U.S. Senator John Boozman Questions VA Officials on Nursing Shortage

WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, questioned Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials about nursing shortages at VA medical facilities. Boozman discussed the significant shortage of critical nursing staff at John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock and acknowledged the problem extends beyond Arkansas.

He pressed VA officials on the need to recruit and retain nurses to practice at VA facilities.

“Nursing has been a problem for all of health care. We have been working aggressively in Little Rock. We have had our chief nursing officer working with the facility to identify staff in nursing to get to the facility,” Dr. Tom Lynch, Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for Health Clinical Operations at the Veterans Health Administration told Boozman during the hearing.

Lynch said VA is looking for opportunities to make the compensation for nurses competitive with the private sector.