According to several Canadian and US heathcare organizations, the nursing shortage has several causes, including: lack of funding for full-time positions and available seats for nursing students, undesirable working conditions that drive nurses away (stress of overtime and heavy workloads, etc), and workplace abuse. This shortage will be further exacerbated within the next decade as nearly half of the experienced nurses will retire.
Some suggested solutions for ways to correct this shortage include: more funding for schools of nursing, provision of more full-time positions, the option of part-time work for nurses with more seniority without losing benefits, strategies aimed at improving the workplace by having sufficient nurses, effective leadership, and opportunities to further education.
What I am interested in learning about is how registered nurses/nursing students/LPNs have experienced the nursing shortage and its effects in the workplace. Do you agree with these organizations’ opinions on the cause of the shortage and what can be done about it? What have your employers done to help attract nurses to work for them? What are your opinions, questions, or comments on the subject?
The BC government has a page
boasting what it says it is doing about the nursing shortage:
-provided nearly $60 million to recruit, train, and retain BC nurses
-created 1,813 spaces for students (an expected 6, 500 new graduated by 2006)
-provided $15 million for patient lifts and hospital beds to improve workplace conditions
-provided a 23% wage increase
-introduced forgivable BC student loans for graduates working in rural areas
Likely the provincial/state governments in many areas have made similar claims or provided similar funds. Has anyone noticed any positive results from these measures? If so, what benefits have you seen? What are your opinions, questions, comments? http://www.healthservices.gov.bc.ca/bchealthcare/nurses.html
OK you gave me the opportunity to get on my soapbox so here goes....!!!
I've been a nurse for a long time and one of the biggest problems I see is that organizations do everything to attract new nurses but nothing to retain the experienced nurses that they have. Many nurses job hop every few years as the next place will give them a bonus for coming to work for them but the place they work will not give them a retention bonus....even if they ask. I worked at a place 2 years ago that lost 4 experienced tele nurses for this very reason. Also one of the reasons I left. I asked for a 3% raise and was told I was at the top of the pay scale and they couldn;'t give it to me....so I was worth less for the next year as inflation is >3%!! What's wrong with this picture?!
I agree with you wholeheartedly.. I left a great hemodialysis job in Maine making..$22/hr.. ONE MONTH to the day my former boss offered me 20% that's TWENTY PERCENT to come back...Where was the money when I was there.. At 3 months out she offered me 30% THIRTY PERCENT....They had the money all along..
The day I gave my notice she said to me " Many people have left to go to XYZ company and they came back"...Guess what I've been gone for 19 months. Now it's a principal thing. I got no respect. I don't work in conditions like that.. People come to hospitals and clinics for nursing care not doctoring, not for the comfy beds, or the food..That's called the Holiday Inn....
With all the opportunities for young people to have a rewarding career and feed their families, put their kids through college, and have funds for their retirement most are not looking to nursing. Not staff nursing anyway..
Ulturism (sp) doesn't put a roof over your head or food in your belly.. My son lives in the Baltimore area. We looked at condos in the area around Xmas time.. Nothing under 180K.. How can someone making $20/hour afford that. He graduted from HS , barely. Went into the USMC will do 9 years there. Special Intell .. He will get out next spring and already has a job lined up that will most probably touch 6 figures. I have a college education. BSN .. Work in a highly specialized area of nursing. I have been an RN for 7 years and an LPN of 17.. Total 24 years and won't come close to 6 figures this year or next ..Probably never.
Ok I am getting down....Pay me what I'm worth .. I'll stay.
It's great for all these organizations to have figured out why there is a nursing shortage. Like it wasn't obvious before they stated it. I think when there is evidence of RNs responsible for as many as 12 patients in a shift, we become aware of a huge crisis on hand and can figure out why more people aren't racing to become nurses. How much did those organizations spend figuring out that there was a shortage?
To begin making a difference in the nursing arena, there first has to be major changes. Nurses are still not portrayed as the full sum of their roles and responsibilities. I'd love to see some of the government officials that say that nurses are payed enough spend a set of four shifts with a nurse and actually become totally aware of the extent of the duties. It's not all about the money, if it was, there would be NO nurses! Some acknowledgement would be nice. Secondly, I am from B.C. and am horribly disgusted with our main figure for the BCNU. At times I think of going to another province to work, so that I am not associated with her. During the strike talks when the government was talking about ALL the nurses getting a huge wage,the highest in all of Canada, did she say ANYTHING about the fact that 95% of nurses will never make the top wage bracket? And what about the patients? Decreasing the workload will retain nurses within this province and will be an encouraging point to future nursing students, not to mention a higher work satisfaction and lower burnout rate for nurses and increased patient safety. I don't think in my four years as an RN that I have ever had less than eight patients to care for in a shift. This is only going to get worse with increased cutbacks in health care.
