I got a reply about the Johnson &Johnson Nurse recruitment ads

[l.rae]

and here it is!

Leah,

I'm responding to your email regarding the Campaign for Nursing's

Future, and the commercials that go along with the campaign. We're so

sorry that you find the commercials dismaying.

In fact, during the course of the past year and a half, we have learned

many things about the nursing profession, including the deplorable

working conditions that some nurses face. However, it is a fact that

recruiting MORE people into nursing will help these conditions, as just

the addition of people will address the workload problem,

which was the number of patients assigned to each nurse. If there were,

say, 100,000 more nurses right now, all of them would have a smaller

patient load and be able to provide the best care possible. Many of the hospital administrators we've talked to are eager to hire qualified nurses, and are truly feeling the effects of the nursing shortage.

That said, we know that this is not the only way to solve the problem.

Part of our campaign is also dedicated to addressing these issues,

and we also have a retention component which deals with keeping good

nurses and helping them solve their problems. We frequently read the

message boards allnurses.com, and have close contact with

NurseWeek, Nursing Spectrum, and the other major publications, so we are aware of the major concerns.

Please believe that we were in no way trying to be deceptive in our ads.

We have met many, many nurses who love their jobs, are honored to be in

the profession, and are doing a great job every day. We only hope we

can encourage more people to get into these situations.

Thanks again for writing. We do appreciate your concern.

Take care

Lori

[l.rae]

l believe that those of us who wrote to J&J voiced the same concerns about their ad and it's relevence to nursing. Perhaps this reply was sent to all of us who wrote, but the reply is specific enough to believe that it was actually looked at and considered...we can hope!....Maybe l will write again....l dunno.

[prmenrs, RN]

I agree w/ sjoe! While their ads may not be perfect, it IS an attempt to bring more people into the profession. THAT in and of itself is highly commendable. I'm not seeing any other pharmacuetical companies do that, and the next time I need Band-aids, I'll remember!

I think it would be helpful to specifically identify what you believe the issues preventing people from coming into and staying the profession, without discouraging J&J from making future ads.

JMHO

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

I did specifically identify what I believe are the issues preventing people from coming into the field, and what causes nurses to leave.

All I got was a form letter telling me (and everyone else who wrote to them on the issue) "yes, we looked at the links you sent, blah, blah blah"

From their response, J&J seems to think that the "shortage" is just a matter of supply and and demand. The issue is much more complicated than that.

Instead of spending big $$$ trying to recruit new nurses by misrepresenting what nursing is like, maybe they should spend that money to increase staffing ratios!

Nurses are often sent home and cancelled because mgmt thinks we are "overstaffed". BS! They just don't want to pay for staffing.

I will remember to NOT purchase anything from J&J in the future.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

I am not "eating" our "new friends".

I happen to have a web-site for nursing students and those who are considering nursing as a career. My web-site discusses nursing in a realistic way. I am involved in online mentoring and tutoring.

I want people to come into nursing, BUT..... with their eyes WIDE OPEN and know what it is really about.

IMO, the ads are misleading.

I consider those who are involved in unionizing nurses, writing letters to editors, law-makers etc., addressing the situation nurses are currently in, and those who look at ways to improve working conditions to be "friends" of nursing.

I feel that these ads are just putting a frilly, sweet band-aide, (J&J brand) on what is a hemorrhaging wound.

I have read several recent studies that show more new grads are leaving nursing, and sooner, than ever before. The number one reason given is "disatisfaction with the reality of nursing, poor working conditions, and inability to provide high quality care due to nurse-to-pt ratios."

To paraphrase another poster on this topic: "Wouldn't it make more sense to stop the leak in the bucket before you pour more water into it?"

I did write to J&J again. I kept my letter very professional and positive so as not to put them off. I received the exact same form letter in reply.

I respect your opinons, but I cannot agree with them.