As a member of the ANA, I get the American Journal of Nursing (AJN) autmomatically. Thought students might be interested to know about this months excellent issue. Focused on the current shortage of nurses who are willing to work in hospitals. The reason - working conditions. Its full of easy to read research, charts, surveys, articles, etc all about it. A lot is there about why we are losing experienced nurses & what must be done about it. The Letters to the Editor section and the In My Perspective column have real nurses talking about their workday & why they are bolting. The entire issue is very informative & discusses whats being done by nurses & others in Washington & state legsilatures, what other hospitals are doing right, & many of the solutions that our employers need to hear. Ive already copied a couple of pages to give to my CEO. And Ive cut out the stats box titled LESS RNS MEAN MORE PATIENT DEATHS! It tells it like it is with the JAMA study results to back it up, & what employers & patients must do to rectify it. Im posting that one on the nurses bulletin board right in front of the lobby elevator.

Even if you dont get a subscription, stop by your local hospital library & read the January 2003 AJN issue. Its one no RN (management or staff) or student nurse should miss.

Also, it came with a 170 page career guide full of job opportunities all across the country, articles on the job market & job hunting, information on other non-traditional areas of nursing that one might be interested in but never knew existed. It will probably be in your hospital library too. If anything, its interesting to flip through & see what else is out there.

I just got the issue yesterday, I will be sure to read it.

I will have to subscribe to it.