It's sad to say, but I'm seriously looking below the border!
Personally I wouldn't get to excited about nursing in the USA..8 is a cake walk for many here.. Many would be envious..
I work in a chronic outpatient hemodialysis unit.. We dialyze 36 patients on MWF and 28 on TTHS.. That's 64 patients I am responsible for in a week. Yes, I know most of them quite well.. I have been here on a travel assignment since the end of Sept. Many days I am the only licensed person in the unit. Managers are so over worked with the finances of running the unit that they are not able to help. If it weren't for my patients being grateful I'd get out of nursing too...
The powers that be have to remember that they need nurses. When my son gets a 50 cent raise at Mikey D's and I get 30 cents that's an insult...And yes it is about the money.
Money says we are valuable too..
WR,,, three commas for Becca
Several studies have shown that each extra patient a nurse has reduces each of her patients chances of survival by something like 7%.. I'm not citing anything a good RN doesn't already know...
I will say again it is about the money.. You don't see engineers leaving, you don't see Alaskan fisherman not returning and that's gotta be a he** job...
Another way to spend money is to have more staff..
Just my 2 cents.
WR,,, three commas for Becca
I follow the merekat motto:
Respect the Elders, Teach the Young, Cooperate with Family, Play when you can, Work when you should, Rest in between, Share your Affection, Voice your feelings, Leave your Mark.
Speaking of the salary.. doesn't it make your stomach turn when you notice the hospital administration is perfectly willing to pay outrageous amounts for agency filler staff or travel nurses rather than look into increasing what it offers to it's own nurses and recruitment incentives?
Just read a news item about how the new mandatory staffing ratio law in California is squeezing hospitals there who are already short on nursing staff and the article said many Northern California hospitals are now willing to offer brand new associate degree nursing grads (new grads!!) $70,000 PLUS sign on bonuses to start.
I'm a travel nurse so yes I have noticed it.. And I say pay me what I'm worth and I'll stay home..
We had an employee who taught computer charting in the local hospital I worked in last in 2000.. She had carpel tunnel and surgery. She quit her job.. Now she is back as a "consultant" ... What you bet she is making more money.
Cali needs 70,000/year...And they are worth it. I have a refridgerator magnet of a ramshackle shack that says.
CALIFORNIA FIXER-UPPER $999,999.....
And you can tell a Califorian when he makes $350K and can't afford a house.
WR,,, three commas for Becca
The merekat motto.
Respect the Elders, Teach the Young, Cooperate with Family, Play when you can, Work when you should, Rest in between, Share your affection, Voice your feelings, Leave your Mark.
OK, I guess that I might as well add my .02 cents worth
In my opinion, the shortage is not going to improve until Nurses are paid what they are worth! I know that I am going out on a limb here, but after 11 years of being a RN and going to work for a pharmaceutical company, I honestly feel like RNs should be paid a 6 figure salary and I am not talking about travelers, agency, contract, etc. I am talking about a staff nurse in a hospital.
Think about the hours, dedication, knowledge base, education, certifications, CEUs...the list goes on that we have to have.
Wake up people! Nurses are the ones who are providing care to these very sick patients that are in the hospitals now; consistantly assessing and evaluating, making life saving decisions, etc. Sorry for getting up on my soap box, but come on, really think about this. People do not choose hospitals just because their physician has admitting privildges there, it is because of the reputation of the care that they receive at hospitals. And who do they receive that care from? NURSES. Additionally, who on earth wants to work the shifts that we work, be on call, work weekends, holidays, etc for the pay that is being offered? This is not rocket science, if potential Nursing students really realized how hard the job is and the medial pay, they would reconsider.
OK, I'll get off my soap box and please know that I am not bitter or jaded as I am proud to say that I am a RN. All things considered related to our profession, we have to be the most underpaid profession out there. Having said that, it is very comforting to know that I will ALWAYS have a job and a good steady income. However, comparatively, we deserve so much more salary.
I may take a brow beating for this, but BRING IT ON!
