Page 36 of Who Will Care For You? WA Hospitals Face a Personnel Crisis by Washington State Hospital Association

the change to a longer curriculum has been a source of frustration for some hospitals particularly those in rural areas doctoral level training is not required for the types of pharmacy work in those areas hospitals worry that pharmacists with doctoral training will only be interested in positions at large urban medical centers where they are able to conduct doctoral level work an estimated 120 students graduate from pharmacy programs each year in washington state two educational programs for pharmacists operate in the state one at the university of washington and the other at washington state university aides function aides provide the very personal kinds of health care required by patients aides work is vital to the promotion of health and healing certified nursing assistants take a class approved by the washington state nursing care quality assurance commission they must pass an exam and become licensed by the state to perform certain patient care tasks such as taking vital signs certified nursing assistants are heavily used by hospitals to perform patient between 1996 and hygiene tasks take routine vital signs and deliver 2006 demand for home patient meals in nursing homes they assist resihealth aide employment dents in their activities of daily living and perform much of the patient care another type of aide registered nursing assistant receives registration is expected to increase from the state after several hours of basic instrucby 22 percent tion they also perform patient care tasks numbers there were 7,260 home health aides and 22,440 nursing aides orderlies and attendants working in washington state in 1998 washington had 128 home health aides and 394 nursing aides orderlies and attendants per 100,000 population in 1998 which ranked 29th and 42nd respectively among the 50 states between 32

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