Please participate in my survey for school

jrbl77, RN · Aug 15, 2006

i am a staff nurse in southern illinois, have been for 29 yrs.

1. i feel the shortage of nurses is due to more choices for women today. also there is a differnce in work ethics in the different generations. when i started nursing i did what i was told and didn't question. things aren't that way anymore- thank god.

2overworked- usually yes, more and more to do every day, another form to fill out , but none ever deleted. pt turn over rate rapidly increasing. most administrators haven't done floor nursing in years and can't see the stress the rn is under.

3.overall treatment in some ways is better than it ever has been, most md's see rn as a valuable assest.other hospital staff- non nursing often don't have a clue what rn does all day. think if census is down we are slow- taking it easy- not so when you staff by numbers.

4. benefits- pay i am very happy with my pay. i am at top nurse pay and it makes it hard to start over somewhere else and take a big pay cut. plus allthe vacation time etc.5. solution -i don;t know

Trauma Columnist · Aug 15, 2006

Okay, here goes:

1) What do you think is the main cause(s) of the shortage? Not enough master's prepared instructors.

2) Do you think nurses are overworked? Yes, as a general rule. With the amount of pt teaching now required, there is not enough time to get this done.

3) What is the overall treatment nurses receive by colleagues and/or pts in the workplace? Where I currently work it is wonderful (I have been here one month). I worked in a large hospital for 10 years prior to this and again, the treatment is wonderful. In many cases, it's YOUR attitude that determines THEIR attitude.

4) Are you satisfied with the benefits you receive (i.e. vacation/sick time, salary, insurance)? Yes indeed. I am more than fairly compensated.

5) What do you think the solution should be for the shortage? Have more scholarships and not in just the inner cities or big towns. In my midwestern city, there are three colleges of nursing that would hire me immediately. However, I can't take a pay cut.

I have been an RN for 14 years and currently live in central IL. I am currently a nephrology advanced practice nurse and have an MSN.

Sonn · Aug 20, 2006

1. The cost of university fees for becoming an RN.

2. Yes

3. I work with supportive colleagues and patients are very appreciative

4. Yes

5. Scholarships would help

Good luck with your studies. I am sorry that not many people have responded to your poll.

Sean 91 · Aug 23, 2006

Working for a large for-profit hospital chain:

1) Management, currently. At my hospital nurses are "assayed", that is the charge on duty goes over the patient census and determines what aide mix will be allowed for the next shift. Only a certain number of personnel will be allowed to work, depending on the number of patients. So if the census does not meet certain levels, nurses/aides are called to say not to come in to work. So it is not a matter of not having enough nurses available--they just aren't allowed to come in. So a nurse/aide can end up working less than 40 hours per week. The "assay" goes by rotation so if you've been called not to come in, the next time it goes to the next person on the list for that shift to be called and "assayed". (I've looked for that definition of "assay" and I can't find it, so I don't know if it is just a catchword to disguise its meaning.) When assayed, we take paid time off (PTO)--our vacation time.

2) Yes. But many nurses choose to work extra shifts, esp. at extra pay. For about the last year my hospital (chain) has allowed nurses to work extra shifts at as much as $40/hr up to 52 hours, although hours often went up to 60 hours because of having to stay to chart and finish up. Lately, the management, with a pending change in owenership of the chain due to a stock sale the SEC has just allowed to go through, has been cutting back on overtime and the extra amount per hours you can make for extra shifts, in order to cut costs and make the corporation appear more profitable. (Well, not appear, I guess it IS more profitable for the stockholders if you cut costs.) Also, we have a new CEO who has to make his bones. So our weekly paychecks have taken a dive and just about everyone is disgruntled about it.

3) Good nurses receive respect, bad nurses receive whispers behind their back but never to their faces. Doctors generally ignore the nurses and it tough to even get a "hello" out of many doctors--but I guess they are overworked. Doctors rarely talk to nurses unless you have to call them for an order.

4) Benefits are lousy in my chain. I pay $310/month for family insurance for three, and the copay is lousy, we end up paying for most of any medicines or visits to the doctor. My 15 minutes chatting with my doctor cost me about $125, so I'm just not going to go anymore unless I come down with the plague.

