Southern Nurses Better Off Than The Rest?

Nurses Activism

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You may not believe this (or maybe you will!) but I just heard that nurses from states in the South (ie: Mississippi) recently stated to other nurses at the national American Nurses Association convention in Philadelphia that:

"there are no problems with staffing and mandatory overtime" in their states.

If that statement is true - great! Maybe they can tell the rest of us how they did it! (I wonder if the nurses working in pt care in the South know how good they supposedly have it there).

But we also heard from the unionized states in the South (GA, FL, KY, AL, WV, NC, to name a few) that there are terrible problems with staffing in that region of the country. Apparently it is just the non-union Southern states that think everything is just peachy at the bedsides in the South.

These RNs are the leaders elected by nurses in their states to speak for nursing to the legislatures, media, & profession as THE voice of nursing in those states, and they are saying that their states nurses have no problems at the bedsides!!

Any RN here from Mississippi who can back that up?? :)

If some of the Southern RN delegates at the convention are really unaware & misinformed (and are misinforming their legislatures & the rest of the country about the real deal that staff RNs are facing in their states), then staff RNs really need to get into those Southern state nurses assoc & give those people an education, or else nothing is going to get any better for the RN at the bedside in those states.

I wonder why they havent heard from the staff nurses about the staffing shortages they are experiencing. Or have they heard & are just not telling the truth to the rest of us? Or is it true as they say that there are no staff shortages??

Anyway, Southern staff nurse BB friends - please clear this up for me - Do you really NOT have a problem with staffing or mandatory OT in your states?????:eek:

thanks

I live in the south, and have been on disability for 7 years----and every once and awhile feel sad about not being able to work. After reading some of the posts on this BB as well as other nursing sites, I'm probably better off not having to work in an understaffed hospital.

I honestly and truly feel bad for what many of the nurses have to put up with today-----not only in the south, but in so much of the rest of the country. Technology is great, but when you add managed care, more paperwork, and a large nurse/patient ratio, it is no longer a pleasure to be in the profession.

well, as a southern nurse, i can tell you yes there is a shortage. i've never been forced to work ot, nor have i ever heard of it down here in my neck of the woods. the only time they mandated ot was during the hurricanes (and i don't mean the hockey team, people....), and that was 'cause your butt was locked down in the hospital and you couldn't leave!!! :eek:

anyhoo, my ms bud tells me there's a shortage, and as the other la/ms (she lives/works in biloxi) have confirmed, the wages suck out there. can't say about the mandated ot, my friend's a military nurse.

as for the canadian nurse who was told by the recruiter that some southern states 'don't recruit'.....:rotfl: :rotfl: liar liar pants on fire!!! (the recruiter, that is...) they do indeed recruit there. if you're looking to go to ga, look in the atlanta area. if you're looking to go to sc, look in the columbia area. if you're looking to go to tn, look in the knoxville/memphis/chattanooga areas.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.
Originally posted by -jt

I think theres a misunderstanding here - Sorry for the confusion - let me clarify.

#1. I did not intend to suggest that ALL of Alabama is unionized. The Alabama State Nurses Association has a collective bargaining branch, offers union services for RNs in Alabama & is part of the national RN labor union - the United American Nurses/AFL-CIO Union. Lots of people think there there are no such things as RN unions anywhere in the south - but thats not true. Anyway, that wasnt the point.

I just mentioned that Staff RNs who happen to be part of the RN union in that state, & other unionized RNs from other states in the south gave a presentation about staff RN's workplace problems in southern USA. They were speaking to staff nurses who had assembled from all over the country & the Virgin Islands

2. It wasnt about any union speaking for nurses. It was Staff RNs talking about what most Staff RNs are facing in that region overall - union and not. Much the same kind of things as the posts here have said - especially about the unsafe staffing shortages theyre seeing in their states. The next day, in a different discussion, other nurses from the same region contradicted them by saying there were no such problems happening in those states . Non-unionized nurses from that region (my guess is that they were not staff RNs) basically said the workplace problems these Staff RNs discussed dealing with everyday did not even exist.

I wanted to hear from real nurses on the front there if what those other nurses said was true. THOSE nurses - the ones who said there are NO problems - were not in any union. They were leaders in their southern state associations & are considered by the powers that be in their states to be speaking for nursing there. And theyre saying they have no problems with staffing!

I have read many posts from nurses all over the south describing very difficult conditions, including short staffing, so it floored me that these nurse leaders could be so out of touch. A very scary thought that the people who are looked to by a states government as the voice of nurses in that state dont have any clue that their nurses have problems like short staffing.

It just so happens that state associations with union branches are many times more likely to know about, understand, & focus on whats happening with the RN at the bedside because they are there with them. Those who are not unions, are not dealing much with the RN at the bedside, may not be so focused on them, & so often are not up to speed on these issues & can be out of touch with what is really going on.

It wasnt that non-union nurses had nothing to complain about & union nurses had lots of "complaints". It was that STAFF NURSES in that region had a clear perspective of the difficulties they are dealing with everyday - (and thats much more than just 6 or 7 pts) - and its the NURSE EXECUTIVES in charge of the state who have their heads in the sand & dont have a clue - yet THEY are the ones the state is listening to. Thats the problem.

I have to chalk it up to it probably is nurse executives running the show in those state associations because, union or not, staff nurses arent in them in that region & so, for the most part, arent being heard.

Im sure there are some wonderful places to work in the south as there are everywhere else but for nurse leaders to say there are no staffing problems in the south was stretching it a bit too far, I think.

