Letter: Health care industry needs to train nurses

I was a bit shocked when I read the headline, “Heath care shortage leaves Hawaii hurting” (Star-Advertiser, Aug. 30).

My wife is a registered nurse. She passed the NCLEX exam in October 2018 and looked for months before finding any opening. She works at a location far from our home, for less than she would make on the mainland, and has constantly updated her resume and continued looking for a better position, to no avail.

As a result, we are now seriously considering moving to the mainland, where she has had better offers. Yes, there may be many openings for RNs in Hawaii, but those hiring only want nurses who already have years of experience. It seems they don’t want to go through the trouble of training anyone. Basically, they want to have their cake and eat it, too.

How are these nurses to obtain the experience the companies desire? She has a few friends who are going through the same thing.

James Dylan

Halawa

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