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Daily Gazette

ALBANY — Barriers to oral health care are markedly high in the Mohawk Valley, according to a statewide report.

A recently released study from the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies found that nearly 90% of residents in the six-county region live in areas with wide dental service gaps.

It runs in stark contrast to the Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes, Capital Region and Long Island where care is significantly more prevalent. The overall statewide rate for high-need communities is 14% — nearly 73 points lower than the Mohawk Valley.

“There are a lot of moving parts here,” said CHWS Director Jean Moore. “What I would say to you is that, clearly, Mohawk Valley has issues, but one of the things that I really like about this work is that it breaks it down by service areas so that problems may be different in different parts of the Mohawk Valley.”

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City & State

In New York, and across the country, it is undeniably true that our health care workforce is on the front lines of forging health equity. While this has always been the case, it became especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when the energy and support for nurses flourished at an incredibly challenging time. Though the pandemic has waned and many of us have returned to regular working conditions, the pressures on nurses, individually and collectively, persists. According to 2023 re-registration surveys in New York, 15% of hospital patient care RNs between the ages of 20 and 39 reported plans to leave their current position within the next 12 months – nearly the same percentage as nurses ages 60 and up who are planning to soon retire.

Nurses have always been the backbone of our health care system, serving as the first point of interaction with patients and advocating for them as key intermediaries with physicians. To ensure we have a sustained, skilled and diverse workforce for years to come, the private and public sectors must partner on short- and long-term investments in both the recruitment and retention of nurses.

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Medical Xpress

Oral health plays a critical role in a person’s overall health and well-being, yet many New Yorkers face limited access to the oral health services they need. Identifying where these needs are most acute can help guide resource allocation to fill service gaps.

A new report, released by the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the University at Albany’s School of Public Health, indicates that improving access to  services in New York State requires a broader understanding of oral health needs and the challenges that underserved populations face. The study, conducted by CHWS, identified geographic areas throughout the state with the highest oral health needs.

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Vox

Michael Bloomberg last week gave $1 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, to make medical school free for most students there.

It’s a well-meaning gesture, aiming to remedy America’s doctor shortages that have left more than 100 million Americans without access to regular primary care, particularly in rural and low-income communities. “By reducing the financial barriers to these essential fields, we can free more students to pursue careers they’re passionate about — and enable them to serve more of the families and communities who need them the most,” Bloomberg said in a statement…

…When you hear there is a shortage of physicians, you probably think: Okay, I get it, America doesn’t have enough doctors overall. Right?

“That question in and of itself is not decided,” Gaetano Forte, assistant director of SUNY Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies, told me.

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The Engagement Ring (University at Albany)

Dr. Jean Moore of the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) is the guest on this episode of The Engagement Ring. Dr. Moore discusses a recent CHWS study, supported by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, that examined the problem of the nursing shortage in New York State and identified promising strategies for improving the recruitment and retention of patient care RNs, with a special emphasis on safety-net hospitals.

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Channel 6 News WRGB Albany 

CAPITAL REGION, NY (WRGB) — A new study released by U-Albany’s Center for Workforce Health Studies (CWHS) takes a deep dive into the stressors registered nurses in hospitals are facing.

The study was conducted in collaboration with the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, over 8 months over 50 hospital representatives and staff were interviewed.

Some of the key findings were burnout and workforce shortages continuing post-pandemic. “I don’t think we fully appreciated how challenging the work environment is for registered nurses in hospitals, things like patient acuity, and short staffing,” said Joan Moore, CWHS Director.

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City & State New York

Only two-thirds of licensed registered nurses are active in New York State, according to a new study released at Mother Cabrini Foundation’s Healthier Communities, Healthier People Summit Wednesday.

…According to Jean Moore, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the School of Public Health at SUNY Albany, preceptors are essential to guiding registered nurses into the field.

“From our study, we learned that nurse residency programs are successful because they have experienced nurses serving as preceptors to mentor new nurses,” Moore said. “As older nurses exit from patient care, the facilities have less experienced nurses to draw from, which makes it a lot harder, not just to run the residency programs, but also to just acclimate new graduates to units.”

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City & State New York

A new report addressing challenges to statewide registered nursing recruitment and retention will be released at the Healthier Communities, Healthier People summit on Wednesday, hosted by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation at the Museum of the City of New York and presented by City & State.

The study, prepared by Mother Cabrini in partnership with the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies, will detail leading causes of nursing shortages and potential strategies to be implemented by New York state hospitals. Based on interviews and focus groups with chief nursing executives and human resource experts hailing from 60 hospitals, the analysis will identify the most promising solutions to address the shortage.

“This study is further evidence of the pervasive RN shortages and workplace culture challenges that are urgently impacting all aspects of health systems in New York – from staff experience and patient outcomes to the sustainability of hospitals,” said Jean Moore, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies. “Conducting this research is necessary to identify key challenges and map out both short and long-term solutions that will support our RN workforce for years to come.”

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