where is nursing headed?

Tara · Feb 5, 2000

At this time, who knows. It seems we are shorter staffed which causes some to leave the profession. I have also noticed more new grads starting out in the units ( which I am undecided if this is appropriate or not). I myself am curious as to where it is heading. It seems to be less a profession at times, and more "fast food". The bottom line seems to be cutting cost over delivering quality care. I feel most nurses are very dedicated to there duty but, are not given the proper tools or staff to carry out what they perceive as excellent care. One day it will change but, I fear terrible things will have to happen first.

nocnurse12 · Feb 5, 2000

I believe that eventually patient care will be given by unlicensed, undertrained Techs. There will be Med Techs, Wound Care Techs, Phlebotomy Techs, etc. Nurses will be restricted to supervisory positions, and those will be reserved for the nurses with higher degrees. Health care has become a cost cutting, profit increasing endeavor- hence the use of multi-function staff. Being that us nurses make so much money ( ha,ha), I am sure the patients will understand why the "Nurse" responsible for making life altering decisions, is doing so after a two week inservice-- I mean it will probobly save them $3 an hour-isn't it worth it? Not if it's my life their decisions alter!

MitziK · Feb 5, 2000

The ultimate fantasy would be that nurses could do what they do best be nurses.

In reality it's the almighty dollar, move em in, move em out, fill the bed regardless of staffing. Burn out the experienced so bad that they leave the profession and replace them with the less paid new grads or techs.

What I wonder is why (and yes I'm a big football and nascar fan)we pay millions of dollars to sports figures to move a ball around a field and yet the teachers that teach them, the nurses that take care of them, police and firemen to protect them, you get the idea, are on the low end of the totem pole as far as payscale?

Babette777 · Feb 9, 2000

Originally posted by theresa_42_43:
please give me your opinions on where you believe nursing is headed in the year 2000.

That's a good question Theresa! I'd like to think that things will change for the better for the patients and for nurses!

I think that the whole healthcare issue in most developped countries boils down to the values of the population in that country. It is my humble opinion that at the moment people who live in developed countries have a dominating value.... CONSUMING GOODS ... AND SERVICES! Healthcare is a service and is percieved as such by the population. When someone goes grocery shopping they usually like to get quality prooducts for the lowest price possible! The same attitude is more then often adopted when people "shop" for healthcare... they want quality care for the lowest price possible. And even if people seem to be sympathetic to nurses difficult working conditions and the effect these conditions may have on the quality of the care they receive.... they still want value for their money. This expectation is passed on to the healthcare providers... private or public(not that they are innocent little lambs in all this)... the pressure is then passed on to the staff... namely nurses.

I think that things will change when we change our collective values about healthcare and use our democratical powers to make those changes happen!

The issue is quite complicated and this is only one aspect of the problem... there is also management to consider and politics... yuk... and don't even want to get into that!

Anyway... in a nutshell... and it may seem harsh... everyone of us have to start taking responsability for what goes on in our own country, state, city, backyard... we all have to take action if we want things to change.

We may not be directly guilty of making healthcare a big money hungry machine but, in some way it's like we are all accomplices to this "crime" because we stoud by and let it happen!

jimbob · Feb 9, 2000

Hey Theresa - good question.

However, in the year 2000 I don't personally think we'll see much change. BUT as things go on into the century, who knows - maybe?????

As those experienced and learned nurses before me have had their say, you'll find some wisdom in each reply - and probably each person is right in their individual way.

One thing that concerns me and has for a while, is why we insist on knocking our own profession and professionalism. Do you ever hear a solicitor/lawyer suggest that their qualification isn't really necessary, or essential or even of value to them? Nurses do. Do you ever hear a person in IT or computers saying that they don't really expect high income, because they do their work as a vocation? Nurses do. I've listened for over a decade of nursing now to the voices of those who think that you don't need education or formalised learning to become a nurse. We've all met the well-meaning lovely old nurse who can back-rub and bed-sponge with the best of them but wouldn't know a suprachondylar fracture from an FDP. And if you suggested that it might help her/him in their work they smile politely, tuck the bedpan under their arm and head off saying "Ooooh, I can't wait 'til tea-break/lunch/hometime - oh and it's payday this week - not a minute too soon!"

But seriously - I'd like to think that nurses of the future will stop all this narking, cribbing and back-biting at each other, and begin (or continue, because there REALLY are some already doing it) to encourage, facilitate and nurture each other's learning.

It's a jolly good question Theresa - and I hope that you find your niche - wherever it may be :-)

[This message has been edited by jimbob (edited February 09, 2000).]

EJD-LPN · Feb 10, 2000

IM SCARED TO THINK ABOUT WHERE THE NURSING PROFESSION IS GOING. I THINK OF MYSELF AS A VERY CARING NURSE. IT SCARES ME WHEN I WANT TO GIVE QUALITY CARE AND CANT BECAUSE OF THE ALMIGHT BUCK. AS NURSES WE TAKE CARE OF PEOPLE, HUMAN BEINGS, WHEN DID THE ALMIGHT BUCK MORE IMORTANT. I WENT INTO NURSING TO TAKE CARE OF PEOPLE,BUT BETWEEN THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR AND PAPER WORK THAT JUST SEEMS MORE AND MORE IMPOSSIBLE. ALL I CAN SAY IS THERE NEEDS TO BE A BIG CHANGE AND I HOPE IT HAPPENS FAST.

Dia0813 · Feb 11, 2000

The foremost thought in my mind on this subject is that we have to stick together and deal with this crisis on a professional level. Nurses still have something many physicians don't have; a manner of dealing with patients as individuals, not as disease entities, and believe me - patients remember this! As a long time ICU nurse, tired of the restrictions placed on my method of caring for patients in the institution environment, I made a decision to change not only environment,but my way of delivering care to people. I got my graduate degree and went on to become a nurse practitioner. The ANA has been calling for higher educational standards in nursing for that very reason; to open ourselves to more options, and enabling ourselves to have more control and voice in how we care for people. I personally view nursing as getting stronger in the new mellinium, as long as we stick together and fight for advanced education for nurses. This profession is not for the weak or lazy minded, we must be assertive we hope to gain strength. Keep an eye on the issue of " physicians unionizing," this will have an important impact on advanced practice nursing.

jtfreel · Feb 12, 2000

I am one of the oldies, and I hope, goodies. As such, have seen 1) nursing shortages that seem to recycle every 10 years or so; 2) the "latest" plan to manage the rising cost of health care (remember DRG's, mandated critical paths, nursing technicians, the short lived push for individual state rather than national licensure standards, the endorsement of and then control attempts to control advanced practice nursing practice by non-nursing professions); 3) the ego/turf battles on entry level degrees to be a "true profesional" and on and on. I continue to read on the benefits of empowering nurses (by whom?). Now states are legislating laws to accomplish what JCAHO, state nursing boards, the nursing profession, and individual nursing executives have been unsuccessful in achieving: "safe" nurse patient ratios. AND through all of this, I continue to see very intelligent individuals work hard to earn their RN, give of themselves daily to accomplish patient care requirements and to continue to provide competent, compassionate care in an increasingly uncompassionate for-profit environment.

I don't have a clue where nursing is going. Even so, with the quality of many of the individuals entering and remaining in the profession, I am 100% sure of 3 things: it will be a wild ride, clients will continue to benefit from the patient advocacy of their professional care givers and that nursing, in whatever form evolves, will be an intregral component of health care for the future.