Nursing shortage

colleen10 · Feb 21, 2003

Haly Bean,

As a student, until I got to this board I thought that there was a huge nursing shortage.

While I agree that in many areas there are not enough nurses and there will certainly be an increased need for them in the future I believe a lot of the shortage is based on Hospitals and Medical facilities that don't want to spend the money on staff.

They tell you to "make do with what you have." It's interesting to hear of nurses say that they are consistently short staffed yet it doesn't seem like a lot of hospitals are concerned with hiring more nurses or scheduling them so that there are appropriate ratios.

eltrip · Feb 21, 2003

I've seen a number of positions at my facility posted for months. Many nurses do not wish to work those hours & can find work more conducive to family life. There's plenty of non-hospital work here, that's for sure.

altomga, ADN, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, APRN · Feb 21, 2003

how long have you been nurses? There is a shortage of "nurses" who wish to continue their nursing career. And there are not as many young people interested in a nursing career. Let's not forget the older nurses that are getting ready to retire! My hospital has the FTE's to staff appropiately, but no one to fill the positions! Our hire rate is @ 18.00/hr so that's not bad for new grads. Experienced nurses get sign on bonuses (oh, yea so does the new grads!!!!!!!) but they are also compensated for their experience. We have nurses leaving all the time, not b/c of mananagement/administration, but b/c the work is hard, hours are long, and they are tired of working short!!!

GEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZ......take a look around!!

JNJ · Feb 21, 2003

$18 an hour for new grads and you consider that 'not bad.' I'd be interested to check out what the COTAs and PTAs make as a new grad (with a similar associates degree), before being so sure $18 is a good deal.

I know I would not consider $18 appropriate in CA where the COTAs average $35 at first job after graduation. (That's an official statistic from a private college that graduates both AA degree RNs and COTAs. The RNs average $23.)

sjoe · Feb 21, 2003

There is much more related information on the numerous threads where this has already been thoroughly discussed.

plumrn, BSN, RN · Feb 21, 2003

There is certainly a shortage of nurses, worse in some places than others, but there is also a shortage of staff to do the job safely and completely, due to staffing grids utilized by facilities. This many nurses for this many pts. Our facility does not take in to account the acuity of pts anymore. They go strictly by that grid.

The fact that almost ALL pts. are high acuity now, does not matter. Running full speed, with horrendous stress levels for greater than 12 hrs/day with usually only a hurried 30 min. break per shift, causes nurses to burnout and fear for their health. They leave and we are even more short of staff, prompting administration to spout, "We just can't find any nurses to hire!"

colleen10 · Feb 21, 2003

I have a question related to this.

Do you think that there are more CNA's, LPN's and Patient Care Techs in hospitals now due to the shortage or because they are cheaper than RN's?

Teshiee · Feb 21, 2003

Beating the dead horse on this one. There is a shortage of experience nurses, who wish to no longer be apart of the slave trade, get it?

mattsmom81 · Feb 21, 2003

I think the OP makes a great point regarding employer's qualifications for nurse employees. They only want to hire their idea of the 'perfect' nurse specimens today, at the cheapest possible rate.

I know so many nurses who work agency or move on out of nursing because facilities are blackballing them for some silly reason. Those who speak out, or dare to have a work injury and ask for fair treatment, or leave a job due to unsafe conditions, or speak the word 'union' out loud, or are experienced and at the top of the pay scale ...may find themselves unable to find facility work. Amazing in this time of 'shortage' isn't it.

.....Oh well, it's the facility's loss.....but the nurses who continue to be forced to work short in spite of good, experienced help with applications being ignored are also suffereing for this bad practice.

The games being played are ridiculous, IMHO, and more and more nurses are rightfully looking out for #1.

pickledpepperRN · Feb 21, 2003

I only work 24 hours a week. It is all I can take with the staffing and psychological difficulty in advocating for my patients and safe staffing. Tired and exhausted staff makes errors. I volunteer a lot.

My kids are adult and on their own, college degrees and so on. Those with a young family or who need more $$$ can't do this.

If the conditions were better for nurses and patients I would be glad to work full time again and earn more money.

RNonsense · Feb 22, 2003

We have vacant positions here that have been open for months...no nurses to fill 'em!!!