WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAU) — More people could train for nursing and health fields with severe shortages under a proposal by Senator Tammy Baldwin.
Baldwin introduced the MEND Act, or the Making Education of Nursing Dependable Act. She says this program addresses the way the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) funds hospital-based nursing programs. “This bipartisan bill will safeguard access to high-quality nursing education to best prepare our next generation of nurses to work within their local community.”
Another area where there are shortages in health care is with obstetrician gynecologists. Baldwin says there simply isn’t enough of them. “Approximately 26 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties do not have any obstetrician gynecologists, and there are only 556 obstetrician gynecologists physicians serving a population of more than two million women in the State of Wisconsin.”
The bill changing the guidelines for training health professionals at hospitals and nursing schools has some support from both sides of the isle. The bill is supported by national organizations, including the American Hospital Association, the National Alliance for Nursing Education, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and the National League for Nursing. In Wisconsin, the bill is supported by Hospital Sisters Health System and Columbia St. Mary’s.