Survey: Do you think the federal government is taking the nursing shortage seriously? - page 5

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Here are the results of last months survey question Do you think the federal government is taking the nursing shortage seriously? : https://allnurses.com/surveyresults01-03.gif Please feel... Read More

  1. by WRCRN
    Feb 3, '03
    Occupation: registered nurse Joined: Jul '01; Posts: 8
    It's not the Feds who are choosing to sit on their laurels about the nursing shortage.....it is also our State representatives who are not responding to our dilema. These people seem to forget just who "VOTED THEM TO OFFICE"!!! I would love to be a staff nurse during an election time and have one as my patient. I am a Registered Nurse that has worked for the State of Wisconsin for almost 20 years. We have been without a union contract for the past 20 months!!! This really hurts our ability to hire more staff from the small pool that is out there to begin with. We can't strike because we are government workers. We are all working beyond our mental and physical capacities and some of us are looking elsewhere for employment as the private sector can offer higher salaries. Our union is lobbying in Madison, WI but it seems as though the legislators only hear one thing....we are in a deficit and everyone must sacrifice! Would they say the same if there loved ones were patients being tended to by a nurse trying to do the work of 2 or 3 after doing 3 double shifts in a row? I think not!!!
  2. by Sjackson983
    Feb 8, '03
    Occupation: Staff RN Joined: Apr '01; Posts: 13; Likes: 1
    Noone is taking the nursing shortage seriously! The public doesn't have a clue how bad it is going to be in about 10 years when us baby boomers retire. I believe we, as nurses, need to inform the public. Dateline, 20/20 or one of those shows had a piece on the nursing shortage. I have been e-mailing these shows and encouraging them to do more pieces about the topic. Maybe if more nurses did the same we might get some air time. I have worked in a 21 bed CIC/CSU for the past 17 years. We had a core night shift staff of 22 nurses (no travellers). We are now down to 7 core staff, 3 new grads and the rest are travellers. Our hospital doesn't seem to get it. We have a new DON and he said our hospital does not work on retention. How observant of him. We've been telling administration this for years.
  3. by DAISEY
    Feb 9, '03
    Joined: Feb '03; Posts: 2
    I agree with NancyRn. I believe they are not shortess. People doesn't want work under the sweatshop.
  4. by kiteflyer
    Feb 17, '03
    Joined: Feb '03; Posts: 2
    The nurse reinvestment act did pass, but they haven't voted yet for the funding. We as nurses have to let our representatives and congress know we want them to apropriate funding- where this will come from is our guess- (taxes???)
    Part of the idea of the nurse reinvestment act is to help get more nurses into education since the average age of faculty in nursing schools is 55+, (getting ready to retire)
    And to make money available for more students to be enrolled into nursing schools- but a BIG issue is pay for the educators- theirs is quite a bit lower than nurses in practice, and the universities want the educators to have PhD's. I don't much like the idea of going through all that to get the PhD and then be paid lower than a Family nurse practitoner with the MSN....
    Better Pay, better working environment, have actual nurses in administration who know how it is in the "trenches", get the business men who have almighty $$ signs instead of eyes out of the direction of healthcare- it isn't " just a business" and what we do as nurses isn't "just part of the room charge", and nursing shouldn't be the first department to get cut in a hosp since the nurses are generally the "biggest portion of the payroll". The system Needs an overhaul!!! Ok enough opinion ....
  5. by Iam46yearsold
    Nov 3, '08
    Occupation: CEN RN STAFF NURSE Specialty: 25 year(s) of experience in ER,ICU,L+D,OR ; From: US ; Joined: Aug '08; Posts: 918; Likes: 539
    I think Obama and Biden are very concerned about nursing and health care issues.
  6. by nursingsfun
    Nov 15, '08
    Specialty: 2 year(s) of experience ; Joined: Oct '08; Posts: 37; Likes: 11
    Absolutely not! If it were, there would be more flexibility for LPNs.
  7. by nursesail
    Nov 18, '08
    Occupation: Nursing instructor Specialty: 11 year(s) of experience in Med-surg, tele, hospice, rehab ; From: US ; Joined: Jul '08; Posts: 86; Likes: 48
    No, and I don't think Obama or Biden will take it seriously. I don't trust either of them.
  8. by South1009
    Nov 30, '08
    Joined: Nov '08; Posts: 2
    bowingpurI work for a VA Hospital and No............ they are not taking the nursing shortage seriously. We are working short, we can not keep nurses, the computer paper work is tremendous and also someone is watching over all the nurses and hounding them if they don't do it right. Ok...eye to eye contact with the patients, communication with patient's and family is so not..... No time...how safe is that...patient, family and nurses satisfaction is a neallllllllllll to none........We do get good pay and benefits working at a VA Hosptial but it is scarey to think of who is going to be taking care of us when we get old.
  9. by Iam46yearsold
    Nov 30, '08
    Occupation: CEN RN STAFF NURSE Specialty: 25 year(s) of experience in ER,ICU,L+D,OR ; From: US ; Joined: Aug '08; Posts: 918; Likes: 539
    When you consider all the heat that the VA has taken in the news post Bushs illegal war and they way wounded are taken care of. They are just trying to avoid the same kind of whiplash they got after Nam and the way vets were treated back then. Also look at the limits that they have to live with in financial support, after Bushs illegal activities have Bankrupted this proud country. And has ruins the entire financial sector and outlook of the country. Bush and Rove and all of that group have tried to ruin this proud country.

