Pa. nurses had to wait months for licenses during 2021 COVID surges

• Scott LaMar
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.
• Brett Sholtis
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Brett Sholtis was a health reporter for WITF/Transforming Health until early 2023. Sholtis is the 2021-2022 Reveal Benjamin von Sternenfels Rosenthal Grantee for Mental Health Investigative Journalism with the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. His award-winning work on problem areas in mental health policy and policing helped to get a woman moved from a county jail to a psychiatric facility. Sholtis is a University of Pittsburgh graduate and a Pennsylvania Army National Guard Kosovo campaign veteran.

 Jae C. Hong / AP Photo

Registered nurses Karen Ross, right, and Angela Nguyen assist a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020.

Airdate: Monday, March 14, 2022

More than half of the 12,000 nurses issued licenses to work in Pennsylvania last year waited for three months or longer to get them, according to an NPR data analysis. Health care groups say the failure to promptly certify nurses added to a critical staffing shortage during some of the worst months of the coronavirus pandemic.

The excessive wait times for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses were among the longest in the 31 states where data was available. Wait times increased significantly from 2020 to 2021.

The data show a snapshot of Pennsylvania’s overburdened licensure system, which the state nursing association and area health systems say reduced hospitals’ ability to adequately deal with surges of patients sick with COVID-19.

“They’re emotionally exhausted, they’re physically exhausted, we add to that, the frustration of not being able to get your license, and then what happens, you don’t even get your license,” said Betsy Snook, CEO of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association. “Now you can’t even work. What do you do now how you pay your bills, you’ve got to wait, you’re at the mercy of the State Board of Nursing.”

The Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees the board of nursing, says the pandemic affected its operations, and it has responded as quickly as it could. It says wait times have since improved to between 12 and 15 weeks. Data show that range still exceeds wait times in many other states. The department says Pennsylvania’s licensure process is more transparent than in most states, resulting in longer waits.

WITF’s Transforming Health reporter Brett Sholtis is on Monday’s Smart Talk with details.