Jordan, I think you will find that a number of nurses will agree with you. Having talked to litterally thousands of nurses, the fincancial aspect has to be one of the most common complaint, along with conflict in the workplace.
I agree wholeheartedly with Jordan that RN's should get a six figure salary and not one bit less! I believe the profession needs a major pay scale overhaul and a strong lobby to force safe staffing and reasonable workloads. It does not help that our professional organizations keep sending documentation plans out of their ivory towers that continue to increase the paperwork load on nurses either.
I still believe that nurses don't stand a chance of achieving aqeduate pay and decent conditions to practice in as long as we are "employees" (wage slaves) tied to the whims and dictates of our employers. What other "Professional" is treated as an hourly employee for crying out loud???
Physicians arent -- unless they work ER shifts for a group..
Lawyers arent
Teachers aren't...
etc..
So how can we be treated AS Professionals UNTIL we have the same autonomy real professionals do??
In my opinion, until nurses refuse to "get hired" as an employee of hospitals & other health care institutions and start to work as independant contractors we as a profession don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of actually being taken seriously and treated as "professionals"- ie: recieving equitable pay for services, working conditions that are acceptable etc.
I believe that nurses are going to have to communicate together to develop plans for this.. nationwide if possible... then break free of the traditional mold and form their own Nursing Practice Groups-- like doctors have practice groups...
The practice group would hire new "partners & associates" like law firms do-- grab those new grads & experienced nurses into the group.. then as a group-- a group of RN's all run by RN's-- contract with hospitals etc.
In this way we could set fee schedules such as doctors do-- fee for procedures-- so much per hour of professional bedside care, floor nursing, x amount for procedures- (* dressing change & wound assessment = $x dollars per each) etc.
Only in that way will Nursing truly become a profession and only in that way will WE set our worth and be able to attain it financially and condition wise- and make this profession exciting and desirable for new students in the future.
In my opinion at any rate..
What do you guys think of my idea?
Hey Sara, i should have married you. I agree with everything you said. How do we do it though. And we can't look to the government for anything. thanks Mike
You won't get flamed by me... I agree with you totally.. Pay us what we are worth... People go to hospitals, clinics, etc for nursing care.. Not doctoring..
Greetings, just joined the discussion, am not up to full speed yet on everything. Been an RN for 11 yrs, currently doing pool-Psyche/Occupational Health. Love my little niche, however, no bene's. But will NOT go back to the full time work force as it exists currently. We're supposed to be professionals, but we let ourselves be used as laborers. Until that mindset is changed, don't expect anything else to change. We should be earning six figures for what we do. Here in MA, the legislature actually put an emergency/closed door meeting with unnamed people, law that cut out LTC facilities offering OT shifts for nurses unless they'd already worked a 40hr shift there. That was the last time I worked LTC-I firmly believe in voting with your feet. What other profession would let this happen, especially when the law of supply & demand is in our favor? It makes no sense at all. If you want an answer to why nurses are leaving, this is one of them! Another reason why I think, as a male, the majority will acquiece to administration's demands for unreasonable workloads, complain about it behind their backs, but will not DO anything to make it better. Sincerely, Neil Fahey RN, CLNC
I recently heard the statistics on RN's in the US. I believe it was someting like this; 2.7 million RN's in the country and only 1.3 million working at the bedside.
Obviously, RN's are getting burned out and leaving the hospitals. If they would promise us fair pay, reasonable Nurse to Patient ratios and better working conditions, there wouldn't be a nursing shortage at all. These administrators, legistators, insurance company personnel need to think about something --- who is going to take care of their loved ones when they go in the hospital? Don't they want a nurse who has a reasonable patient load? Don't they want to know that the nurse caring for their loved ones has experience, instead of all the experienced nurses having left disgruntled with the working conditions? Good healthcare is dependent on NURSES. Everyone eventually needs healthcare at some time or another. Maybe someone should start thinking about treating us better.
Mike...
It could be done. I think some enterprising nurse could set up a practice group along the lines nursing agencies use for starters. Instead of the nurses being "employees" of the group though they could be brought in more along the lines of a law firm- associates, and partners. A business plan could most definitely be drawn up.
