VA Nurses Struggle in Uncertain Times

Like many of their federal colleagues, nurses who staff the Department of Veterans Administration (VA) are dealing with tremendous uncertainty. In February, an AP story pointed out that nurses caring for military veterans through the VA were grappling with a Trump administration deferred resignation offer amid longstanding staffing shortages and that unions were discouraging nurses from accepting the offer. More recently, the AP reported that the administration was planning to cut 80,000 employees from the VA, though the story did not say whether nurses would be among those let go.

Jennifer S. Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president of the American Nurses Association, is hearing from numerous nurses about concerns over the VA. “Because of all the general uncertainty, in addition to the confusion about who’s supposed to be cut, who’s not supposed to be cut, nurses are afraid,” Kennedy said in an interview. “We already know it takes a very long time to hire and retain a nurse, and here we are creating undue and unneeded circumstances where nurses just are afraid to even apply to the VA.”

“We need someone to provide very clear messaging and very clear guidelines and reassure nurses at the national level that they’re not going to be fired or they’re not going to be let go, and that that’s operationalized appropriately,” said Kennedy. The VA, she noted, is the largest employer of nurses in the country.

Suffering from Shortage

Kennedy points out that VAs have suffered from resource shortages. “These are areas that were very under-resourced for a very long time and have been in desperate need of the resources they’re finally getting. As we’re finally getting them the resources, this is not the time to cut back.” The VA expanded under the Biden administration, the AP reports.

Losing Wisdom

Kennedy noted that offering a buyout for retirement can result in a loss of experienced staff. “You’re going to lose that expertise and wisdom of those experienced nurses who have a reasonable way out in uncertain times.”

Kennedy noted that the ANA communicates with elected officials to provide feedback and insight about what happens when nurses are cut. These letters provide “very logical and rational reasons why we need to keep every nurse at the VA.”

“It is absolutely vital that we protect staffing in every hospital,” Kennedy said. “Whether it’s the VA cuts or Medicaid cuts, people deserve the best and safest healthcare,” she said. “We deserve nurses to be able to provide care without the moral distress of not being able to provide the best, and our veterans deserve that for everything that they have done for our country.”