Can anyone tell me why there is a nurse shortage???

ruffhouser · Aug 7, 2002

Originally posted by MelH
Geez, gals and guys!!! Should I be entering this field??? I know I love taking care of people but I can do without all the extras!!! Will I get a taste of it during clinicals?? What should I expect? I don't want to get into a field that I am going to feel like cussing everyone out in!! YIKES!!!!! I can bite my tongue but not for too long!

Cheer up! I have found that things were much better as an RN than they were as a student. We had been treated terribly by some of the nurses on some of our rotations in school. It got to the point that I was terrified to enter the profession. However, my fears were unfounded. As a newbie, I have been treated wonderfully. The nurses have all been kind and supportive. I wish you the best. Take heart! :cool:

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Aug 8, 2002

howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

There is no nursing shortage, we are all out on the golf course spending our tremendous salaries. Cant work if we are on the course all the time.

JailRN · Aug 8, 2002

I know nore people who WERE nurses and are now selling tupperware and cosmetics, etc.

We work weekends, nights, holidays, 12 hr shifts, 10 hr shifts, 8 hr shifts, 4 hr shifts, get no respect, mandatory OT, our license on the line every day, deal with death, vomit, poop, spit, are harassed, abused and battered by patients, administrators and staff alike. Can't switch with someone and miss important events in our kids life, baseball games, concerts, plays, graduation, etc, for far less $$$ than others with the same amount of education earn (we're supposed to get our reward in heaven) That's why I left the hospital and went to the jail, THe salary is good, benefits are great, environment is much better than the hospital and I don't have to put up with abuse. The jailers protect us and so does the court if one of us is touched. I just love being in jail!!!!

But like I told my husband and one of my friends, It's not too late to change your mind.

MelH · Aug 8, 2002

so jail is the place to be?? Haha! Love it! Might have to check that out! Thanks!

salve#1 · Aug 8, 2002

Mel, I must be fair and tell you that this is avery rewarding job. It's all what you put into it and what you think you should be able to get back. If you aren't to worried about the later, this is a good job for you. And I don't mean that as a put down on the job. I do have great fun with colleugues and patients. I think as awhole though, so many of us just feel so oppressed. Imagine how you felt as a child when you occasionally didn't get attention from your parents as you thought they didn't care. It generally was a short lived thing and you soon felt better and got your attention-recognition. But imagine if you never did. Fin.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Aug 9, 2002

Check out new report:

Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis

http://www.jcaho.org/news+room/news+release+archives/health+care+at+the+crossroads.pdf

flowerchild · Aug 9, 2002

Warning: Super long boring post ahead: LOL. Me thinks I have too much time on my hands.

In response to ACNORN's post:

"** The population in the U.S. is aging and the baby boomer generation (which is a large segment of the working population) is starting to get to retirement age. This means that there are more people who will need healthcare than before with fewer people in the workforce who can pay into the medicare system. This translates into high healthcare utilization with fewer healthcare dollars being added to the Medicare coffers."

====Yes, they are STARTING to come into retirement...This segment will affect the FUTURE nursing shortage way more than it does now.

"++ The average age of Registered Nurses nationally is around 42-44 years of age (I have read different statistics but they are all around these numbers). This means that a large segment of the nursing population is also in that baby boomer group and they are looking toward retirement soon too."

====Yes, we are getting older but we are still working or not and it's not r/t age. This too will affect the FUTURE nursing shortage more than it does now.

"++The average age of nursing school professors is around 52 years old and they are also looking at retirement. Nurses with advanced degrees at the masters and doctorate level are able to make more money in other roles such as nurse practitioners, CRNA's and nurse specialists than they can in academia so fewer nurses with advanced degrees are choosing to teach nursing. Fewer professors means fewer students that can be enrolled in nursing schools which means fewer younger nurses entering the profession."

====Yes, they are also getting older but again, they are still working. This too will affect the FUTURE of the nursing shortage more than it does now.