5) Short-term the solution to the shortage is currently up to management, but that would mean reducing profit margins, so they just aren't going to due it, and instead let the cry that their is a shortage now hide their greedy ways. Long-term, nursing schools have been limited in the number of students they can take. The current state of the government, with all the Bush tax reductions and the over $300 billion going to the war in Iraq makes government funding unlikely. Even if the national leadership after Bush is friendly to spending money on social issues, the country won't be able to afford it for many years.

christymwinn · Aug 23, 2006

Hi Everyone,
I am currently a nursing student in San Diego, CA. I am working on a research paper regarding the issue of the nursing shortage. I know I could probably try and find this topic somewhere on this forum, but I wanted to conduct my very own poll
1) What do you think is the main cause(s) of the shortage?
2) Do you think nurses are overworked?
3) What is the overall treatment nurses receive by colleagues and/or pts in the workplace?
4) Are you satisfied with the benefits you receive (i.e. vacation/sick time, salary, insurance)?
5) What do you think the solution should be for the shortage?
Please include your location and how many years you have been a Registered Nurse.
Thanks for all of your help!!!
Bernadette :monkeydance:

Ok, here goes.....

1) Lack of respect for nurses and HIGH stress levels. Places expect you to make work your forst priority in life and family second.

2) For the most part yes. Staffing guidelines don't change, but the paperwork piles up year after year. You spend more time on paperwork and don't get the pt contact that you were prepared for in school.

3) I would say that on average most patients are very gracious, but there can be quite a few who act like they are staying in the HILTON and you are their private maid. You just have to suck it up though, b/c the "customer" is always right.

4) Yes on sick time and insurance. Vacation and salary could be better!!!

5) I know the bottom is important b/c you can't run a hospital on no money, but you can't make cuts where patient care is concerned. I believe you really need to listen to your nurses. I think a simple change in staffing would make the biggest difference in the world!!!

Hope I didn't sound too crabby. Ireally like do being a nurse, I just hate being mistreated.

TexasPediRN · Aug 23, 2006

1. the main cause of the shortage has got to be burnout and stress. 6 patients a day + numerous demands and running your a$$ off causes a lot of nurses to leave the hospital setting early for something different and less stressful.

2. Yes. There is never enough staff to care for patients with a good staffing ratio.

3. Now I just changed jobs to an awesome peds hospital, so my answer to this question is going to differ from most. My colleagues are extremely helpful, although you can always find 'cliques' and certain people who just arent friendly and dont want new help, even though they will complain about being short staffed. 90% of my patients are extremely grateful for the care they are given, and will not complain. The other 10% will just find any little thing to gripe about..

My first week on the job one patient took my picture for her scrapbook, another gave me a pair of homemade earrings as a thank you for taking good care of her daughter (she gave them to everyone, which i thought was really nice).

The doctors I was shocked with - they are amazing here. I've worked hosptial before and drs rarely knew your name, when you started, etc. Just the other day I had a doctor ask me how I was liking my new job. I was shocked, but it was the nicest thing.

4. I like my benefits. I pay 46 a month to cover me only, and I get 200 hours of vacation and 48 of extended illness bank hours per year (after 2 days of being sick and using PTOS, you dip into your Extended illness bank for pay). My benefits started one month after employment, and therefore dont start until Sept. But they look good on paper!

5. The solution to the shortage would be better staffing ratios, more nurses, and most of all, more nursing teachers so that schools didnt have a waiting list of up to 2 years. Thats rediculous. My school didnt have a waiting list, and it was the only school I applied to.

I live in Houston, Texas, and graduated in 5/05 with my RN, BSN.

Good luck with your survey!

pkeyrn · Aug 23, 2006

I am an RN and have been practicing in northern New York State for 24 years.

1. One of the main causes of the nursing shortage here is a lack of retention. There is not a shortage of nurses...there is a shortage of nurses who are practicing their profession (for many different and individual reasons).

2. DEFINITELY...nurses are overworked and over-stressed.

3. Treatment of nurses is variable in my experience. Some doctors (usually the older ones) still do not consider nurses to be professionals and our knowledge of our patients' conditions and needs is therefore discounted. Others can be great. It is the same with patients...some are very grateful and appreciative for the care received, others think of us as maids (or even slaves).

4. As for benefits...for the area I live in (I live in the "poorest" county in NYS), my salary and benefits are okay (grant you, I have had to slowly build them up over 24 years).

5. More respect? More money? Stress-reduction? I really don't know. Whoever finally comes up with a solution should be canonized as a saint.