Future of Nursing

burn out · May 23, 2006

I think the whole concept of eICU and eRN are amazing...I am not all that familiar with how it works but as the nursing shortage worsens I imagine we will see RN's working more in this capacity so that they can oversee the care of more patients while the CNA's and PCT's provide the hands on care.

nursecher · May 23, 2006

I think the whole concept of eICU and eRN are amazing...I am not all that familiar with how it works but as the nursing shortage worsens I imagine we will see RN's working more in this capacity so that they can oversee the care of more patients while the CNA's and PCT's provide the hands on care.

Interesting. Does anyone else know how this works?

Corvette Guy · May 23, 2006

I think the whole concept of eICU and eRN are amazing...I am not all that familiar with how it works but as the nursing shortage worsens I imagine we will see RN's working more in this capacity so that they can oversee the care of more patients while the CNA's and PCT's provide the hands on care.

:trout:

I hope not!

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · May 23, 2006

I see us going back to the days of cleaning the rooms, taking out the trash and cooking the meals. And the ratio's staying the same. Whenever there are cutbacks somewhere, it seems like nursing has to pick up the slack.

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · May 23, 2006

IN my area, I am seeing a very happy trend of Nursing actually being respected as a profession by the administration! In fact, most administration is headed by the nursing departments (a new requirement at my hospital!), and that has been very favorable by the Nursing staff!!!!

Also, I see a definate trend towards agency nursing! There isn't a day at my hospital that goes by without 3-5 agency nurses there...and those agency nurses are typically specifically trained for certain hospitals. Like me, I work exclusively at one hospital as their own agency nurse...which is a win win for them and me! I get to have my home base that I know as well as most perm employees, and they can use me PRN (which is typically daily!). Right now, yes..they pay more for my services than if I was just PRN for them...but around here the admin is realizing that buying out the contracts and paying the agency RN's what they are making is paning out well!!!!! (I still prefer agency though!). This trend is growing!

A sadder trend is hiring part-time only so that the facility doesn't have to pay RN's healthcare insurance or other benifits! Again I am lucky because my agency does provide this, and I use my hubby's insurance as well...but this trend is growing very fast, so keeping that in mind and thinking about how to protect yourself is good!

Assisted living facilities are also a huge trend, and I am not sold on it! CNA's and in some cases unlicensed caregivers are doing simple tx and passing medications under the deligation of one or two RN's (who may or may not be on site 24/7). These places are being held to a very high standard...and is a very liable situation for the acting RN and the patients! For 'assisted living' to have more rules and regulations than a nursing home when it is 'assisted only'...seems harsh, however...patients and patient families are liking the term of assisted living, and not realizing that eventually the client will have to be moved to skilled nursing (so clients usually stay there, and the facility charges more for services they really shouldn't be doing without a perm RN staff!!!!). Watch out for this trend!!!!!! Believe me..I worked 4 years in one and see the pro's and con's and sadly the con's win!