Becker's Hospital Review

93 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Chronic burnout Despite wanting to return to the medical field, eresa Brown, PhD, BSN, RN, wrote in a July 22 op-ed for Medscape that she is unlikely to return because of the "present form" of bedside nurses' work. Dr. Brown said years of overwork and underappreciation were "merely intensified by the pandemic." Twenty-nine percent of nurses are considering leaving the profession, according to the 2022 "Nurse Salary Research Report." Amid these concerns, several states have considered strengthening or enacting legislation related to mandatory overtime for nurses to reduce burnout. Bridgett Ann Miller Dixon, RN, a nurse at South Miami Hospital, has worked the night shi for 12 years. Once COVID-19 hit, her work became "increasingly stressful." at's when she purchased her own franchise of Let Mommy Sleep, a company that offers overnight care to postpartum mothers, she told Becker's. "One key change my hospital could have made is by reaching out to individual nurses and have counseling sessions to help us to cope when COVID hit hard in the hospitals and we saw one too many body bags going to the morgue," Ms. Miller Dixon said. Heather Walsh worked as a nurse in both hospital and school settings for 28 years. "I was very torn when COVID-19 became our reality, as I felt compelled to return to hospital-based nursing to help in any way I could, but I also have a genetic disorder that affects my lungs and was uncertain of how I may be affected," Ms. Walsh said. "As it became more evident that COVID-19 would continue to impact our lives in so many ways for years to come, I began to research new trends in healthcare [and the] side gig economy." Ms. Walsh's research resulted in her opening Ageless Aesthetics by HB Walsh, which she calls "an alternative to returning to work in a traditional healthcare setting." "e decision to transition out of traditional healthcare was a fairly easy one when faced with the autonomy of making my own hours, being my own boss, being able to help people feel more confident, and earning the same salary as I would as a full-time hospital-based nurse in my first year in business," Ms. Walsh said. Ms. Walsh doesn't have plans to return to hospital-based nursing, as she doesn't believe it will improve in the immediate future. "Having been a part of the profession long enough to see many upheavals, shortages, changes in staffing and roles, I feel we will still need to go further into the negatives before the positive changes occur," she said. "Many nurses my age who have been in the field over 30 years have taken this opportunity to get out, and I don't believe they will come back under the current conditions. ere are so many directions a nursing career can take that I expect this side hustle way of thinking to continue." n St. Louis nursing school closes after 124 years By Nathan Tucker T he St. Louis-based Lutheran School of Nursing has closed, according to an Aug. 1 report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which cites financial trou- bles and struggling enrollment. South City Hospital CEO Tina Hecht wrote a letter to faculty Wednesday announcing the news." to "South City Hospital CEO Tina Hecht wrote a letter to faculty an- nouncing the news. "It is with deep and heartfelt sorrow that we write to tell you that Lutheran School of Nursing will close effective immediate- ly. This has been one of the hardest deci- sions of our life," Ms. Hecht wrote. In February, the school announced that it was not taking students for the upcoming term citing a '"moratorium of admissions from the Missouri State Board of Nursing." The Lutheran School of Nursing was the last nursing diploma program in Missouri. n Meritus Health to open medical school By Hayley DeSilva Hagerstown, Md.-based Meritus Health will move forward with plans to open a four-year medical school in the city. The decision was inspired by the hospital's shortage of over 50 physicians, according to a July 12 press release shared with Becker's. "The needs for our community, and communities like us throughout Mary- land and the United States, centers on having access to great physicians," Meritus President and CEO Maulik Joshi, DrPH, said. "That is the foun- dation and a huge need in Washington County. The proposed Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine gives us the opportunity to train physi- cians in an environment like ours; focused on the health of the community. Physicians who train in our community will be more likely to practice in our community." The school will be on Meritus Medical Center's campus. It will be 200,000 square feet in size with student housing adjacent to the campus. Dr. Joshi said independent impact analysis predicts the school will con- tribute over $100 million a year in economic benefit for the Hagerstown community and the state of Maryland. Meritus Health has named Paula Gregory, DO, as the inaugural dean of the school. Dr. Gregory previously served as an assistant dean and chair of clinical education at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medi- cine-Georgia campus. The school plans to open in the fall of 2025. Meritus Health is Western Maryland's largest healthcare provider, serving over 200,000 residents. n

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