US licensing exam to be given in foreign countries.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Aug 22, 2002

If any of you are on the MEDSCAPE Nursing e-mail list, there is a good article on the shortage from the Public Health/AIDS side.

............Shortage of Nurses? Who Cares?..........
from The AIDS Reader ®
Posted 08/09/2002
Kristine M. Gebbie, DrPH, RN
Introduction
Among the many potential policy issues circulating this year, the question of whether there will be sufficient nurses to care for those in need has emerged as increasingly important. Please read a little further before dismissing this as one more nurse making the usual "enlightened" self-interest speech that could be delivered by any profession or union.
Analyses of the nursing workforce done during the last year have confirmed several important facts: the nursing workforce is on average older than it was just a few years ago; nurses are entering school when they are older, meaning fewer likely years of practice after graduation; and nursing faculty are on average older than the general nursing workforce, meaning impending retirements could leave schools of nursing without needed mentors just when expansion of the enrollments is most needed. Compared with other professions, there is a distressingly small proportion of nurses under the age of 30. Whether it is just "whining" or a real issue, it is said that this older nursing workforce is less and less interested in jobs that provide little assistance with the physical effort associated with hospital-based staff nursing and less and less interested in working for organizations that do not respect nurses as professionals.
In addition, the trend lines are such that the crisis in nurse availability will reach a peak at the very point when the aging baby boom generation reaches that stage of life during which nursing care is extremely important.
Hospitals cannot function without nurses, at least as they are now organized and as they are likely to be organized in the foreseeable future. While the use of nursing assistants and other unlicensed personnel can be of some help, the complex medication regimens and the increasingly high-tech procedures performed in hospitals on ever-sicker patients demand the presence of well-educated professional nurses. And while there are many opportunities to complain about the shortcomings of many nurses in the so-called TLC department, it is also true that the human touch of nurses is what many patients and families find so important when experiencing an illness crisis. Further, as more and more care moves from the hospital to the community and to other, less intense facilities, nurses and their skills are needed there as well.

Seems pretty straight-forward doesn't it. But the "cure"may be the organizations "restructuring" the healthcare team. Money buys votes in the legislatures making the laws concerning healthcare. Suits ARE the big money.

Grace Oz · Aug 22, 2002

They're recruiting here in Australia for nurses to go to the US also. Would hate to think you'd all think of our lot as "foriegn"! Given we speak bloody good english mate! Not to mention the many similarities we share. :-)

Seriously... I've said it before, I'll say it again... the only way to train nurses is under the apprenticeship system! It's affordable, practical & damn plain sensible to do so! IMHO.

Cheers from "Down Under"...

Grace.

sjoe · Aug 22, 2002

Dr. Kate--don't know the source of your figures (mine, which refer specifically to RNs, are only from the San Diego Union Tribune at this time, I admit), but the last article I saw on the subject stated that over 20% of California-licensed RNs are NOT working in the field. I'll keep my eyes open for national figures, since there are so many articles on the subject recently. It would be interesting to know.

Q. · Aug 22, 2002

Dr. Kate,

I also don't know where you are getting your figures from, but I will do my best to research it.

My figures of the 2.7 Million Licensed Nurses, include both RNs and LPNs, of that group, over 60% (roughly) were NOT working in the nursing field, and a smaller percentage (the amount escapes me) are NOT working in bedside care. They have left for other business ventures. I will find my source and cite it appropriately for you.

I myself was a bedside nurse and left it full time after only 2 years. I long to work in Labor and Delivery, but won't as long as it jeapardizes my license. That is the reality. And I am not the only one. Far from it.

I once toured a Med/Surg unit in which a young nurse of 22 years old was already in charge, precepting, and walked like she was 60 years old, had swollen knees probably from a work injury, and had dark circles under her eyes. You bet she wanted to be a nurse, but not when at the age of 22, who should have years and years left to give to the profession, is ready to leave because the floor had chewed her up and spit her out already. So, while we succeeded in attracting her to the profession to ENROLL in school, she will be leaving in about 1 year to use her RN license elsewhere, like insurance, which is where I initially went. And that's where the nurses are going, Dr.Kate. Either keeping their license and working elsewhere, or letting their license lapse completely.

My husband graduated with a BSN and never even sat for boards. Why? Because of what I listed above. So there again, a new grad who never even worked a day on the floor. We lost him before we even had him.

There ARE enough nurses to work, Dr. Kate. They simply are choosing NOT to. And until we figure out why that is and solve those problems, like pay, respect, safety, leadership, to name a few, throwing foreign bodies at will not solve it. In fact, it will only serve to increase my 2.7 million licensed nurse figure.

Aussienurse2 · Aug 22, 2002

Hey Grace, I don't think they want us, I would like to work in the "All Nurses Hospital" myself. We could find some Govt. funding couldn't we? They're giving that guy who vomits milk a million dollar grant..... If we can have art for arts sake surely we can have nurses for healths sake?