I didn't know the shortage was THIS bad

[VickyRN]

Just visited a unit today in preparation for my students taking clinicals there. On this particular unit, ONE HALF of the nurses are travelers. The unit only houses 6 pods (4-pt module) and one pod was closed down simply because a nurse had called in sick and there was no one available to replace her (plenty of patients, no where to put them). The most interesting fact was something one of the travelers said.... one company is now offering $35,000 COLD HARD CASH for just a SIX WEEK CONTRACT!!!! WOW!!! With money like this being shelled out by the agencies and travel companies, it is little wonder that the hospitals cannot keep staff.

[nimbex, RN]

Have to disagree with the more money = more nurses... my hospital used to pay very large amounts of money each year for retention, including trips to mouse land and the beach... every year you stayed the ante went up.

We STILL had a shortage and STILL needed agency and STILL had beds closed.

New CEO came in and made phenomenal changes and his COO is pro nursing too. Know what? All that big money is gone, but working conditions are so much better. We have a lower agency and fewer leaving.

I'm not saying money isn't important.... It's why we punch in and not volunteer. My thoughts are that a facility had better be PRO NURSING and PRO PATIENT if it expects nurses to stay.

Sorry the words are strong, just food for thought

[Repat]

Flo1216 - sounds EXACTLY like my weekend last weekend. This is the second one in as many months and three strikes they're out. I like to be busy - the time passes - but I don't like to be frightened, and this level of staffing is scary. Only thing is, I am afraid that it may be the same all over. I love nursing. I have worked many jobs but none have been as satisfying as far as a mission as nursing has been for me. It keeps my feet right on the ground. However, I am not looking forward to my feet flying if I inadvertantly screw up on one of those crazy shifts and they send me out the door. As I've said before, I will be the one to suffer, not the institution.

[Dr. Kate, BSN, RN]

I think Nimbes is right on "the money" Treat nurses, and the rest of the employees, well and the staff will come. Escalating wages, bonuses, etc only lead the agencies to raise their rates and continue the disparity between agency and staff wages.

There's always going to be a need for agnecy nurses. It used to be seasonal, but people still have babies, have surgery, get into accidents, etc. Per diems will only stay with a place as long as they're geting the amount of work they need and want. If they start to lose a couple shifts a payperiod and they're off to somewhere they get the shifts they need.

What seems to be missing is what it means to treat nurses well. It's not just more money. It's far too easy to say, more money. What are the real things (notice that's plural) that make one place better than another?

Ever notice how many people say they don't much care for the place where they work, but really like the people they work with?

[Repat]

So true, Dr. Kate! We get paid a very good permium for our 'mandatory' shifts, but it doesn't make it worth it (even though it seemed it would at the time!). Money does not equal respect.

[rebelwaclause, ASN, RN]

Originally posted by oramar

I went to a little restaurant near me that serves very good food. I counted the staff. Seven waitresses, one bus boy, two cooks for a place that holds 50 at max. I thought my God, they got better staffing than the average med/surg unit. One more thing, a lot of places have bad staffing for financial reason. One nurse running around passing meds on 50 patients looks good on bottom line. The shortage gives them an excuse to make money.:stone

The resturant story a sad story Oramar. I wonder if some of the big wigs ever look at it this way?

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

if you want it

here it is

come and get it

but you better hurry

because it may not last.

I love them words. And Dr Kate I enjoy reading your notes. But I will disagree. Job satisfaction does increse in proprtion to money. Thats why this is a capitalist country, and why we love it. AMEN.

doo wah ditty

[askater11]

A travel nurse quit due to sub-standard staffing on one cardiac unit.

It's one of two horrible units I have been pulled to. So to cover my butt I work once in a while on a cardiac unit that's better staffed. And on most days this "better" unit needs a R.N....so when it's my turn to get pulled off my "regular" unit...and they want to put me on one of the "horrible" units...I call the "better" unit and they always tell me...we need you tell staffing...and off I go to the "better" unit!!!!!!!!!!

[SmilingBluEyes]

6 figures...ok Tom, i will bite. What did you have to do to approximate 6 figures as an RN?