Heck-- a forum such as this could have a discussion topic about the idea & we could begin a grass roots movement right here, right now, that could reform the profession. All it would take would be working up a plan & a few nurses with business sense & enterprising spirit to form it up! Someone younger and not as tired as me though.. *grin*
This is from an RN of 32 years who has left the hospital several times for desk jobs, occupational health and hospice when I have become burned-out and needed to leave for a while to recoup. I have always come back to hospital nursing because I feel the patients really need a competent, experienced nurse who will advocate for them, and because I have always learned so much from working the floors. This time, I left my permanent stressful job on a wound care unit in the hospital for travel nursing. After a 13 week assignment, I can take 2-3 weeks off traveling to the next assignment refreshed and ready to give all again for another 13 weeks. The three big problems in hospital nursing now I think is 1) money. They don't pay nurses enought for what they do for the patients and the stress on the body and mental stress. Why hospitals will pay agency so much rather than give their staff a raise floors me. Right now at the hospital I am at, they have raised the nurse/patient ration, and as a result, have had to bring in Fastaff nurses to totally staff their medical floor as all the night staff has left!!! Why can't they see what that means? 2) No support from charge and managers who are overwhelmed themselves and stuck in the middle. 3) Nurse-patient ratios, and loss of ancillary staff. Primary care of 6-8 patients is maddness. How I wish I could split myself into 8 of me so that each of my patients could get the care they deserve and their insurance pays for!!!
There are many more reasons nurses are leaving hospitals left and right. Hospitals need to look at retention of their seasoned nurses. Experienced nurses must be on the floors to help the newer nurses learn and experience care that will save their patients. Nurses must stop playing petty games, write each other up, gossip and instead help each other out and become a team. Travel nursing has allowed me to stay in the hospital, because I no longer have to be charge, precept and have 8 patients all at the same time anymore. I just have to care for my 8 in my 12 hours the best I can for 13 weeks at one place and then move on to the next experience. I am concerned that if and when I have to be hospitalized, that the care won't be there and no one will advocate for me.
There isn't much of a shortage where I'm at in KY. It's a community hospital and most people grew up in the town and have stayed in the town. They are down a few nurses in ICU and M/S but it's covered by nurses from the other areas of the hospital when census is low. They also have a critical needs list and nurses from those other areas can sign up to work overtime in those areas (they get other bonuses too for working the critical needs time)
I have been thinking a lot lately about the nursing shortage (espically since I havae been seriously thinking of leaving the field) and I feel that there are many reasons that I have identified: 1) Nurses are not nice to each other in many respects. We don't seem to work as a team, don't seem to support our new grads and new staff members - and we do like to talk behind others backs. 2) There is not enough staff to assist us, so we work short, work more hours, have higher patient loads - and we become more irritable, less likely to work as a team (after all I had to do it all alone) and more likely to be rude to each other 3) Nursing schools not giving a reaslistic picture of what its really like out there. You have 1-2 "Ideal"patients in your clinical experience - how about getting some patients who are rude, aggressively resistive to care, multiple issues such as skin issues, dementia, behaviours, etc. and give students a realistic picutre of what many of the patients are like. Not many are "ideal"4)Not being respected by management or patients and their families - 5) Salaries way below what nurses deserve to be paid.
I have worked with great coworkers and great management people, and have worked with the worst, rudest ones. Unfortunately its the encounters with the rude ones that seem to stick in your mind at the end of a long, stressful day. I have to consciously think of the good encounters to keep my spiritis up.
A supervisior I have now (and think the world of) summarized why she feels that nurses are so strained is the "Nursing is the ONLY field where you have to be 100%perfect 100% of the time." and I think that nurses should be paid accordingly for that.
When Hospitals start listening to their nurses, and treat them like the professionals that they are, all those nurses that have left the profession will come back. And that will be a cold day in hell...hospitals biggest budget item is always nurse's pay..We recently negotiated a first contract that gave us incredible power and voices in how we are staffed and over equipment changes etc. I have been a nurse for 22 years..with the same health system. I got a raise from 27 bucks an hour to 34 $$ an hour. We get incentive premiums of 18-19 bucks an hour if we work on our day off. We have a say in staffing ratios...For all of you who are at the mercy of the hospital...organize..it will do you good..Our small hospital had never been union..never needed it...then in the last five years we were getting screwed. We now have to have language in our contract that limits how many times in a year they can cancel us (overstaff)..we have very few empty positions...we now are able to command respect and decent wages and working conditions and it has done a world of good for our nursing shortage...email me if you have any further questions..
Laura B
It is estimated that with all the new hospital construction taking place in the Dallas/Fort Worth area 3,000 new nurses will be needed just to fill the new spots and this does not include surgery centers and Dr's offices that sprout up along side each new hospital.
