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INDEPENDENT
Daily Independent - 07/01/2021

The Valley’s nonpartisan newspaper — YourValley.net

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HEALTH CARE

Arizona nursing schools

step up to fill shortage
By Lindsay Walker
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

The coronavirus pandemic

put a very noticeable strain
on health care systems across
the U.S. and across the globe,
but it also brought to light
an issue that’s been building
for years: a shortage of reg-
istered nurses, which only
continues to worsen.
The Arizona Nurses Asso-
ciation estimates there will
be 100,000 open nursing po-
sitions across the country in
2022, with 500,000 seasoned
registered nurses set to retire
the same year. The U.S. Bu-
reau of Labor and Statistics
anticipates needing 1.1 mil-
lion new registered nurses
across the country in that
same period.
In a fast-growing Arizo-
na, the booming population
only increases the demand
for more nurses. According
: to NurseJournal, the state
in 2018 counted 75,600 reg-
istered nurses for its popu-
lation of 7.2 million. That’s
just 10.39 nurses for every
1,000 people. The U.S. as a
>> See Nurses on page 9
Nursing students volunteering at a Banner Health COVID-19 vaccination site. These students are part of a new integrative health program offered by the
University of Arizona in Gilbert, intended to address the Valley’s growing nursing shortage. [Courtesy of the University of Arizona]

SAFETY

Official: Forest closures needed, temporary

ground and cooler climes. gripped much of Arizona for fires across the state. This is ble factors, the Arizona De-
14 More than 1,000 But an worse-than-nor- months. In June 2021, a po- a problem now across the partment of Forestry and
26 wildfires across mal wildfire season has led tent heat wave sent tem- whole region, they said. Fire Management issued
27 to recent restrictions and peratures soaring above 115 “Dozens of fires were re- closures on state trust land
31
Arizona already closures on public lands just (degrees) on multiple days. ported in Arizona and New in all 15 Arizona counties ef-
this year in time to unravel Fourth of
July weekend plans for
Now extreme fires are rag-
ing throughout the state,”
Mexico in June 2021, accord-
ing to data from the U.S.
fective June 25. Recreational
uses are currently prohibit-
By Matt Roy would-otherwise-be trav- the space agency reported government fire informa- ed on state trust land, includ-
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA elers. on June 21. tion website InciWeb. Sev- ing hiking, horseback riding,
Summer is high season However poorly timed, On that day, the Moderate eral blazes ignited when camping and off-road vehicle
in Arizona for enjoying the this summer’s shaping up for Resolution Imaging Spectro- dry lightning struck already use, while some state parks
state’s beautiful natural ame- a doozy of fire season across radiometer on NASA’s Aqua parched, heat-stressed land- have also imposed restric-
nities as hikers, campers and the Southwest, according to satellite captured a natu- scapes,” NASA reported. tions.
fisherman escape the Valley NASA’s Earth Observatory. ral-color image of smoke Because of whether condi- Tiffany Davila, a spokes-
of the Sun in favor of higher “Exceptional drought has streaming from several large tions and other uncontrolla- >> See Closures on page 9

