OLYMPIA – After the release of a poll showing that half of healthcare workers in Washington say they are likely to leave the field in the next few years, Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Des Moines), the chair of the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee, released this statement:
“We all know the last few years have been especially hard on health care workers. They have been stretched to the breaking point with tremendously increased demands on their time and effort.
“But it is still shocking to learn, as this poll shows, that half of healthcare workers in our state plan to leave the profession in the next few years. And 80 percent of healthcare workers report they are burned out. That’s not safe for them, and it’s not safe for patients. How can we expect healthcare workers to continue their superhuman pandemic-era effort indefinitely?
“This shows why it’s so important to institute common-sense safe staffing standards to ensure that workers aren’t asked to take care of too many patients at a time.”
