I Finally Did it...I Wrote to Oprah!

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Specializes in LTC, PCU, Med/Surg, Hospice, OBGYN.

i did it. i finally wrote to oprah on her website for show ideas. i think it will take someone like her to shed light on this so-called nursing shortage issue. if as a nurse you were laid off from work or you are a new grad having a hard time finding work, i recommend that you do the same so that they see that this is a national problem. i also mentioned the whole foreign nursing issue too. speak your mind! here's the link:

https://www.oprah.com/ord/plugform.jsp?plugid=216

:igtsyt:(use your microsoft word to help you keep it under 2000 characters. thanks for all your support!) :yeahthat:

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

i love oprah...i hope she answers you request

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You rock! We need to get this in other shows and news as well. I don't know where this myth came from. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

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Specializes in jack of all trades.

It's not only new grads not finding jobs, some of us old schoolers are having issues also lol. It's an issue affecting many at the moment. I have 30 years experience but have been "out of hospital" for the last 3 years therefore I get the dont have "recent" bedside experience yet working in chronic dialysis as the DON/Charge Nurse and the only one in the building for that matter we :access management, wound care, chf management, diabetes management, scheduling, case management, anemia management and bone health, and I could go on and on!!!!! I left my job first week of June and hearing the same old crap as most the new grads are. My background is critical care, open heart, and Burn ICU. Come on tell me I dont have bedside experience LMAO. I would love her to do a show on this particularly when facilities are making us work short staffed and talking about taking on phillipino nurses to help the so called "shortage"?

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It's not only new grads not finding jobs, some of us old schoolers are having issues also lol. It's an issue affecting many at the moment. I have 30 years experience but have been "out of hospital" for the last 3 years therefore I get the dont have "recent" bedside experience yet working in chronic dialysis as the DON/Charge Nurse and the only one in the building for that matter we :access management, wound care, chf management, diabetes management, scheduling, case management, anemia management and bone health, and I could go on and on!!!!! I left my job first week of June and hearing the same old crap as most the new grads are. My background is critical care, open heart, and Burn ICU. Come on tell me I dont have bedside experience LMAO. I would love her to do a show on this particularly when facilities are making us work short staffed and talking about taking on phillipino nurses to help the so called "shortage"?

I'm having the same problem. I don't have as much bedside experience as you, but I get the same old song and dance. What gets me is that they'll interview, then tell you that. Why waste everyone's time? They can see the resume.

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Specializes in Urology/Telemetry, Ortho.

Good for you!! I clicked your link and also wrote a little letter to her. Communicating with others in the entertainment industry, government, and among friends really helps to get the word out. I have talked to SO many people about this issue and they are shocked to hear about it. I tell them "Spread the word! It's tough to get a nursing job!"

Please keep us posted on your endeavors.

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Specializes in jack of all trades.

Especially now with the health care reforms......"how is this going to affect us and patients in recieving quality care". I just left a job in chronic dialysis that would rather work short and in a dangerous situation then take the risk in "loosing profits". I was given this exact explaination!!!!! I left rather than continue to put my license on the line. Approx 19 years ago I lost my license for a 4 month suspension due to I was the only RN in an Burn ICU and as I was taking in Mylanta to a pt the pt in the next pod pulled out his trach and coded. I set the Mylanta down and asked my tech to "make sure Mr. So-So took his Mylanta", guess what she told the manager and I got it for allowing a "non-licensed person to administer a medication". So where do we draw the line here. This experience made me so paranoid now and I know it's happened in every hospital, clinic, etc one time or the other. It and is happening now and more. I got a call from one of the staff at the clinic I just left to ask me " The Manager asked me to give the Epogen and Zemplar if she drew them up so she could go to lunch." OMG!!! I think if more than just one of us emails her or writes then maybe this will be brought to publics attention. It's not just the hospitals that need required staffing, it's the chronic dialysis clinics, the LTC facilities, correctional facitilites, mental health facilities etc. We need to speak up for all of us.:banghead:

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I was thinking the same , but never had the guts to do it . Kudos and I will send an email to Oprah as well . Something has to change . And she has a voice.

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If it does get on Oprah, can someone post it on youtube bc I don't watch television unnecessarily...or own a TV for that matter. :-)

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I just wrote her too! Hope it works! :)

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that's cool! unforunately i think not very much will come of it because the nursing shortage only impacts nurses! :( (yeah i know, we'll all use nurses at some point, but it's sort of a snooze-fest topic for a show idea).

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Specializes in LTC, PCU, Med/Surg, Hospice, OBGYN.
that's cool! unforunately i think not very much will come of it because the nursing shortage only impacts nurses! :( (yeah i know, we'll all use nurses at some point, but it's sort of a snooze-fest topic for a show idea).

I'm going to have to disagree. I am sure there are many potential patients out there who are worried about increased mistakes because of nurse-patient ratios being affected because hospitals are on hiring freezes and not replacing those who are leaving. I'm also sure that viewers would be interested to know that our government is approving our money to hire foreign nurses to ease the "nursing shortage" and yet we are not hiring our own first. I also believe that this would be a shocker for many who think that nursing is recession proof. Do you know how many family members, friends, and other acquiantances are shocked when I tell them that we nurses can't find a job. I think Oprah loves to be the one to bring up new news.

And I'm not stopping there. I just wrote to Nursing2009 journal and plan to continue to get the news out some way, some how. I hear Obama loves nurses. Maybe I'll get a bunch of New Grads to march with me at Washington, D.C.! :igtsyt:

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