Good article on nursing shortage

Sally_ICURN · Feb 11, 2003

Originally posted by -jt
HCA is a criminal corporation.

It also happens to be owned by the father of the newly elected leader of the US Senate - Senator Frisk, a cardiologist who, with his wife owns something like $26 million in his father's criminal company stock.

Yup, I have been saying this since I started frequenting this BB only a couple of months ago. Funny though, Senator Dr. Frist will deny any involvement with HCA. DUH! I would say owning stock = involvment. It's a complete conflict of interest to be in the position that he's in and the American public is completely ignorant to this fact.

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2003

I think the article made a few good points, but it was obviously written by someone who doesn't have a health care background or didn't do a whole lot of research.

Sally_ICURN · Feb 11, 2003

...didn't do a whole lot of research

Sorry, but WHAT?

deespoohbear · Feb 11, 2003

I am glad to see that I am not the only one who noticed that the doctors were not named in the article, but the nurses names were there for everyone to see....what a double standard...

It really disgusts me when I hear of nurses who are breaking their backs to provide quality care while the fat cat administrators are driving around in Lexus vehicles and living in 2 million dollar homes. And the doctors continue to have their massive egos fueled by doting administrators who lead them to believe they are God..... :devil:

The people running the hospitals mentioned in the articles ought to be forced to receive care in their own facility by overworked, understaffed nurses and other ancillary departments. Would serve them right.

debyan · Feb 11, 2003

OMG Like an neverending story and the nurses made to sound like a scrapegoat. Why have they just noticed this? Could it be wealthier more famous people are being effected? Nurses have known this for quite a while without much attention. Anytime someone in my family has been in the hospital I always kept a family member with them, I know how over worked we are. Simple math computation can tell you that you can only divide the min.in a day between patients up so far without care being effected. This article was lenghty, each paragraph depicting a worse situation until you felt almost as overwelmed just reading it as the nurses in those setting , but where were they directing the blame?It was only the nurses being named of course not the Drs, we don't do the hiring we go in everyday wanting to have a good day. I wish that they would have researched the administration, staffing coordinators, DON and assistant, frequency of complaints from families about lack of staff(since they implicate we are too intimidated to stand up for ourselves, so we need to pay the bills who cares). This article gives me the shivers about what is ongoing in nsg at this time and who the shythe will land on. deb

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2003

Originally posted by Stargazer
So many things wrong in this article I can't even count them all. Is this even legal?

Amd what the HELL is wrong with the Florida Nurses' Association? Grrr....

Why, Stargazer, just look at who the governor of that wonderful state is - Jeb "Shrub" Bush.

As a "native" Floridian" that emigrated to Georgia during the Great Orange Grove/Medfly/Citrus Canker Famine of 95', that medical system has been screwed up for a very looooonnnng time. When I started on med-surg (1/2 fresh postop) out of Nursing school - the stats at my hospital were 2 RNs, 2LPNs and techs for a 41 bed unit. You couldn't help but improve staffing from there. And as the population there is elderly - lots of diabetics, co-morbidities, total cares.

The license is difficult to get and expensive, the Board is a royal pain in the tuchis to deal with ( 1 hour or more on hold is the norm), the payrates pathetic, the technology unimpressive, pt population depressing, and the hospitals severely understaffed. You are worked to death in the Winter, low-censused in the summer, the roads and school systems of poor quality, and the environment is kind to retirees and tourists but not to anyone that actually lives there year round. You practically must be bilingual to work in a hospital. And "Shrub" thinks that a pennyante attempt at financing schooling will help. Oh yes, and low cost home financing ( which benefits the state as most taxes land on the home owner - no income tax).

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2003

Originally posted by Sally_ICURN

Sorry, but WHAT?

What I meant by this was, I feel that the author could have done more research on ALL parties involved, not just the nurses. It seems that blame is being placed entirely on the nurses, and physician involvement is totally ignored. I realize that the author had good intentions of focusing on the shortage, but somehow I still feel that pieces of information are missing from this article.

-jt · Feb 11, 2003

But isnt that what the writer was saying? I didnt get the feeling he was blaming nurses. I thought he was putting the blame where it belonged - on administrators who put profits before patients. He was pointing out how understaffing, high pt loads & overwork of the nursing staff affects the quality of pt care & the consequences of that. He wasnt blaming the nurses. He was telling it like it is and showing exactly how pts suffer when nurses are forced to work in horrendous conditions. It seemed to me he was telling the public what is going on at their expense in the name of "cost-cutting" & to understand that its not the nurses fault if we only have 2 hands.

I noticed that the lawyers gave up the names of nurses but declined to name any physicians involved. Those same physicians are probably fighting for caps on malpractice suits too.

Simple truth is if they want their pts to do well, they could be pressuring the hospitals to provide the proper staff & environments so their pts can get the proper care & then they wouldnt have to worry about malpractice lawsuits.

rachel h, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2003

I read the first half of the article and skimmed the rest... I'll read it later...

You know the one thing I hate about articles like this is the wording- such as the nurses "neglected" to do this or "failed" to do that. At least this article makes the reader aware that the reason for this 'negligence' is mainly due to short staffing, not incompetence or stupidity...