Phoebe to announce partnership with Albany Tech in coming weeks to address nurse shortage

ALBANY — The Phoebe Putney Health System could use a few good nurses — actually a few hundred — but the need for qualified applicants spreads to other areas as well.

“We’re actually about 350 nurses short right now,” Phoebe President and CEO Scott Steiner said. “We also need phlebotomists, lab folks, security guards, housekeeping folks.”

During a Monday presentation to the Dougherty County Commission, Steiner outlined the bleak numbers in terms of a shortage of nurses and announced an upcoming initiative with Albany Technical College to help address the shortage locally.

Phoebe works with a number of colleges and universities to help train and recruit nurses, Steiner said.

“I think in the next few weeks we’ll come back with something that’s a bigger step, a bigger initiative,” Steiner said during an interview following his presentation to the commission. “We’ve gone back to Albany Tech to see how we can get more students enrolled.”

Area educational institutions train a large number of nurses, but many are Atlanta residents who return to their home city after college or pursue a career elsewhere, he said. A large number of people also have left the medical profession during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“About one in five health care workers has left health care in the last two years,” Steiner said. “Maybe it’s burnout, maybe it’s something else. (With) COVID, there’s been so much death and suffering. It has taken a psychological toll, both on those who have left and those who are still there.”

Statewide, Georgia is about 28,000 nurses short of being at the national average on per-patient staffing, fourth-worst in the country, and that number could be 75,000 nurses short for the state in 15 years, the administrator said.

During his presentation, Steiner gave a report on 2021 to commissioners. During the previous year, Phoebe admitted 20,051 patients, 49 percent of whom were not Dougherty County residents, and its oncology department served 26,345 patients, 59 percent of whom came from out of county.

Phoebe, its hospitals in Americus and Sylvester, and the health system’s clinics serve 42 counties with a population of about 813,000.

The system has a $430 million annual impact in salaries and benefits, providing $38 million last year in charity and indigent care, and has a total economic impact of $1.48 billion, Steiner said.

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]