    Hopefully Obama and the team he is putting together will set things right. It will take them time to correct all the damage done.
  10. by South1009
    Nov 30, '08
    Joined: Nov '08; Posts: 2
    I agree. The VA needs more money to run. I can know that we were not ready to treat the soldiers the day the war started and we are no more ready now knowing they were going to be coming back and what shape they were going to be coming back in. I do think that Bush/Federal Government new we were going to have to take care of the soldiers when they got home. I know that our hospital is no where near ready to treat the PTSD and other mental disorders that these soldiers/kids are coming home with. I asked our Director about it. She said that Washington is going to have to come up with money. We are not able to recruit Mental Health doctors because for one thing that isn't a popular field for doctors. VA Hospital's don't pay their doctors near what the private sector makes so they won't come to VA to work. Let's Pray for Change.
  11. by lindarn
    Dec 1, '08
    Occupation: RN Joined: Jun '02; Posts: 2,030; Likes: 5,933
    Quote from Psynrs
    The Government doesn't have a clue--they just think they do. Just remember Hillary Clinton's comment, "RN's get paid too much!!!!" This from a woman who thought she'd "reinvent" Healthcare, and was married to President "B.J." Clinton (go figure!).

    Firstly, they don't realize that most of the "Baby Boomer" nurses are either quitting due to increasingly unbearable working conditions, retiring, or going to work in flower shops, where there is far less stress.

    Secondly, the patient population is increasing due to the growing number of older patients. The shortage is hitting us from both ends.

    In addition, a recent survey showed that 70% of all working first year R.N.s say they plan to get out of nursing within the next year. That makes it a triple whammy!

    I solved my nursing burn-out problem by quitting nursing in Dec. of 2001, beginning to sell art & collectibles on eBay and opening up an Amazon book seller's account this past year. That way, I can go to work at my computer in my underwear and not sweat the stress of working on a busy and often dangerous Psych floor with almost no help, with doctors who think they're God, and Administrators who just care about making a buck off of unfortunate sick people.

    I plan to become a CLNC. With the increasing number of "medical mistakes" being made due to the shortage (which is going to get much worse!), this seems to me like a legal gold mine.

    For those of you who plan to stay in nursing for awhile, I would suggest striking en masse against these conditions. I remember years ago when the San Francisco garbage collectors went on strike in the 1970s. After everybody's trash heaped up for a few days, the Trash Men got close to a 100% pay raise, which meant they were making more than I was making as a young, new psych nurse.

    Believe me: it wouldn't take long for the hospitals, suddenly finding themselves almost devoid of nurses to realize the error of their ways and act speedily to rectify their suddenly desperate situation. Their immediate response would probably be a huge increase in pay, which would be a beginning, at least. I would also suggest the possibility of forming strong Nursing Unions, like the Teamsters did.
    I made that same suggestion just last week, about nursing will never get what it should when, an until, we all go on a nationwide strike like the Post Office did in March of 1970. They brought this country to its knees in just three days. That was all it took.

    The remarks were, how hard it would be to organize a strike of that magnitude, and how unethical it was to leave the patients with no one to care for them.

    While I agree with that to some extent, I do feel that nothing that nursing has done to the present, has improved wages, working conditions (except the CNA), and benefits, and the respect that we really do not receive.

    As I stated in my previous thread, the public may state that we are the most ethical profession, but actions speak louder than words.

    Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
    Spokane, Washington
  12. by Iam46yearsold
    Dec 2, '08
    Occupation: CEN RN STAFF NURSE Specialty: 25 year(s) of experience in ER,ICU,L+D,OR ; From: US ; Joined: Aug '08; Posts: 918; Likes: 539
    We can not treat the vets of this country as shabbily as our Government did after Nam. My father was treated terribly. Led to his early demise. In fact I am thinking of leaving private hospitals and going to work at the VA, just do my what little I can.
  13. by Nora777
    Dec 10, '08
    Joined: Aug '06; Posts: 9; Likes: 3
    For the past 2 years I was watching local hospitals websites and saw a lot of open full-time positions for nurses, about 40 to 60 per every hospital, and about 80-120 for a big hospital.
    I checked websites last week and there are about 15-30 listings per hospital... Out of them only 5-6 are full-time jobs, the rest are per diem with no benefits or part-time.
    If there ever was a nursing shortage, it's gone.
    I know girls that graduated in July 08 (RN-BSN), and are still looking for a job!!! Hospitals do not want to take new grads.
    I am graduating in May and I am scared...

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