California needs thousands of nurses, but leaders can’t agree on how to fill jobs
Kristen Hwang
July 31, 2023
IN SUMMARY
Some hospitals in Southern California have a nurse vacancy rate of 30%, stressing overworked staff and causing some to leave the industry earlier than they planned.
Ashley Hooks always planned to retire at Lakewood Regional Medical Center, where she has been a nurse for 12 years. But now, Hooks said, staffing issues are so bad and burnout so severe that she’s rethinking how she wants to spend the rest of her career.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the number of nurses at the hospital dropped from just below 500 to 330 according to her union’s roster, said Hooks, who is 53.
“It wasn’t even this difficult during the height of the COVID pandemic,” she said.