The good news for nurses is that they all will be state of the art facilities and will have to offer great benefit packages. So the only real incentive they can use to get you to come to work over a competing hospital is more money
Of Course the bad news is they will all be barely staffed and you will remain overworked
Reading all the replies and complaints about the nursing condition happening in your country, I can't help but feel envious and overwhelmed as to the impact on nursing shortage
all over the globe.
Envious because, you can't imagine how lucky you guys are to have the best of everything, in terms of facilities, tools, equipment, government support, various work opportunities not to mention fringed benefits. I know, things may really be very awful in terms of the standard in your country. So, it really concerns me, what is in store for us nursing students? What kind of future awaits us? Nonetheless, I salute all the nurses in the world for their perceiverance and hardwork. It really takes a great deal of patience and sincere desire to keep up to the demands in our field.
Overwhelmed... it's so ironic since currently, our country is at the brink of suffering the same fate as yours. LACK of QUALIFIED NURSES not to mention in terms of quantity. But nursing schools here is flooded with nursing students every where. I could just imagine the great vacuum this would create after most of the surgeons, pediatricians, anesthestiologist, dentist and other professionals has finished their respective nursing degree. My God can you believe the impact its gonna create? Still, it won't be enough. The good and well experienced nurses has been very fluid already. I mean... after being in years of service to their respective facilities, now, you can just see new faces... and wait for another month or two, new faces will appear.
I know it's pointless to compare to different countries with different socio-economic background, but I can't help but see things as a world wide dilema.
I am guilty! I am one of those professionals, now in the nursing academic arena (and loving it), who will be part of the brain drain. These thoughts never occured to me before. A certain "Charles" (not Chadwick, lol)suggested, "why not study nursing, seems like your gonna be a good one." I woke up one day and asked my self why not? I wasn't expecting so many 2nd coursers in school. Was thinking I'm too old to be going back to college. But not, here I am, one of the few young professionals in nursing school. Suddenly, am thinking twice? But am thinking, if nursing is a guy, and you fell in love with it, should one risk not knowing what's in store you?
I don't believe there is a shortage of qualified nurses. There are more than enough qualified nurses from MSN to LPN. Nurses are often underutilized, and over educated for the position they are hired for. This makes for unhappy nurses and nurses who do not remain in nursing.
So, to reiterate, there is no nursing shortage, just a shortage of BONs who are not strong enough to stand up to the demand of the ANA, the largest RN only organization in the country.
It is all about respect, from other staff, MDs and nurses
and PRIDE in our profession. We keep waiting for someone to help us............we need to help ourselves.
The nursing shortage here in Texas is outrageous! The hospital I work at does not do anything to retain the nurses they have, but will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring nurses in from India, Africa and all over. I agree that everyone has a right to work where they want. But why can't the hospital administrators work on retaining and training the nurses they already have on staff? I am working on my RN, but the hospital has eliminated the scholarship and student loan program, but bring in nurses from other countries, paying all their expenses, plus sign on bonuses. At the same time, the hospital has eliminated sign on bonuses for Texas nurses.
All during this, the patient/nurse ratio keeps climbing, and when anyone says anything about such a heavy load, we are told to "suck it up" since they are so short handed. Are we expected to put our licenses on the line because administration won't pay enough to retain nurses?
Thank you for allowing me to vent. This is my soapbox subject. It just seems ridiculous to me.
I worked at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Laredo Texas when I first graduated Nursing School. It was common for use to have 6-10 patients on a busy med/surg/stepdown unit even seven years ago.
Depending on where you are in Texas, there simply are not enough nurses grown locally to fill the needs. Laredo was a border town bout a mile from the Rio Grande and my nurse manager told me it was notoriously difficult to find staff. Most of the nurses I worked with either grew up in the surrounding area or were contract staff on for a few years and also travelers.
Under those kinds of conditions, with that kind of turnover, it's very difficult to maintain a safe work environment much less quality of patient care.
A lot of nurses that do value their licenses would think twice before staying there. The problem is, "there" is quickly becoming "here" for most of us.
Is it just about the money? I know a nurse buddy that is leaving due to burnout, you couldn't offer enough money for him to stay. I also see new cna/nurses that come in to the field and had no idea what was expected of them to do. Perhaps some of the shortage is some people just don't have the guts to do what we do?!
