Labor Shortages

`The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has revised an earlier study detailing severe shortages of dentists in several California counties. A technical error -- which arose because some ZIP Codes span two counties -- caused an underestimate in the total number of active dentists and the ratio of dentists to population in some areas. The overall remain largely the same: Some counties are experiencing a severe shortage and others may soon see shortages when aging dentists retire.

Have a toothache in Alpine County? Tough luck. There are no active dentists there, making it the most underserved dental population in California, according to a report released Thursday by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The 700-square-mile mountainous region is one of several counties with severe dentist shortages. San Benito and Inyo counties have less than one dentist per 5,000 people; Imperial and Colusa counties have less than one dentist per 4,000.

University of California hospital nurses voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike in a dispute about staffing levels, the California Nurses Assn. said Tuesday. The vote, which ended Sunday night, allows the negotiating team to call a strike if it reaches a point where it feels that further talks are fruitless. Beth Kean, director of the association's University of California division, said the nurses are upset because UC has been cutting staff at all five hospitals for what appears to be financial reasons, even though the hospitals are profitable.

Aiming to ease farm labor shortages, the Bush administration issued sweeping changes to the nation's agricultural guest worker program Thursday, but California growers said the action would have only a minimal effect on their needs. The controversial rules, many months in the making by U.S.

California could run short of college graduates needed to keep its economy humming by 2025, a think tank warned in a report to be issued today. As a result, the state may not have enough teachers, computer programmers, scientists and other key workers to meet escalating 21st century demands. If current trends continue, in 16 years the state should expect 4 out of every 10 workers to earn at least a bachelor's degree, said a study by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Australia's navy has been ordered on vacation for two months over Christmas, with military chiefs saying the shutdown is the best way to deal with chronic staff shortages, the government announced today. Navy commanders had ordered all ships not on overseas operations to return to port over the holiday period, while docked vessels would be manned by only skeleton staff to maintain on-board security. The navy faces serious staff shortages, with 2,020 skilled vacancies and a 27% yearly recruitment shortfall, exacerbated by 11% of staff quitting the service each year.

As a physician in Peru, Luis Garcia amassed nine years of medical education and five years of practice, including successful appendectomies, Cesarean deliveries and other surgeries. Since he immigrated to Southern California four years ago, he has earned a community college degree specializing in geriatrics. The only work he's been able to find, however, has been cat-sitting, dog-walking and elder care. That's because Garcia hasn't yet been able to pass the battery of requirements for a U.S.

Earlier this week, the dean at USC's Keck School of Medicine warned of an "impending patient safety crisis" at the new County-USC Medical Center set to open next month, telling Los Angeles County supervisors in a letter that he was concerned that the hospital "will not be able to operate safely with the current staffing available." On Thursday, however, the dean, Dr. Carmen A.

During a typical 12-hour shift, Hector Hernandez can be found in just about any corner of Kaiser Sunset, tending to premature infants and the elderly, to patients with asthma and those with AIDS, to heart attack victims and survivors of car wrecks. He connects patients to ventilators, evaluates lung capacity and blood gases and administers oxygen and aerosol medications. Clad in green scrubs and white running shoes, he is often the first to arrive on a "code blue" -- the term that is broadcast when a patient has stopped breathing.

Federal officials announced Friday that they would assess the air traffic control staffing levels and their effects on safety at Los Angeles International Airport and two other key locations in California. The action comes at the request of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who contends that the nation's control towers may be understaffed. In addition to LAX, the Inspector General's Office of the U.S.