NPR Article: Need A Nurse? You May Have To Wait - Page 2

"Nurses are the surveillance system in hospitals for early detection and intervention [to save patients' lives]," she says.

Sigh.. I wish I knew the answer to get THAT into the heads of the bean counters

Gotta love NPR for defending the little guy! Great article, and surprisingly positive comments by readers on the webpage, maybe because NPR readers are more likely to side with the little guy too? Definitely different from the usual hateful stuff you see on Yahoo or things like that bashing nurses.

Yeah pretty soon the hospitals will look like this

This is part of an ongoing series on healthcare in the US that NPR and the Robt Wood Johnson Foundation are doing and can be heard on the Morning Edition radio program. The series appears to be thorough, well-researched and accurate and so by definition, must be socialist propaganda.

Esme, do not allow yourself the luxury of being discouraged. Take a break and refresh yourself, but don't quit. And don't spread doubt and gloom. I am guilty of having done the same thing but came to realize that I have to work to be part of the solution, not give in to disappointments from the past.

That was a wonderful article. Not being an RN yet (I just graduated last week, but work as a CNA) I recall countless times where I have seen nurses take 5 minutes to eat lunch and then run back into a patient's room to provide care. I am honored and privileged to be a part of a profession that is so incredibly dedicated to their work and their patient's. I applaud the authors of this article because by writing this piece, I am sure a lot of people who don't really understand what nurses do and put up with each shift, gained a little bit of knowledge after reading it.

I can't believe Linda Akien FINALLY acknowledged there is no shortage of nurses but a shortage of nursing jobs and competent quality patient care is linked to the poor staffing numbers. I am awfully glad she did, though. Maybe the rest of the PTB will finally wake up and realize what the reality really is and stop pumping out this crap on "what a wonderful time to be a nurse"

I am tickled that the "call-out" on facebook for real life nurses to respond refused to do so out of fear of employer retaliation.- There's another important concept. Report something to managment and you are made history by the management!! I just heard a Webinar on Nursing Spectrum on 'Who are the Nursing Profession', the speaker, Nancy McNutley, lectured on how to improve working conditions for nurses. Some of the suggestions she made were: getting rid of "toxic managers" and lateral violence, paying the nurses better salaries and more staffing. ( that's 2 in academia that are waking up) She even touched on the astrinomical salaries of the CEO- there's a thought!!!

I also have to give Nursing Specturm's Dear Donna a round of applause- she was asked about age discrimnation in the nursing professions. She gave a very discrete, politically correct answer acknowledging that it is by stating the obvious- nurses with a number of years of experience are being pushed out, over looked for positions based on their rightful payscale in favor of much lesser experienced nurses. If I am not mistaken- she also pointed out- that the results are becoming disasterous, cheaper but disasterous.

The sad fact of all this is- many of us on this form have been screaming, blogging, getting banned, offending, getting laughted at and poo-poohed and fighting about these issues for afew years now, no one listened. When no one listens in the nursing profession or any thing remotely associated with nursing- people die, their called patients!!

Question:

Dear Donna,

Have you noticed a tendency for RNs in their late 40s and 50s with long careers being dismissed for economic cutbacks and having difficulty finding a new job?

Questioning


Dear Donna replies:

Dear Questioning,

What I have noticed is that hospitals across the country are doing a lot of downsizing and reorganizing as healthcare and the demographics of the population are changing. As the acute care environment is changing and shifting, many nurses who have not kept up with their formal education and certifications, are not active in their professional associations and on hospital committees are being let go. Honestly, in some cases, it is simply a matter of entire departments and units, as well as some positions, being closed or eliminated.

Almost all unemployed nurses, at every age and level of experience, are having trouble finding work right now. It is not at all unique to the older nurse. The job market is very tight and care is shifting out of the hospital into alternate care settings, the community, the home, etc. So nurses, whether new or experienced, need to look in new directions for employment and need new skills to find jobs.

Read “Midlife Makeover” (Midlife Makeover | DD Nursing News). Consider the program, “Career Alternatives for Nurses” (Career Alternatives for Nurses® | DVD1 > Continuing Education Unit at Nurse.com) to learn about employment trends, what's hot and what's not, and to learn new innovative ways to market yourself and find the good jobs. The program is available in a home study version also at Professional Development CEs at Nurse.com | Nursing Continuing Education Courses. What worked for us in the past will not work in the future. See where I’ll be at www.Nurse.com/events/CE-seminars/.

Best wishes,
Donna

I don't think it's doom and gloom. It is a dose of reality. I am actually a glass half full kinda galand I am cetainly not a quitter. I belong to the MNA although I am not actively working at the bedside right now. I pray for change but nurses dislike change. Many are afraid to buck the system right now, they are afraid for their jobs.

The tide will eventually turn and I hope then that nurses will join force together like teachers, firefighters and Police. The action is growing in numbers....but I don't politically argue/promote where I come to participate in lively conversations. I avoid religion and politics unless I am on my back porch.

There needs to be a complete restructuring of our health care system. The bean counters need to be put in their rightful place. They have been wrongfully given authority aka unquestionable power to run our healthcare systems by virtue of giving them the HUGE undeserved salaries they earn. The emphasis some where along the line shifted (probably back as far as the 1990's with the advent of Managed care) from competent patient care- the reason we are all there, to the finances. The financial directors and the CEO's have had their bottoms kissed, red carpet, card blanche treatment from then on - like they were the 'King of the Hill'. The entire hierarcy and ultimate decision making power distribution has to change in these systems. The job qualification for CEO/administrator has to be re examined and repurposed into a job discription whereby the CEO actually has a medical or nursing LICENSE and education and is aware of why the building exists. Yes, the finances are important but they should have never overshadowed the safety of people's lives and wellbeing. Which is exactly what has happened.

The bean counters should be put back down in the back offices with the IT dept where they belong. The first priorty and focus of the institution's decision making should be on competent, medically sound and safe patient care which now a days- it is not. MBA's, the business oriented CEO's are not educated in medical and nursing theory and practices. A code or life threatening illness, chronic illness, permanent life altering disability and re admission rates etc,etc are unknown territory to them. They are idots. These patient's today are way over these MBA's heads- they are out of their leagues!!

They should be handed the bills by the Chief Executive Medical Officer or Chief Executive Nursing Officer( CEMO or CENO not the CEO) and told "here, pay it", or "you figure it out, that's what you get paid to do" and "you don't have a nursing license or a medical license - I do!!"" Oh and by the way- don't forget you have a 'ribbon cutting ceremony' or a 'ceremonial shovelful' to do today with pictures- look presentable." The top Executive of any healthcare sytem should be a CLINICIAN.
If our civilan healthcare can not do this, then it's time to turn the responsibility of running of our healthcare systems and the preservation of our citizens safe health care needs over to the government. The private sector busines man sure has not done a good/competent job up to now.