In its new session, the Illinois General Assembly will look at new bills that could ease the state's nursing shortage.

As healthcare workers are increasingly exposed to traumatic events, newly proposed legislation in Washington state would allow coverage for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, the Seattle Times reported March 6. 

RaDonda Vaught will appear in Tennessee court March 28 to appeal the state nursing board's 2021 decision to revoke her license, court records show. 

Andrea Mazzoccoli, PhD, RN, the chief nurse and quality officer for Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health, will retire in June after 15 years with the health system and 40 years in the profession. 

The expiration of California's COVID-19 emergency declaration could spell more trouble for Fresno County hospitals since they will no longer be allowed to hire travel nurses with out-of-state licenses, The Fresno Bee reported March 1. 

The National Resident Matching Program pairs medical graduates with compatible residencies and its president and CEO is a nurse, which is creating controversy, Medscape Medical News reported March 1.

Lawyers for some nurses in New York and Georgia maintain that their clients completed required coursework and legitimately earned their nursing diplomas, but are being lumped together in the national scheme involving the sale of thousands of bogus degrees. 

Texas has reached historic workforce shortages with 30,000 unfilled nursing positions and 500,000 nurses expected to leave this year, CBS News reported Mar. 1.

After more than a year of investigation into the quality and integrity of Phoenix-based Aspen University's nursing program, it is one vote away from being shut down by the Arizona State Board of Nursing.

As Oregon's House legislature prepared for its first hearing on House Bill 2697, which seeks to enact minimum staffing requirements for hospital nurses, Asante Health System's chief nursing officer said this plan is "currently unattainable," the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported Feb. 28.

An Iowa nurse was sanctioned by the state Board of Nursing, then fired from two jobs, after adopting the baby of a former patient, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported Feb. 24. 

Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center nursing legend Carl James, RN, died at 75 on Feb. 17.

New details about the fake nursing degree scheme demonstrate the ease with which aspiring nurses could purchase the fraudulent documents, Yahoo News reported Feb. 27.

Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System has seen fewer nurses call in sick since the approval of a 10 percent pay raise in January, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Feb. 26. 

Heather King, BSN, RN, president and chief operating officer of Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia, N.C., climbed from certified nursing assistant to hospital executive in 17 years because, as her mentor put it, she "never said no to anything."

To address the challenges faced by the nursing profession today, it is vital that healthcare leadership first understand them. For example, nurses are not currently practicing to the top of their license due to staffing shortages we’ve been seeing. This is leading to burnout, and even leading to nurses leaving the profession.

Your clinical workforce needs, wants, and expects more flexibility in their working commitment with their employer.

In January, Press Ganey, a leading healthcare performance improvement company, recognized seven hospitals that maintained outstanding nursing in the midst of staff shortages, budget cuts and overcrowding. 

Stamford (Conn.) Health launched a program through which nurses can train with virtual reality patients in the Metaverse, the Stamford Advocate reported Feb. 22. 

The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville is taking its own approach to combating the ongoing nursing shortage and mounting difficulties in attracting nursing faculty nationwide by preparing its nursing graduates with two degrees.