MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Wanted: A few good nurses.

At least seven or eight registered nurses are needed at Oconee Regional Medical Center in Milledgeville to bring the full-time nursing staff up to where it should be, according to Deborah Block, vice president of nursing operations.

Just a few weeks ago, the need for registered nurses was even higher at ORMC, but some of the open positions have now been filled and Block is hopeful the other positions currently open will be filled in the near future.

Since last August, the hospital has lost 20 registered nurses.

While some of them retired, others sought other job opportunities elsewhere in health care, Block told The Union-Recorder during a telephone interview Thursday. Another nurse is out on an extended medical leave.

“We have some vacant positions, but we aren’t short nurses at the hospital,” Block said. “We staff our shifts with the nurses that we need. Do we have open positions? Yes; we have some open positions.”

Three registered nurses have retired from the hospital since late last summer, and 16 other registered nurses departed for various reasons, most of them to seek other job opportunities. Two of the former registered nurses quit because their spouses got transferred through their jobs to other areas.

“These people left the hospital on a voluntary basis,” Block said, noting they were not part of any layoff due to the hospital’s financial troubles that have plagued the medical institution for the past several years.

Some of the vacant registered nursing positions have been filled in recent months.

Block said there are currently seven or eight registered nursing positions open at the ORMC.

“We have no (hiring) freeze, at least where nurses are concerned,” Block said. “Every position is always looked at to ensure that it’s one that does need to be refilled. That goes across the board, not just nursing.”

Aside from full-time registered nursing positions open at ORMC, there also is a need for some nurses on a part-time basis.

“We staff the number of nurses that we need to meet the needs of the patients every shift,” Block said. “Now, if we’ve got open positions that aren’t filled, then we have to use supplemental staffing with nursing agencies.”

Block emphasized that ORMC always strives to ensure it has the right number of nurses to meet the needs of the patients at the hospital.

She said the situation has not been an ideal one.

“It’s not ideal because (nursing) agency staffs, while they are a great resource when you are in a pinch or when you have an unexpected increase in your census of patients, they are a great resource, but that’s not what you want to have as your core group of nurses working every day,” Block said.

Ideally, Block said she would rather have all these positions filled and all nurses that are ORMC nurses who are committed to the local hospital, engaged and taking care of local patients.

Block said ORMC uses different nursing agencies to assist them when the need arises.

Anyone interested in applying for a registered nurse position at ORMC can go to the hospital’s website, and click on careers and opportunities and then onto employment.

“They can apply that way, which is one of the easiest and fastest ways,” Block said.