The problem with the percieved Nursing shortage is the our society lives as a Monday to friday work week and from 7-9 am to 4-6 pm work day. Most nurses have to live in that world but have to fill in the hours on weekends and nights when most of society is enjoying time off. If all shoe stores were required to be open 24 days a week 365 days a year, including all holidays, there would be a shortage of shoe sales clerks. True some places pay a shift differental for night and weekend work but this is usually from $ .50 to 4.00 that really does not compensate for missed family events and child rearing opportunities.
With the development of more international trade now bussiness like the stock market are realizing the missed opportunities by shuting down operations when other markets are still functioning. When our society goes to 24 hour society then maybe nurses will be recognized for all their time.
huegy an RN for 25 years.
I agree with you I have been in nursing for 25 years and am getting tired of all the strange hours. Here in this state they for some reason are replacing nurses with aids.
I agree with all of you. Nurses are way underpaid. I am an RN and have been for two years. For some reason people not in the medical profession think that nurses get paid really good. But when you look at other professions and look at our responsibilities, we do not get paid what we are worth. Why should someone who works with computers get a six figure income, when a nurse is responsible for human lives. I think that in our society today, we put no value on the human life. Thanks for letting me vent.
I was offered a full time nsg instructor position today (been doing clinicals now offered to do lecture) and the pay for a full time insturctor is $20,000 LESS then I make as staff plus I'd have to be working on MSN at the same time..can't take that kind of pay cut.
The biggest obstacle I had to face in the nursing profession was the lack of child care providers that were willing to work 24/7 and the cost. B/C of that issue I have chosen to stay at home.
Nursing is the hardest job there is. You end up with a bad back and frazzeled nerves. Patients and their families think you are their maid. They get mad if you don't answer their call light within seconds even if you are just participating in a code blue in the room next door. Doctors scribble and laugh about it. Nurses have to guess what they write. The whole thing is a joke. Yet, we do it. Why?
Well Nursing school is very hard and I realize it has to be, but if the requirements were just a little easier. Some good people might make it into Nursing. I think I would really be good and my professor said, that I do have the enthusiasm for it, but I am really having a problem in one of my classes. I might add that I do have ADD, which makes my concentration level hard. And I don't take tests well. I am a hands on learner.
I don't want to make light of your ADD. However, Nursing is a difficult profession to practice. It is high stress and physically demanding. You need to be organized, efficient and emotionally available at the same time. \
It is not the place for someone with difficulties such as yours if, your disability will prevent you from giving adequate care.
The classes you are taking are designed to test if you have the ability to provide that care. Not everyone makes the cut, I hope you don't take it personally if you don't make it.
Lowering standards is not the answer if it will result in a decreased quality of care being given. I'd rather keep standards high and have patients get excellent care.
I don't want to make light of your ADD. However, Nursing is a difficult profession to practice. It is high stress and physically demanding. You need to be organized, efficient and emotionally available at the same time. \
It is not the place for someone with difficulties such as yours if, your disability will prevent you from giving adequate care.
The classes you are taking are designed to test if you have the ability to provide that care. Not everyone makes the cut, I hope you don't take it personally if you don't make it.
Lowering standards is not the answer if it will result in a decreased quality of care being given. I'd rather keep standards high and have patients get excellent care.
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I prefer when standards are so high that they cannot be attained and I agree the best possble care should be rendered and if there isn't enough staff oh well at least we can say we don't have any below par nurses lol now we have the best nurses getting burn out. What happens when there are no nurses left?
[ QUOTE ] travelnurse77 said:
Nursing is the hardest job there is. You end up with a bad back and frazzeled nerves. Patients and their families think you are their maid. They get mad if you don't answer their call light within seconds even if you are just participating in a code blue in the room next door. Doctors scribble and laugh about it. Nurses have to guess what they write. The whole thing is a joke. Yet, we do it. Why?