July 1, 2021 8:48 am (GMT -7:00) Powered by TECNAVIA

 Daily Independent - 07/01/2021
Nurses
>> From page 1
whole averaged 12.6 nurses
per 1,000 people.
Large local health care
systems, including Banner
Health and Abrazo Health,
are actively hiring in Phoe-
nix to tamp down this short-
age, only exacerbated by the
pandemic.
“The Abrazo Health Net-
work is actively hiring, and
we invite all qualified RNs to
consider joining our team at
one of our many facilities lo-
cated throughout the Phoe-
nix area,” said Keith Jones,
spokesperson for Abrazo. “At
Abrazo Health we invest in
our nurses, providing excep-
tional benefits, high quality
services, and opportunities
for growth, education and ad-
vancement.”
He was joined by David
Lozano, a spokesman for
Banner, who said the health
system’s “greatest need cur-
rently is experienced nurses
who want to be part of a car-
ing team providing outstand-
ing patient care in a variety
of settings.”
Closures
>> From page 1
woman for the department,
explained the closures, while
disappointing, are unavoid-
able and only temporary.
“We understand that this
is summer. It’s time of year
that people want to head
up to the high country, get
out and do some hiking and
camping and fishing. But
we also have to stay safe,
we have to take into ac-
count the safety of the pub-
lic and our firefighters,” Da-
vila told Daily Independent.
“These closures aren’t go-
ing to last throughout the
summer. We’re only look-
ing at a short timespan until
we get widespread moisture
and a lot of continual days of
that widespread moisture to
curtail the fire activity that’s
happening across the state.”
She stressed the dan-
gers involved with fire sea-
son, as thousands serving
on wildland fire crews put
themselves in harm’s way to
protect valuable public re-
sources, as well as private
property across the state.
“It’s dangerous for every-
body. We have concerns for
public safety, our wildland
firefighters’ safety, their
health,” Davila said. “That’s
one of the reasons we’ve im-
plemented closures on state
trust lands, since we’ve had
July 1, 2021 8:48 am (GMT -7:00)
University of Arizona nursing students take part in a simulation lab in Tucson,
pre-COVID. [Courtesy of the University of Arizona]
Banner Health current-
ly has 522 nursing positions
open at its hospitals across
multiple states; 441 are open
in Arizona. Abrazo Health
has more than 300 open-
ings for registered nurses
across the state. Mayo Clin-
ic, a choice destination for
many in the medical profes-
sion, is currently fully staffed
in Arizona.
Nursing colleges or uni-
versity-level programs can
do quite a bit to help find a
solution by recruiting facul-
ty members and amping up
nursing school enrollment,
Coconino National Forest employee Amber Wong checks on road signs outside Flagstaff on June 23, 2021. The Coconino National Forest is one of many forests
closed this week amid high fire danger as resources are stretched thin with blazes burning across the state. [Felicia Fonseca/The Associated Press]
a lot of activity over the last
couple of weeks.”
Only halfway through the
year, there have been more
than 1,000 wildfires report-
ed in Arizona. But even with
the dangers, officials are still
mindful of the importance of
providing access to the state’s
many outdoors enthusiasts.
Closures are only called for
after careful consideration
especially as the baby boom-
er generation ages, according
to the American Association
of Colleges of Nursing.
Heidi Sanborn, director of
the RN-BSN and Concurrent
Enrollment Program in the
Edson College of Nursing and
Health Innovation at Arizo-
na State University, has seen
the nursing shortage in Ari-
zona for herself and says it is
“concerning.”
“Across all health care set-
tings, we are seeing a con-
cerning increase in the num-
ber of nurses, both new and
experienced, who are mak-
and only when necessary to
protect lives and property.
Plus, there are other uncon-
trollable factors that make
wildfires an even greater
threat this year, Davila ex-
plained.
“We have closures in place
because of public and fire-
fighter safety concerns,” she
said. “There are also con-
cerns about resource avail-
ing the decision to leave the
profession,” she said. “Some
trends we are seeing are the
recruitment of temporary
travel nurses to fill vacan-
cies as well as an increase in
nurse-to-patient ratios when
vacancies are unfilled.”
Sanborn said recent nurs-
ing graduates are flocking to
more acute specialties, such
as caring for patients in the
intensive care unit or emer-
gency department. While im-
portant, it leaves lower-acuity
specialties, such as progres-
sive medical or surgical care,
in desperate need of skilled
talent.
That’s where ASU comes
in. The nursing school sees
nearly 1,000 graduates each
academic year across its de-
gree programs, according to
Sanborn, and that number is
expected to grow thanks to
ASU’s robust online educa-
tion offerings.
“We are working to pivot
our programs to be more re-
sponsive to our health care
partners,” she said. “We are
establishing a teams-based
approach so that our preli-
censure learners work the
majority of their clinical
ability and dry conditions.”
Not only are dry condi-
tions dangerous, but with fire
crews spread thin across the
state and the region, the abili-
ty of first responders to reach
new threats in a timely man-
ner is greatly reduced, turn-
ing relatively minor threats
into potential disasters. And
the same is true across the
Southwest right now, mak-
YourValley.net | Daily Independent | July 1, 2021
learning hours at one facili-
ty. The goal is that they gradu-
ate from our program having
already become fully embed-
ded and oriented into a facil-
ity which can use them as a
workforce pipeline.”
Sanborn said the pandem-
ic has shifted her program’s
goals to better meet the needs
of employers in real-time. It
prompted the school to focus
more on retention in order to
keep talent in the state.
“The pandemic has most
definitely impacted the nurs-
ing profession by causing in-
creased mobility of the work-
force away from acute care
and even the profession,” she
said. “It has also incentivized
health care employers to con-
sider ways to support their
staff through education and
career advancement oppor-
tunities as a retention strat-
egy.”
The University of Arizo-
na also is stepping up its ef-
forts to combat the issue in
the Valley with the creation
of a new program to address
the problem in Gilbert. The
BSN-IH is a nursing program
with an emphasis on integra-
tive health, which offers 72
ing the problem even worse,
Davila said.
“We’ve got firefighters
spread thin across the state,”
she said. “But we’re not the
only state that’s active right
now. As other states become
active, those resources are go-
ing to either go back home, if
we have out-of-state resourc-
es, or we’re not likely to get
more out-of-state resources
Page : 09
9
students placements three
times per year, including in
the summer.
“Integrating self-care and
mindful practice is essential,
and we believe this is the first
BSN program that incorpo-
rates integrative health prac-
tices into the BSN curricu-
lum,” said Betty Parisek, the
program’s director. “This ‘in-
tegrative health’ focus of the
program prepares students
and graduates to care for
themselves while providing
holistic and patient-centered
care to patients.”
In addition to addressing
the nursing shortage, the pro-
gram is set up to retain stu-
dents training at local hospi-
tals or clinics.
“We offer a unique precep-
tor opportunity for our stu-
dents in the fourth semes-
ter,” said Parisek. “Students
are paired one to one with
a precepting nurse at part-
ner health care organiza-
tions like Banner, Dignity
and Honor Health. Many of
these students are offered
RN positions in these Ar-
izona facilities after grad-
uation.”
coming to help Arizona.”
Weather forecasters have
sung an optimistic note, as
predicted Monsoon season
rains could bring relief to fire-
fighters and wannabe camp-
ers alike.
While much of the South-
west may be in for continued
drought, Arizona could see
rain sooner than later, accord-
ing to the Climate Assessment
for the Southwest provided by
the National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration’s
Regional Integrated Scienc-
es and Assessments Program
at the University of Arizona.
“The three-month out-
look for July through Sep-
tember calls for increased
chances for above-normal
precipitation across much
of the Arizona, and a large
swath of increased chanc-
es for below-normal precip-
itation in New Mexico. The
three-month temperature
outlook calls for equal chanc-
es of above- or below-normal
temperatures across much
of the southwestern U.S. and
portions of northern Mex-
ico.”
As conditions improve —
and the state saw the first
moisture of the coming Mon-
soon season this week — of-
ficials will lift restrictions as
soon as they responsibly may,
Davila said.
To see up-to-date informa-
tion about fire restrictions,
visit dffm.az.gov/fire-restric-
tions.
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