[december]

http://www.delrionewsherald.com/stor...1b921d3bcbc217

I live in New York. This hospital in Texas may be a tiny little 20 bedder, I don't know, but no matter. It's gratifying to see this.

I particularly like the remark that this nursing shortage is not all about boomers retiring. I hear that too often in my hospital and I know there are very young nurses leaving and moving on.

[TrudyRN]

Doctors speaking up is the ONLY way things will ever improve. I hope some good comes of this and that it sets a new trend all across America.

[Angie O'Plasty, RN]

I sure would like to thank those docs!

[heartrn35]

Trudy
I disagree, the only way that things are going to get better for nurses is if we quit cutting each others throats and become politically aware and fight for what is ours. We deserve respect, we should demand it. If we are the patient advocates that we say we are, what could be better for patient care than decent staffing.

[oramar]

I would say in this instance the docs got it right. I would bet my house that the staffing is deliberately being kept short for financial reasons. It is done all the time just about everywhere. When the board and managment is confronted about it they say, "Baby Boomers are retiring". It is a carefully rehearsed script to cover their deceite. I actually know of one particular nurse who was a ADON. The hospital changed hands and the new owners handed her a list of lies she was to tell the staff and another list of lies she was to tell outsiders in case she was confronted about bad staffing. She up and quit. I guess she was one of those "retiring Baby Boomers".

[fronkey bean]

Originally Posted by heartrn35

Trudy
I disagree, the only way that things are going to get better for nurses is if we quit cutting each others throats and become politically aware and fight for what is ours. We deserve respect, we should demand it. If we are the patient advocates that we say we are, what could be better for patient care than decent staffing.

However, in the hospitals view it is not about patient care it is about profit. MDs bring in patients which increases profits, nurses are paid employees which reduces profit. Only MDs have the influence in our profit driven system to effect change at least in the abscence of nursing unions or some other unifying force among nurses.

[heartrn35]

Originally Posted by fronkey bean

However, in the hospitals view it is not about patient care it is about profit. MDs bring in patients which increases profits, nurses are paid employees which reduces profit. Only MDs have the influence in our profit driven system to effect change at least in the abscence of nursing unions or some other unifying force among nurses.

Fronkey
this is the problem as I see it. You are playing by the rules and the hospitals and administrations are not.
Yes the MD's are seen as bringing $$ in and nurses as taking it out and to an extent you are correct that they seem to have more influence. But the bottom line of a hospital is not the $$ it is patient care. Without quality patient care it's just a building with sick and hurting people in it. Who provides the actual hands on patient care? Nurses. If nurses rose up as a orgainized group (no I did not say union) the situations that we hate but all put up with would change.
Don't count on the MD's, many are good, but as a group it is in their best interst to keep RN's under control. DON'T GET ME WRONG I have nothing against MD's, but looking to them to get us out of this mess is not going to happen. We (nurses) are the largest sector of the medical community. I've heard it said that we could elect a president (I don't know if this is true), so why can't we get the govenring board or a hospital to pay attention??? because we are not organized.

[reesern63]

Originally Posted by heartrn35

Fronkey
this is the problem as I see it. You are playing by the rules and the hospitals and administrations are not.
Yes the MD's are seen as bringing $$ in and nurses as taking it out and to an extent you are correct that they seem to have more influence. But the bottom line of a hospital is not the $$ it is patient care. Without quality patient care it's just a building with sick and hurting people in it. Who provides the actual hands on patient care? Nurses. If nurses rose up as a orgainized group (no I did not say union) the situations that we hate but all put up with would change.
Don't count on the MD's, many are good, but as a group it is in their best interst to keep RN's under control. DON'T GET ME WRONG I have nothing against MD's, but looking to them to get us out of this mess is not going to happen. We (nurses) are the largest sector of the medical community. I've heard it said that we could elect a president (I don't know if this is true), so why can't we get the govenring board or a hospital to pay attention??? because we are not organized.

Docs support nurses when it's in their interests to do so, not because it's in their pts. interests. I agree with the above poster--they are not the answer to our problems and looking to them to "save" us is only asking for more misery.

[DeeDee143]

Kudos to the doctors who spoke up for the nurses. I agree that increasing the support staff such as CNA's and LPN's would help the hospitals in shortage.But now the rules are changing since hospitials are laying that support staff off in acute settings and want to become magnet status. Its sad that that the Patients get the short end of the stick.

[weirdRN]

The Doctors may bring in the $$ but NURSES bring in the patients. Patient care is the bedrock foundation of any healthcare organization's profit. If the facility is seen as having POOR patient care, the community will not have any confidence in them and will at every opportunity by-pass them to go to a better patient care oreinted facility.