An article found in the recent archives of the Cheyenne paper. Comment made by the WNA states 18% of nurses are busy doing something other than nursing. Here is the article:
Shortage becoming critical
Joanne Bowlby
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE – Long waits in emergency rooms and rushed doctor’s office visits are just some of the annoying effects for patients from the national nursing shortage.
But more critical problems are beginning to surface.
School secretaries are dispensing medications like Prozac and Ritalin when the nurse is not available.
Nursing home patients aren’t always getting the personalized care for which they pay.
Hospitals may be the hardest hit. A recent survey shows that a shortage of nurses in hospitals can strongly affect the chances of patients suffering adverse reactions like gastrointestinal bleeding and pneumonia. Researchers said staffing problems could be a factor in thousands of deaths annually.
Nurses say the shortage is becoming so severe that it threatens patient care.
"It increases the risk of something serious happening and increases the hospital’s liability," said Michelle, an emergency room nurse at United Medical Center-West. "As nurses, we don’t want to see anything happen, but it could."
ER nurses don’t use their last names for safety reasons.
"The nursing shortage is a big ball of problems," Michelle added. "When patient numbers increase, the number of nurses needs to increase, but I don’t think that’s happening."
Part of the problem is there aren’t many nurses out there.
But Wyoming Nurses Association President Toni Decklever said a bigger problem is the 18 percent of registered nurses who are not working in the field.
"Where are they?" she said. "Delivering packages or stocking shelves."
They’re in other jobs where the pay and work conditions are better, she said.
Patients suffer the consequences. Nurses from around Cheyenne say they are frustrated and can’t give the level of care they think patients deserve because there are more patients to see and fewer nurses to help with the workload.
How did it get this bad?
There are 77 million aging Baby Boomers who will need medical care in increasing numbers in the coming years.
With only 44 million people in Generation X, all industries are finding it difficult to find qualified workers. Nursing homes have been hit particularly hard.
Not only has the number of people enrolling in nursing schools dropped over the past decade, the number of people who need a nursing home has risen significantly.
"As less people are available to work, we are aging," said Kathy Sanford, director of nursing at Harrison Memorial Hospital in Bremerton, Wash. "It’s a double whammy.
"This is the smallest job pool since the 1960s. We are competing with others that are going to have shortages too."
Sanford said in Washington state, less than 9 percent of the nursing staff is under the age of 30, and more than half of the work force is scheduled to retire within the next 15 years.
Washington’s statistics mirror the nation, she said.
Industry issues addressed
Many students are opting for professions other than nursing, Sanford said, because "the work is really, really hard."
She said the industry as a whole needs to address the problem and change the image of nursing to attract students into the profession.
But she said changing the image isn’t enough.
"It’s no good if once they get in, it’s no fun," Sanford said.
Carol Polifroni, dean of the Connecticut School of Nursing, agrees. She said studies have shown people shape their ideas about careers as early as age 6.
The industry is suffering from treating its staff poorly, she said.
Long shifts produce exhausted mothers. Polifroni said she worries that the negative impact could have lasting effects.
"Mom’s a nurse now and comes home from work exhausted," she said. "The natural response is, ‘I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to work so hard for so little money.’ "
Some possible solutions
Both short-term and long-term solutions must be developed, she said. Among her suggestions:
Get as many certified nurses back into the work force as possible.
Get high school students interested in nursing.
Increase salaries.
But Polifroni said the most important change needed is to give greater respect and autonomy to the profession.
Excessive paperwork and mandatory overtime frustrates nurses and makes them feel less like caregivers and more like robots, she said.
Polifroni has asked the Connecticut Legislature to recognize the work nurses do and provide some incentives for nurses to work in the state.
Loan forgiveness, scholarships and low-interest mortgages for nurses are just a few of the measures she has proposed. A legislative committee is looking into those ideas.
"Connecticut is ahead of the curve," Polifroni said. "We have a joint task force that is bringing all the parties to the table.
"The plan needs to be multi-pronged and carefully constructed. Recruitment, debt forgiveness, scholarships – all have to happen at once. Money alone won’t solve this."
Sanford said any community can develop a similar task force.
Led by the local Rotary club, her community has assembled a group to look into solutions to stave off further shortages.
"It’s not just a hospital problem or a nursing problem; this is a community problem," Sanford said. "Things have to change."
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