Everyone seems to be turning to nursing. I remember way back when (5 years ago) when nursing was a calling. There were still other jobs a person could do and make a living--like heating and air conditioning. Now nursing is a lifeboat--a recesion-proof job that anyone and everyone is considering.
I see post after post in here of people who have no experience, no particular desire, and no particular aptitude for nursing inquiring about nursing as a job. They need something to pay the bills. I just went to a restaurant tonight, and two of our waiters are starting nursing school.
Let's face it, with the coming depression, nursing wages are attractive. So here's a prediction, please tell me if you agree or disagree:
Nursing boards will start requiring a 4-year degree to sit for the NCLEX.
The Nursing shortage is going to end in about 3 years; in five there will be a glut of nurses and getting a job will be about like getting a job as an NP is now.
Travel agencies will cease to exist and agency nursing will go the way of the way of the dinosaur.
Without unions, hospitals will force nurses to take about 14 patients a shift and will simply fire those who won't do it.
Well, the difference between us is that I like to think positively about the future and you like to think negatively. Neither one of us know the future, you are right. But having hopeful and positive attitude about what the future holds is not a bad thing. A negative attitude about how we are all doomed and there is nothing left to advance to, there is nothing better than what we have now that could be created, we might as well just stop living now because the future holds nothing good for us. Your attitude is not only closed minded, but it's going to make you a very unhappy person and everyone that has to be around you unhappy as well. Negativity never got anybody anywhere. Hope is a much better virtue to have.
Perhaps you are right. But perhaps a realistic view of what is in front of us will lead those who can see it to do something to prepare for it.
You say I'm seeing something that isn't there? I'm not predicting it, I'm hoping for it. You are saying that it could not happen, no way no how, totally writing it off as a joke that something could power your car as much as your diesel fuel. You don't know that. The beginning stages of the technology are already there. Electric cars have already been created.
My point is this: I think, if I'm not mistaken, that electric cars predate cars with internal combustion engines. If the technology could work, and it is very old technology, it would have. So, if something's going to give us what we have now, in terms of power and distance and affordability, it's going to have to be something new. So, what's new?
Homes are already being powered completely by the sun and towns powered by wind. The technology can be advanced and I believe it will be.
I agree. Home heating and perhaps even individual home power generation might be doable. That might be one of the possibilities.
Maybe not in your lifetime (I don't know how old you are), but hopefully in my lifetime I will be able to see this future unfold. If you look at the trend of human civilization through history, you will see that my standpoint is closer to reality than your own.
Human civilization has only progressed, not stayed stagnant. New ideas are constantly being formed, new inventions being made, new dreams to be fullfilled. Don't underestimate the power of the human mind. We have come a long way, just from a hundred years ago. Do you think the people of that day thought we would have the technologies that we have today just in a hundred years? Think about it.
"A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future."
Sydney J. Harri
I think we're coming to an end of advancement. There are vast stretches of human history where not much advancement took place. Hundreds of years passed and people lived pretty much the same from generation to generation. I think we may be heading into that. I actually take great hope in the idea of equalibrium. When there is equalibrium, people tend to take more time to develop philosophy, art and religion.
You should watch a documentary called "Who Stole the Electric Car". It's an interesting eye opener about the capabilities of electric cars and it's relationship with the oil industry.
I agree with your idea about being realistic with the approach of what may be in our short term (hopefully not longterm) future with this economy. The only thing that scares me about the negative attitude is that sometimes when people feel all is lost and there is nothing left to hope for, they give up and that might be what could cause us to become stagnant. Not only individually in our personal lives, but also in society as a whole.
My poli sci prof said that the health care shortage is artificial. When I thought about it, I had to agree. That was the one value to the gen ed requirements.
I still think the whole scare here is similar to the y2k scare and the more recent avian flu scare. It is really a temporary thing.
