Double Talk

[wildtime88]

I am so tired of the double talk.

Here are portions of a letter in response to the immigration issue from the ANA:

ICN and ANA condemn the practice of recruiting nurses to

countries where authorities have failed to address human

resource planning and problems which cause nurses to leave

the profession and discourage them from returning to nursing.

ANA believes that the U. S. health care industry has failed to

maintain a work environment that is conducive to safe, quality

nursing practice and that retains experienced U.S. nurses

within patient care. Therefore, the practice of changing

immigration law to facilitate the use of foreign educated

nurses is a short term solution that serves only the interests

of the hospital industry, not the interests of patients,

domestic nurses or foreign educated nurses.>

legislation that would dramatically open U.S. immigration law

to allow for a substantial increase in the number of foreign

educated nurses who could enter the country.

While your concern focuses on foreign educated nurses,

ANA's primary concern lies with a health care industry here in

the U.S. that is abusive to all nurses, foreign and domestic.

ANA seeks to greatly improve the overall working conditions

for all nurses and to ensure that there are adequate

protections in our immigration laws that allow for appropriate

immigration of foreign nurses who are paid and treated the

same as U.S. nurses and do not undermine the U.S. nursing

workforce.

I hope that this information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Peterson, MSN, RN

Senior Policy Fellow

American Nurses Association>

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=12309

This is pretty strong language and also pretty straight forward.

Now here where I become confused.

With this statement in hand, we now hear that the ANA is urging everyone to push for immediate legislation on recruiting more nurses into the profession before any of the basic issues have been resolved.

So on one hand they say they do not encourage bringing people in to the health care industry because of the conditions and on the other hand they say they do.

Maybe I missed something in the last few days. Have our problems been resolved? Is there any active legislation which has passed or is close to passing which will wipe out our problems? Have our work place issues disappeared all of a sudden?

So in reality are not both of these ways of dealing with the nursing shortage amount to the same thing. The finding of replacements for the nurses who are objecting to the present working conditions and who have left or are planning to leave before a resolution to our present problems has been successful. Does it not just boil down to which basket you choose to pick from?

Now one thing to also remember, before someone tries to use the argument, is that there has been more than one nurse from the Philippines who has said on this BB that there is not a nursing shortage there. In fact, they have said there is a surplus.

So are the nurses practicing today seen as disposable or not? If we truly are not then why is this kind of legislation being urged before the problems have actually been resolved?

The surveys have already confirmed that there are more than enough nurses in the U.S. to fill all the vacant positions, but because of present working conditions many nurses have chosen to stay away.

[betts]

CRITICAL/LOGICAL THINKING...had me wondering if it wasn't used in our profession any longer.

[oramar]

It this one of those compromise statments that comes about because it is the only way two opposing factions can agree?

[wildtime88]

Even if this is some kind of deal or copromise, it is one that is being made at the expense of the current nurses who are looking for support and change. The end result is the same, an attempt to flood the market with replacement nurses without any actual resolution to our basic and overall problems.

[thisnurse]

i think we are foolish for expecting the government to intervene in any of our issues. i feel that the government will always act in the best interest of the hospitals because thats where the money is.

when i graduated in 1996, hilary clinton was attempting health care reform. the intentions of that administration were good but in acuality they made the health care system worse than it was. thats when nurses started getting layed off. many of my peers and myself could not get a job. you had to know somebody to get in a hospital.

i see no good coming from any kind of government intervention, only more red tape and beaurocricy.

the issues we face, in my opinion, must be handled by NURSES. until we unite and take a real stand i dont see anything changing.

i dont understand why we are expecting the government to do what WE need to do for ourselves. i dont see it happening.