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We do it because up until now we believe we have to take it, we are trained that is how it is "the nature of the beast" so to speak. and to a point that is true the problem is that there is no job security no real benefits (for most)if something happens and you can't do it any more you are left with nothing, after 25 years of nursing and raising 2 kids I have nothing to show for it and the younger nurses want to judge me, evaluate me according to standards set for say a 20 year old. come on people I am 52 years old and I can still do nursing may not be able to run around as quick as I used to. The nursing shortage is not going to get any better as long as the nurses in it are willing to accept the status quo and have tunnel vision. Nursing is so much more than what you do in a hospital and nursing home. It is a profession, a calling, a way of life. So when I see people judging other nurses or keeping people from attaining their goals because of total ignorance for the profession I get sick. I think of Jesus on the cross "Lord forgive them for they know not what they do" I don't think people including nurses really understand the "teachings" of Jesus yet they claim to be followers just like nurses who don't understand the profession go into it for the money, the title, for whatever reason they go into it. I think we need to be able to assess the over all person before we judge them as competent nurses. That is all I have to say
[ QUOTE ] lam said:
I prefer when standards are so high that they cannot be attained and I agree the best possble care should be rendered and if there isn't enough staff oh well at least we can say we don't have any below par nurses lol now we have the best nurses getting burn out. What happens when there are no nurses left?
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If standards were too high to be attained there wouldn't be any graduates. As is, we have plenty of new nurses graduating. It is safe to say standards are fine as they are.
When there isn't enough staff, and nurses realize they will not work under the crappy conditions, they'll cut back their hours, work less and let the hospitals, clinics fend for themselves.
I say "when" though this situation is playing out now.
The hospitals have three choices:
1. Close units, cancel elective surgeries and lose lots of money. Nurse will make themselves available for true emergencies.
2. Hire temp nurses and travelers to fill the gap.
3. Pay nurses what they are worth, give them reasonable workloads to entice them to come back.
Option #3 will solve the shortage and do a great deal to minimize burnout.
There are still some LPN's out there that have never been to school. Many years ago before the LPN came along there were only aides and RN's. When they decided to create the LPN, aids were allowed to take the test and the schooling was waived, Some of these have never worked in a hospital until after this. Such a concept is possible but I would be afraid that people would be only learning what is on the test. After schooling when you pass the test it is a strong indicator that you are a well rounded RN. With out the schooling all it would prove is that you can pass a test. Would you really want to be that type of RN?
there are programs here for LPN's that are a transisition to RN. They go for a short summer course then take the 2nd year of class Aug-May then are ADN graduates and can take boards. Shortage at my hospital is now less then 1% they only hired 10 grads this year with 36 graduating from the community college...however there are 2 larger hospitals within 15 miles (across state lines) they've all getten jobs at.
Stillnotenoughnurses.ca, Ontario Nursing Shortage:"Ontarians are often told that health care costs too much and that Medicare, as we know it, might not be sustainable. In fact, our investment in the system, as a percentage of provincial and federal GDP, has declined for more than a decade. All major political parties have contributed to policies of retrenchment. In the mid and late 1990s, as the provincial Progressive Conservatives took advantage of cuts in federal transfers to seriously restrict public expenditure on health care, RNs lost their jobs and students opted to avoid nursing careers that promised only frustration and insecurity."
Ontario Nursing Association http://www.stillnotenoughnurses.ca/
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Here's a website describing the situation up in Canada. Doesn't matter what country you go to, you'll find the nursing shortage is there.
[QUOTE=medi]Speaking of the salary.. doesn't it make your stomach turn when you notice the hospital administration is perfectly willing to pay outrageous amounts for agency filler staff or travel nurses rather than look into increasing what it offers to it's own nurses and recruitment incentives?
The "outrageous amounts" is not true.
If you travel and want funrnished housing, insurance, etc, etc you can expect to make between $28-36 in most areas.
The "big bucks" come from not having insurance, finding your own housing and paying for ALL the costs of moving every 3 months and paying for your own travel expenses AND accepting the worst (and I do mean bad)assignments that exist. Doesn't sound like much fun.
As far as costs, please remember that each nurse hired costs about $5,000 in new hire costs, and from $10-15/hour in taxes, workmans comp., etc,etc.
That said, I travel because I love nursing, but was burned out from cold hearted management and dealing with nurses ripping each other up. Course, going to Hawaii for 3 months, then California for 6 and home for 3 weeks is pretty cool too.
I'm not thrilled with hiring full time new staff at almost the same rate as the top out rate I'm at after being with the same hospital for 13 years. I wish they'd take off that top rate. We do get a bonus so the % of your evaluation will multiply by your pay from the previous year and you get a lump sum. I'd rather have more per hour with each evaluation then you get more for all of that overtime.
As the United States runs short of nurses, senators are looking abroad. A little-noticed provision in their immigration bill would throw open the gate and, some fear, drain nurses from the world's developing countries.
