Nursing shortage in Nevada hospitals may redirect ambulances

By MICHELLE L. PRICE
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada hospitals are seeing a severe shortage of nurses, and some northern Nevada hospitals are nearly out of staffed beds for patients. State health officials said Thursday that Nevada, like much of the country, is grappling with a nursing shortage. Nevada had a shortage of nurses even before the pandemic, when each wave of the virus drove some to leave the profession. Dr. Chris Lake with the Nevada Hospital Association said Thursday the issue has been compounded by the number of people who are unvaccinated and end up in the hospital and evacuations of a northern Nevada hospital because of a wildfire that pushed patients into other already-crowded hospitals.