I am doing a paper for school.... please post your opinion

ikarus01 · Mar 13, 2011

Funny thing is, the so called nursing shortage has been going on since I graduated from school in the late 90's.

Back in my travel days, I became good friends with a nursing director who used to travel to South Africa and the Phillipines to recruit nurses.

Back then her comment was---why would i pay somebody 20 bucks the hours, when I can get these nurses for 12 bucks the hours?

So could be that the nursing shortage is also due to stagnant wages.

jaclynshroyer64 · Mar 14, 2011

Well, I sorta made the question, just to get some feathers ruffled....... which it appears has happened. I can say that there are suddenlly less jobs posted where I live in PA, but it doesn't mean that there are enough nurses as we all know, it's just corporations cutting costs, etc. So, they slap us with increased workloads and expect more for less money and with less resources, just to pad their pockets. There are less grads in my area, but think about it, who wants to work weekends/holidays and OT for less money? (overall)..... Just saying. I appreciate all of your input!!! It makes for interesting paper so far!

roser13, ASN, RN · Mar 14, 2011

"Well, I sorta made the question, just to get some feathers ruffled....... "Interesting. And pretty much against the terms of service of the website, if I recall, to post incendiary statements or questions just to get a rise out of people.

Psychtrish39, BSN, RN · Mar 14, 2011

I know when I was in school we had to do real research and I sure didn't go on any nursing websites as a student for papers. I didn't join Allnurses.com until I had been a nurse for 3 years so that I would have enough experience and not be so green and to be able to learn from all these experienced nurses on here. I have had differences of opinion sometimes heated but I would never post anything to "ruffle some feathers". Most of us out here in the trenches are just trying to be nurses and not writing papers.. Perhaps you should do your own research . Research is supposed to be concrete citable work.. This really chaps my butt.... and I am sure I am not the one who just read that... :uhoh3:

ponytailman · Mar 15, 2011

Most of my biggest dissatisfaction with my field is the invasion of corporate america into every nook. People with minimal or no human skills influencing or dictating almost all aspects of bedside nursing without the knowledge or expertise. Their tentacles impact charting,staffing,"customer service" but also they strain or diminish nurses ability to form tight,have your back come hell or highwater units which is one of the hidden needs of our profession.

jaclynshroyer64 · Mar 20, 2011

"Well, I sorta made the question, just to get some feathers ruffled....... "Interesting. And pretty much against the terms of service of the website, if I recall, to post incendiary statements or questions just to get a rise out of people.

Didn't mean to upset everyone...... geez! I just wanted to get people to express their dissatisfaction with nursing and why....... i've been a nurse for 26 years and I can see that at times things are mis-construed..... I by no means wanted to tick people off...... just wanted to get some discussions about why we are so short staffed and think about it, if we joined together... what we could accopmplish. But we don't and this is why we get treated the way we do. Our #'s a great, but we don't stick together. Sorry.

allnurses Guide · Mar 21, 2011

I think what may have happened is people assumed you were a nursing student -- and dumped in the basket. The testy replies are more a reaction to the many students who post asking people to answer their homework questions before they really dig into available resources first.

The other part of that - a student taking a psych class will decide to use members as unwitting test subjects for their class- they post what appears to be a valid but controversial topic- nurses respond in good faith to that question or topic and the person returns later to tell us they made the whole thing up and obviously it was a good call on their part because look how upset everyone is!!

Cessna172 · Mar 21, 2011

Didn't mean to upset everyone...... geez! I just wanted to get people to express their dissatisfaction with nursing and why....... i've been a nurse for 26 years and I can see that at times things are mis-construed..... I by no means wanted to tick people off...... just wanted to get some discussions about why we are so short staffed and think about it, if we joined together... what we could accopmplish. But we don't and this is why we get treated the way we do. Our #'s a great, but we don't stick together. Sorry.

Perhaps I am a little confused. Are you or are you not working on the BSN? Your initial post said so, but how does getting a discussion going about dissatisfaction in nursing for a paper for the BSN, and then later revealing you were simply trying to stir the pot help you or anyone else? You've been a nurse (at least that's what you said) for 26 years, so you have probably seen more changes for the worse than I ever will in nursing. Good luck in school.

I feel you are absolutely right when saying we could accomplish alot by joining together. Alot of the problem is the large numbers of new grads entering the workforce, which is a great accomplishment for them, but is also somewhat unfair to them in a sense that flooding the market with nurses simply makes it easy for employers to care less about how overworked and understaffed their institutions are, because if Nurse X quits due to the stresss or dissatisfaction at the workplace, then there's probably plenty of others wanting a job to replace Nurse X. So the employers really have no great incentive to retain employees. And I'm just as guilty, being a student in an NP program. I'm sure there are already enough nurse practitioners around here, and I'm just adding to the problem. But one cannot fault people who are just trying to get ahead in life by advancing their degrees either.

So, figure out a way for nurse to join together, in a national sense, with much political clout. Then you will see changes, IMO.

harnof · Mar 21, 2011

To bobbyzr7

Well said!

Thank you.

Everybody read this from bobbyzr7 and learn.