I would have hoped that alternative energy is viable, but until the finite resource of fossil fuels is completely depleted, we'll stick with what worked for our parents.
The new technology on the horizon, as I see it. Possible or not, it is believable, and that's all you need, is biotech. The problem is finding which company will be the leader and which companies will survive.
I think your prof is a very intelligent man.
So many people listen to sound bites on the news, read a few articles and think they know the scoop, when the truth of a situation can be far different.
You should watch a documentary called "Who Stole the Electric Car". It's an interesting eye opener about the capabilities of electric cars and it's relationship with the oil industry.
I agree with your idea about being realistic with the approach of what may be in our short term (hopefully not longterm) future with this economy. The only thing that scares me about the negative attitude is that sometimes when people feel all is lost and there is nothing left to hope for, they give up and that might be what could cause us to become stagnant. Not only individually in our personal lives, but also in society as a whole.
I saw that documentary. It was great. Look at GM now- teetering on the brink, and being bailed out with our money.
I wonder how things might have been different for GM if they would have promoted their no-longer-in-existance electric car instead of gas guzzling SUVs?
It's insane how politics can destroy things that could benefit everyone.
Thank you, Valerie. I think Holistic has to hope I am clueless, and I understand that. I'm working. And I kind of hope I'm clueless as well. Because if I'm on target (And since you agree, I think I can say if we are on target.), it doesn't bode well for anyone.
I think I see where you are coming from that a student calls a working nurse clueless on the topic of the nursing profession. I take offense at that as well. It's like one tech I heard bragging once that they could do everything the nurse could do, they just couldn't write in the chart. Kind of sad, really.
But I can't throw stones. When I was a student nurse, I had a lot more opinion than wisdom and I threw it around in forums like this and made a fool out of myself. Now, I realize that.
You're welcome, and thank you.
When I was a student, I held nurses up on a pedestal- I just thought nurses were it. I've now changed my opinion somewhat, lol.
And yeah, I'm sure we get paid twice as much or more than MAs/CNAs "pt care partners" and so on, because we can write in the chart.
Its all relative. i dont believe there'll be an end of the nsg shortage for many reasons one main one being that to become a nurse is not a day's job but i do foresee some changes. it may all come down to flexibility and putting up with lower pays or environments that one might not necesarily care for but let's just watch and see. they are alot of factors to be taken into consideration here. dont scare the students and people who are considering going into nsg. my two cents.
The number 1 on your list is what I had to do to sit for my boards in 1992-North Dakota, at that time, required RNs to be educated for four years (BSN). I'm all for it but I realize this is a heated debate but 'for me'-this was awesome and allowed me MANY opportunites that would have been missed as a 2-year grad.
Did you have to cut down Associate of Science Nurses. That's a low blow.
Many ASN nurses make bette nurses than BSN. Don't start gloating because you have a BSN, or the enemies on the flloor will give you hell.
As for LPN, they know more on the floor than a R. N. Their skills are above par and a BSN is so involved in theory that many can't start an IV, insert a Foley Cath, or put down an NG tube. You are stepping on a lot of toes here, and hurting many people by your statement
and so on, because we can write in the chart.
Flightline, BSN, RN
213 Posts
Perhaps you are right. But perhaps a realistic view of what is in front of us will lead those who can see it to do something to prepare for it.
My point is this: I think, if I'm not mistaken, that electric cars predate cars with internal combustion engines. If the technology could work, and it is very old technology, it would have. So, if something's going to give us what we have now, in terms of power and distance and affordability, it's going to have to be something new. So, what's new?
I agree. Home heating and perhaps even individual home power generation might be doable. That might be one of the possibilities.
I think we're coming to an end of advancement. There are vast stretches of human history where not much advancement took place. Hundreds of years passed and people lived pretty much the same from generation to generation. I think we may be heading into that. I actually take great hope in the idea of equalibrium. When there is equalibrium, people tend to take more time to develop philosophy, art and religion.