Just a caveat: if it's being away from family all the time (my husband is military and does that enuf) by traveling or selling out to the highest bidder, tho, I am not interested. Want to know why? It's simple like me: I think ALL nurses should approach this figure, anyhow. If my sisters who have NO college and work where if they make a mistake, they WILL NOT KILL ANYONE on a bad day can make nearly 100K (and they do)----then----

why can't I who *does* have college and takes such risks daily in my work????? Me, a person who is exposed to nasty diseases and temperaments both in patients and fellow staff at times, and other personal risks each shift? *Why* cannot anyone who does this daily make 6 figures????? Shoot our garbage men make more than we do. True --the job is nasty but if they blunder, they won't kill a patient doing so.

So please, Tell me, Tom how do you do this and where do you live? I am earnest here, I want to learn.

[JailRN]

Hate to sound like a broken record, but this is exactly why I don't do hospital nursing. Full-time staff would be called to stay home because the census was down, but the travelers were paid whether they worked or not. And believe you me, they worked. The full time staff was told to be glad the part-time staff and travelers were there, because, without them, you wouldn't get any time off. But if your vacation plans included a weekend that you were supposed to work, you had to find a replacement for yourself or else, you couldn't have it off. The DON, who was already making a ton of money as Vice President of the hospital has the husband in construction who is doing the gazillion dollar addition to the hospital.(am I the only one who has a broblem with this?) But pay the nurses? Heck no, we'll get our reward in heaven.

I say go to jail. The benefits are great, retirement is great, union if great. Staffing is great, I have off weekends and holidays,(unless I CHOOSE to work them -at time and a half and another day off) abd work only 0700-1500, not 1530, no OT unless I want it.

How can you beat that????

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Sorry to burst your bubble -Sarahstudent - but it will take more than a few commercials and four years -to correct the shortage. People are getting into Nursing, and then bailing out within a few years. The commercials and school don't even remotely reflect what problems there are currently in Nursing and people then bail.

It is a lovely thought, though.

[GRNYCASSIRN]

Hi y'll Greetings from Hel.... Opps, Okla. I don't know if the news has hit the national papers yet, but it's been reported in this state's papers that Oklahoma has one of the worst shortages in Ameica at this time. So, what does our hospital do ???? They decide that we may only wear white or royal blue scrubs to present "a more professional image and so pts can tell the nurses from the housekeepers, etc. Also they have forced "team nursing" on us. That way one RN is responsible for 12 to 16 pts instead of the 6 to 8 we used to have working total care. our benefits suck, we are punished if we dare to get sick on a weekend, no one asks our openion or for nurses input on any of these changes that will affect us professionally and/or financially. My first question to the unit mgr when I heard about the uniform change was "Who's dumbass idea was this? Don't guess, I'll tell you. The new DON!! Our former DON has left the ship and now works at another hosp. in the area where I work part-time. At least a half-dozen nurses have left the adjacent floor and I hear ICU and CCU have also lost several nurses. One house supervisor has also left. We have tried to point out that forcing a new dress color code on us will place upon us a financial burden that we can ill-afford. That the team nursing model as they have set it up is unsafe and unfeasable, all to no avail. Admin's word is law and the nursing staff can go jump, which a lot of us are doing. This is just a very small list of things that we have to contend with. Is it just me, or, are all hospitals run by idiots? In light of current trends, I'd say that hospitals have a lot more to worry about than the color of our scrubs. Will

the Powers That Be ever wake up and smell the bedpan or will pigs fly first???

[llrn]

Have to agree with the reply to Sarah, the student nurse. I just recently joined the ranks of Staff RN's in a hospital setting. Have been on the floor for a year and a half now. Of my graduating class (58), I know of several who have left and others who are very unhappy and unsatisfied. I must say that I think that colleges should concentrate less on bedmaking (HA, HA) and more on reality nursing 101. I did not expect to feel like I was putting my license on the line every day. I thought that I would NEVER be a nurse who left the pump beeping for an hour, left pt laying in stool, didn't take the time to listen to my patient, the list goes on and on. BUT, sadly, reality is that you simply don't have the time to properly care for these patients like you were trained to do.

Reality is that you hit the floor running, stay behind all day and still don't get it done. Reality is that you face a zillion interruptions, each one important. Reality is that you must prioritize and do the essentials. You will not have time for the rest. Staffing is pitiful.

I sincerely hope that your experience is far better than mine.

We no doubt will all need nursing care at some point in our lives. And for all of us.......I hope it gets better.