilingual and of color, I find irony and deception, to put it nicely, in the paper published by OSU.

I moved to rural Oregon in 2021 after taking two years off nursing to care for ill family members. I was denied Oregon licensure by the OSBN, and their laughable recommendation was to: “Obtain 400 hours of work in a different state, then re-apply.” There are no exceptions, and no pathway for someone in my current situation to be able to obtain licensure in Oregon.

If like me, there are other experienced RNs who are denied nurse licensure in Oregon, then I am afraid that the Oregon Health Authority’s goals are already a failed endeavor. Inclusivity and diversity are fine ideals; however, we should not sacrifice patient care and nursing safety in their pursuit.

Many aspects of the nursing crisis in Oregon are self-imposed. Mismanagement focused on all the wrong targets has only made it worse. Seemingly, the last thing on their radar is patient care and the well-being of current Oregon nurses. A smarter approach to nursing licensure would include compact licensure and case by case review.

States that have adopted this policy such as Colorado and Arizona have better nursing satisfaction rates. And you know what they say: “Happy nurse, happy patient.”

Cielo Schacht

Baker City