Nurses exist to help patients – that’s our top priority. So, when we look at the state of health care in 2017, it’s through the lens of whether it is getting easier or harder for patients to access the care they need. The answer is, it’s a mixed bag. Arizona nurses are playing a more prominent role in providing safe, quality care. But not all of the news is good; uncertainty swirls around health care policy in Arizona and nationally.

Advanced practice nurses, who typically have graduate degrees and additional training, are gearing up for a fight to further expand the scope of their practice.

Arizona’s health care system may experience some cloudy days as the state may soon face its greatest nursing shortage since the 1970s. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, 16 states are not going to have an adequate supply of nurses by the year 2025.

A Democratic lawmaker wants to require Arizona schools to post health-related information on their websites including immunization rates among students – information he says is especially important given the measles outbreak originating at Disneyland.

Hospital care suffers because overworked nurses are assigned too many patients and are unable to voice their concerns out of fear of reprisals from administrators, members of a nurses union said Dec. 8. About 300 nurses from across the country demonstrated outside the offices of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, a group that advocates for hospitals and health care systems, in support of legislation that would, among other things, cap nurse-to-patient ratios.