Its very alarming and It’s no secret that the United States has a nursing shortage, one that promises to grow to alarming proportions. Too many nurses are retiring, and too few are entering the profession. To compound the problem, within the next 5 to 10 years, over 76 million Baby Boomers are scheduled to retire from the workforce, with only about 44 million Generation X'ers available to pick up the slack. This will soon place unprecedented demands for health care agency services / home care agency services on a system that is already stretched thin. The problem is not limited to hospital nursing. Today, there is also a critical shortage of nursing faculty. As a result, thousands of qualified men and women who want to enter the field are being turned away by the nation’s schools of nursing.
And we can capitalize on this business opportunity, by having a our own Nursing Agency, wherein we dont have to be a nurse just to start this business. All we need is the desire to be self employed to be able to tap into this multi billion dollar business.
Start earning money from your own home. You don't have to be a Nurse to start your own Nursing agency or private home care staffing agency. All you need is one of our packages and the desire to be self employed. This is the only industry where there will always be a need to staff hospitals, nursing homes & home care. There is never a fear for competition. Get one of our packages now and you can be in business in less than a month. It is time for any ambitious person to tap into this multi billion dollar industry.
Consider the following benefits of running your own healthcare business
* Be Your Own Boss.
* More Control Over Your Career .
* Work From Home And Spend More Time With Family.
* Set Your Own Hours.
* Have Unlimited Income Potential.
* Be part into this multi billion industry, where there will always
be a shortage.
Hi
I just tried to post a message about lack of response to enquiries about my latest application as part-time RN. I don't know if this went through. Basically, I firstly applied for a post grad but didn't even find out that I hadn't got one until I rang a website number. I applied for part time and asked how the application was progressing. No response. I also asked for feedback on the grad application but nothing. I am getting so annoyed especially as the place I enquired has such a good reputation for peer support. Why don't they just say "We don't want you?" It's sad when you want to be there and you hear that they are shortstaffed and people are doing double shifts. I did really well in my pracs and no I am just so annoyed. While the saying "that no news is good news" at times, I think no news is simply rudeness on the part of some personnel.
trier wrote:Hi
I just tried to post a message about lack of response to enquiries about my latest application as part-time RN. I don't know if this went through. Basically, I firstly applied for a post grad but didn't even find out that I hadn't got one until I rang a website number. I applied for part time and asked how the application was progressing. No response. I also asked for feedback on the grad application but nothing. I am getting so annoyed especially as the place I enquired has such a good reputation for peer support. Why don't they just say "We don't want you?" It's sad when you want to be there and you hear that they are shortstaffed and people are doing double shifts. I did really well in my pracs and no I am just so annoyed. While the saying "that no news is good news" at times, I think no news is simply rudeness on the part of some personnel.
Hi trier,
Sorry to hear bout your hang ups on application as part-time RN. Yes there is really A Shortage of Nurses here at the US. That we why many entrepreneurs most non-nurses had been into being Independent Nurse Contractors or Nurse Staffing Agency or Started their own Nursing Agency. Though there was a news (U.S. opening its doors to immigrant nurses) more news at http://nursingagencystartup.blogspot.com. Here they hire more immigrants and I think mostly Asians. So if i were you Have your own business instead, consider these benifits: 1) You Can Be Your Own Boss 2) You Have More Control Over Your Career 3) You Can Work From Home And Spend More Time With Family 4) You Can Set Your Own Hours 5) You Can Have Unlimited Income Potential 6) Be part into this multi billion industry, where there will always be a shortage.
Starting your own Nursing Agency is clearly explained in this Most Comprehensive Start Up Guide. How to Start a successful nursing agency start up guide is flooding the internet. This e-book clearly explains you on how to carefully plan to start your nursing agency. Then the e-book will also explain how to manage your business on a day to day basis with information about market analysis and planning, advertising, employee records and training, accounting and bookkeeping, determining your target market, how to analyze the competition, and more. Start your nursing agency today! Or CALL Toll Free PH: 1-(877)-299-3450
You don't have to be a Nurse to start your own Nursing agency or private home care staffing agency. All you need is one of our packages and the desire to be self employed. This is the only industry where there will always be a need to staff hospitals, nursing homes & home care. There is never a fear for competition. Get one of our packages now and you can be in business in less than a month. It is time for any ambitious person to tap into this multi billion dollar industry.
We also have huge number of univ/colleges dropouts because they can't afford the fees.
Govt. should pay or atleast subsidize the higher education to such an extent that more ppl'll be encouraged to take nursing and other professions with severe shortages.
