October 5, 2004: Massachusetts: The nursing shortage eases:"The nursing shortage in Massachusetts has eased -- with the vacancy rate dropping from 8.5 percent in January 2003 to 6.8 percent in January of this year, according to a study released last week by the state hospital association and the Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives. But hospital officials and nurses cautioned that the long crisis in the nursing profession is far from over."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2004/10/05/the_nursing_shortage_eases/
Hmmmm . . .I wonder what kind of sign-on bonuses, recruitment tactics they're using. . . . somehow I don't think their nursing vacancy rates are going to stay that low for long.
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.comI would not be surprised if the decline in the vacancy rate is due in part to "financial reorganization". I have witnessed this in a couple of facilities. During the budget process, vacant nurse positions that have been open for a period of time are deleted "because they aren't going to be filled anytime soon anyway.." TaaDaa! Instant decline in the RN vacancy rate!
I think a lot of companies would have less pain if they increased the number of nurses to every patient. And if nurses stuck together more often we could make this change happen.
Leah L. Logan
It is pretty amazing what kind of games they can play with their "number crunching" to produce the results they want.
Had not heard of the "reorganization" method before. Very sneaky.
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.comnursinghumor wrote:It is pretty amazing what kind of games they can play with their "number crunching" to produce the results they want.
Had not heard of the "reorganization" method before. Very sneaky.
Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly.com, A National Nursing & Consumer Health Directory
Yes Andrew, the numbers can be changed to reflect what they want you to see. Reorganizing their staffing diagram is one way. Has anyone else noticed a trend in job availability recently with hospitals? I have seen job openings up and available for months yet putting an application in will get you a "we are reviewing you application and if interested we will be contacting you" canned email response meanwhile months go by and the position is still open and no one has called for at least an interview? Not sure why they do this but it gets irritating to say the least...
