Hug a nurse this week.

Byline: The Register-Guard

It's smack in the middle of National Nurses Week, high time to salute - and thank - the more than 1,400 registered nurses working at Lane County hospitals, clinics and care centers.

Lane County's nurses are members of the largest health care occupation in the nation, a skilled workforce that holds 2.4 million jobs.

In addition to administering treatment and medications to ill or injured patients, RNs perform a vital and often underappreciated role providing medical education, advice and emotional support to patients' families. RNs who work in critical care and trauma treatment also regularly become the first professional resource to provide grief counseling to family members confronting the death of a loved one.

As medical technology has evolved, RNs have had to master increasingly complex equipment while simultaneously making the transition to computerized health records. So it goes without saying that these multi-tasking medical pros have to be intelligent, lifelong learners. But they also have to be physically tough, psychologically resilient and, to put it bluntly, brave.

Nursing is a dangerous job, especially in hospitals, nursing care facilities and clinics, where nurses may care for individuals with deadly communicable diseases. RNs must be constantly vigilant to prevent needle sticks. Back injury is a career-ending possibility every time an unstable patient must be moved. Around every corner there's a smorgasbord of hazards: radiation, caustic chemicals, compressed gasses, electrical shocks.

Compounding the physical dangers are the relentless psychological stresses of a 24/7 profession. Changing work shifts, disrupted sleep cycles and mandatory overtime make life unpredictable and can lead to early burnout.

Then there's the emotional strain of constant exposure to human suffering and untimely death. It's a largely unavoidable aspect of hospital nursing, where three out of five RNs work, and it contributes to the high turnover of nurses in critical care units, emergency departments and operating rooms.

Despite the demands and the danger, nurses typically bring a passion and commitment to their work that would be the envy of any profession. Students are flocking to nursing schools in record numbers.

Unfortunately for Oregonians, the state's nursing schools are only able to enroll one of every five or six qualified applicants. The dual demographic imperatives of an aging population and an exodus of retiring nurses - nearly one-half of Oregon's RNs are 50 years of age or older - make it clear that the capacity to educate nurses must be increased.

More immediately, addressing workload and working conditions for the dedicated nurses who are on the job today would be one of the best short-term investments citizens could make in health care improvement. A study published in the January-February 2006 journal Health Affairs reported that if hospitals invested in appropriate RN staffing, thousands of lives and millions of dollars could be saved each year.

Nurses are the front-line providers of most of the care patients receive from birth to the final hours of life. They deserve our heartfelt gratitude this National Nurses Week, and every week.