I wasnt asking a question about unions. I was asking if those other nurses were telling the truth. Thanks to all for the many thoughtful responses. I think those leaders need a little education about what the world is really like for staff RNs in their own states.

jt, I just went back and read your original post and I can see that I for one, completely misread it. I guess I was so outraged by the suggestion by any nurse leader, anywhere, who would suggest such a thing that I missed it. Thanks for clarifying.

shay you are correct, I used to work at BIloxi regional hospital and the pay does suck it is about $4.00 an hour less that hospitals in louisiana just 30 minutes away. and they always worked very short staffed! have a nice day shay.

i did not knowyou were from the south.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.
Originally posted by pebbles

I was investigating Georgia, alabama, tenessee... I was told by a couple of recruiters that thoses states don't recruit nurses, they seem to have enough of their own!!!

That's another bald-faced lie. I can tell you that in Atlanta, Columbus, Macon, Savannah...really all over Georgia they are recruiting. I bet you could get a job in just about any hospital here. Come on down!

And they can find so many nurses to work for such a low salary that they dont have a staffing shortage? How can they get away with this? What state is it????

To the Canadian RN whos recruiter steered her away from the South Eastern states by saying they arent recruiting because "they have enough of their own" - I think she was pulling your leg! Could it be possible that maybe those states dont pay recruiters as high a commission as some other states? And maybe thats why she tried to get you to look elsewhere? There are always adds for Florida nursing positions in NY area nursing publications - especially all through the winter - & the professional nursing journals also have many ads for jobs in states of that region.

This was one of features on TV news tonight in Little Rock, AR. I'll attempt a cut and paste the feature.

Nursing Shortage in Arkansas Reaching Critical Stage

Posted - July 08, 2002 4:51pm Reporter: Kerri Jackson Posted By: Tony Tabor

http://www.katv.com/showstory.hrb?f=n&s=48622&f1=loc

New Rules May Mean Better Patient Care at Hospitals

Statewide - The nursing shortage in Arkansas reaching a critical stage. By the year 2010, it will take at least 30,000 new nurses entering the medical field in Arkansas to fix the problem. But at the same time, other states are recruiting Arkansas nurses with better pay and bonuses. Monday the Legislative Nursing Commission met to find some solutions. Kerri Jackson has more on what the committee recommends.

They are recommending both short-term and long-term solutions. They say the nursing shortage is complex problem with no simple solution. But most require more money.

They say if the problem is not addressed, patients will have problems from a harder time scheduling elective surgery, to more emergency room diversions because there are not enough nurses to take care of them. In the short-term, the committee recommends offering higher salaries to nurses and incentive programs to keep Arkansas nurses in the state and lure nurses from other states. Long-term, more people have to go to nursing school. Which means more people have to become nursing teachers. Right now, qualified professors have to take a pay cut to become an educator. That's one area many feel where the legislature can have direct influence.

(Barbara Williams/UCA Nursing Dept. Chair) "I think the legislators have got to look at the salary of the nursing faculty. There's got to be something to encourage the schools, either an incentive to encourage the colleges and universities to raise the salaries. Something's got to be done in that area."

(Sen. Brenda Gullet/(D) Pine Bluff) "We feel that a lot of communities do not realize what impact this is going to have on their local hospital."

The committee is putting together a final report to give to the full legislature this fall.

Copyright 2002 KATV, LLC

Edited post for correct url and pertinent topic. Karen

do you mean theres no shortage of bedside nurses at your hospital or there is no shortage of bedside nurses in your state?

The nurses I was referring to had said they had no shortages in their states. Hard to believe when all the documented reports show that EVERY state is currently experiencing a shortage of nurses who are willing to work at the bedside.

Incidentally, if a hospital has to rely on outside agency to staff its pt care units then it does have a staffing problem.

So the Arkansas state legislature is going to be looking at establishing laws to help solve the shortage of bedside nurses & not a word is there about fixing the WORKING CONDITIONS you all are describing. What exactly are the recruitment/retention incentives that they will be considering? Are they hearing only from those nursing executives who dont think there are real problems at the besides & its all about getting new nursing students & paying professors better (although they do need to do that too)? Hopefully staff nurses in the trenches in that state will give those legislators an earful.

Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

Hi jt...I hear you make big nursing bucks where you work, so I have tracked you down to ask you what state you live in and where you work that pays nurses top dollar for their expertise? Feel free to send me a "PM" so as to keep your place of employment top secret...must do that around here since we have a "lurker" without a life ready to report whatever she thinks is not kosherly told. :rotfl: Thanks! :)

Hey Ya'll. Lived & worked in Mississippi. DON's treat you like dirt. Up to 9-10 pts per nurse. Begging & taking GNs fresh from school, turning them loose as soon as 4-6weeks. Been there, done that. North MS schedules 2 on, 2off, q other weekend (they call it built-in OT). Pay sucks, too. DONs & Mgrs call round the clock begging you to work OT, even on other units (thand God for caller ID). Same old stuff, people trying to make it sound good, when they don't even work the floors.

Oh my!!!!! What did I miss???

Anyway, its no big secret where I live. If the lurkers just look to the left of the page & under my name, they can figure out what state it is by reading the city I listed as my location. ;)

And for details of our salaries & other compensations like past experience pay, they can read these kosher press releases:

:)

Nurses at Presbyterian Approve Breakthrough Contract

http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS/PR2001/pr122101_1.htm

Westchester Med RNs approve landmark contract

http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS/pr2002/pr052402.htm

New Saint Vincents Contract Sets the Pace

http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS/pr2002/pr050902.htm

Mount Sinai nurses approve new contract

http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS/pr2002/pr051602.htm

Staten Island University Hospital Nurses Approve New Contract

Abolishes mandatory overtime & guarantees safe staffing levels

http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS/PR2001/PR101101.HTM

St. Catherine's RNs approve contract that limits overtime and ensures safe staffing http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS/pr2002/pr030902.htm

Samaritan Nurses Approve New Contract http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS/PR2001/PR092001.HTM

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