By Dr. Kit Bredimus
Chief Nursing Officer for Midland Memorial Hospital
In a focused effort to recognize the crucial role nurses have in patient care, Midland Memorial announced a program to boost wages for nursing staff. The increase in pay, which was implemented on Jan. 30, will help attract and retain skilled nurses at the bedside.
The pay raises are part of $1.8 million for increased pay in addition to professional development and practice enhancements the hospital plans this year.
“COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the community and the hospital, creating a wave of staffing challenges across the country that we are feeling here locally”, said Dr. Kit Bredimus, Chief Nursing Officer for Midland Memorial Hospital. “We need to not only maintain an excellent working environment for staff but remain competitive in the market for high quality nurses and support staff.”
Healthcare organizations across the country are dealing with staffing shortages, particularly nurses. Many nurses have left the workforce in the wake of COVID-19 due to retirement, emotional and physical burnout, or to join traveling nursing agencies continuing to see record growth as nurses leave hospitals to take contract assignments.
The hospital will boost minimum starting salaries for registered nurses (RN) to $30.74 per hour for associate degree prepared nurses and increase earnings for existing nurses with pay differentials between levels of experience and educational preparation. For example, new graduate bachelors prepared RN would start at over $35 per hour.
The hospital is also increasing educational support and recruitment program for licensed vocational nurses (LVN), increasing wages to a minimum of $23.35 per hour in addition to pathways for transitioning into RN programs.
The average increase for current nurses was $2.97 per hour and affected approximately 300 individuals.
In addition to the pay rates for bedside nurses, MMH has made changes to its professional development ladder to further recognize and reward those nurses who go above and beyond. MMH offers full nursing scholarships, tuition assistance, paid national board certification, paid professional organizations dues, and the only nationally accredited nurse residency and fellowship in the Permian Basin.
“I am incredibly proud of our nurses and their continued dedication to our patients, community, and each other through this pandemic,” said Dr. Bredimus. “Through this crisis, we have continuously engaged our frontline nurses to hear their needs and constantly adapted our offerings accordingly to support our entire workforce. The increase in wages and the other professional support and advancement opportunities are just a few of the frontline-driven initiatives we have implemented.”
MMH offers staff mental health, wellness, and financial support resources in addition to career growth and education assistance.
In the future, MMH is working to increase the minimum starting salary for all employees, recognizing essential employees are throughout the organization.
“The challenges Midland Health and other healthcare organizations have and will face during the pandemic are unprecedented. The extraordinary and dedicated caregivers at
Midland Health are incredibly important to the health and wellness of the communities we serve,” said Stephen Bowerman, Midland Health Chief Operating Officer.