"++In the last 20 years or so there have been more opportunities for women to enter other lucrative professions much as information systems jobs in the tech sector and medicine, law, engineering etc. These jobs have been previously reserved more for men than women but times are changing and more young women are pursuing these careers than the traditional careers that women pursued previously such as teaching and nursing."

====OK, I'll buy this one as contributing to current conditions. And who wouldn't take other oppotunity out of college to earn more money with less responsiblity and stress. Women are certainly able to work where they want. Again, I'll agree here. But, if the situation we face re: what it is like to work at the BS, were different, say before corporate healthcare, our profession would be alot more appealing to anyone. And, many more of us would be at the bedside.

"++With the advances in healthcare, the work environment for most nurses is becoming much more hi-tech and stressful than before. Patients are living longer and healthcare workers are dealing with the stresses of handling critical patients with numerous chronic health conditions. Many of these patients would not have lived in the past."

====High tech we can take, chronic conditions, no problem, IF we have the numbers to match the acuity. Again IMO, big corporate has alot more to do with limiting our numbers and increasing stress than the shortage itself. Which ther currently is no shortage of nurses, as we all know, just a shortage of nurses willing to work in the environments that are controlled by CEO's instead of nurses.

Think about it. If you went to the hospital to work everyday, knowing that you'd have 1:1 in ICU or 4:1 in M/S....and had a CNA...and had all the supplies, equipment, and product you'd need to properly care for the patient. Knowing that you'd be able to help all your patients without making a mistake, without worrying about having enough time to feed B bed, having enough time to review and plan and evaluate the progress of patients, having enough time to talk with you patient, you know, real RN duties not just the task oriented monkey.......with having time to have a real dinner break, go to the bathroom, etc......more would love thier job and more would come to it. Wouldn't it all be alot less stressful. We might even have time to lick our own wounds caused by all the caring and giving. And, just think what it would be like to actually get paid decent for all that patient managemnt. Imagine the upper management putting less millions in each of thier own pockets and actually spending it on healthcare and to those who actually keep thier "clients" alive and toward the heartbeat of the hospital...the nurses.

One last thought re: the factual quotes.

+++The last quoted fact is whose fact? The hospitals? You think they are going to admit the truth of how they are directly responsible for the current shortage of hospital nurses?

Obviously, I for one, don't buy what they feed us. But, since the majority of nurses do buy it all...It is IMO that the course that has been set will not change, and the control will remain in the money hungry corp joes hands. No doubt the future holds a certain shortage of nurses...What we do now is even more important than ever before.

Changes within our hospitals working environment must be made in order to draw nurses back to the bedside. Hospitals need to be able to bill and get paid for our services seperatly from the room rate. (This probably wont happen since they are so tied up with the payor systems and the gov't sure won't want to pay either-------has anyone heard of Uncle Sam offering to do this?). Diploma programs need to be funded by the hospital and govt. Those programs need to be revived within the hospitals. There is so much more that the hospitals, payor sources, and gov't could do than just pass legislature to fund schools/students to become nursing professors, and allow laws to be passed that allows UAP's to do nursing tasks....Give me a break...they know thier current solutions won't work. So what do we do about it????? Is it already snowballing? Is it too late to do anything that would lessen the shortages of the future? IMO, Until there is more spending on nurses to improve the current conditions and real efforts are made by govt's and corporations....we'll never get what we need to survive.

With the numbers that have been issued....imagine having 3/4 of your nursing staff gone.....leaving just you, to do it all, with only the help of UAP's.....would you stay??? Will you stay??? Could you stay?? Scary huh?? Are we all just going to stand by and let this happen?

StrawberryBSN, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2002

originally posted by nrskarenrn
check out new report:

health care at the crossroads: strategies for addressing the evolving nursing crisis
http://www.jcaho.org/news+room/news...+crossroads.pdf

wouldn't link. can you copy and post? thanks!

s_bsn

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Aug 9, 2002

Re-edited link above and reposting here:

http://www.jcaho.org/news+room/news+release+archives/health+care+at+the+crossroads.pdf