The medium-sized hospital (275 beds) where I work only has one ICU. But thanks to the unvaxxed we have had to open another ICU for COVID patients again.
We first did this last Winter and it was awful, but it was nobody's fault. Now it is.
We are keeping our COVID ICU open by nurses working overtime. Many have been working five or six 12 to 16-hour shifts a week for months now. People's lives are falling apart. In the last year, two of our ICU nurses have committed suicide. I don't know everything that was going on in their lives, but I'm quite certain that working long hard hours for months, never being home, having no downtime to relax and recharge has a LOT to do with it.
We actually had more COVID patients last Winter, but they were older and not as sick. Like 70s and 80s, vs now it's people in their 50s-60s and they are MUCH sicker. They die like flies. We had a 31-year-old die, and several in their 40s. One died and after to code the doc called and informed her family, but somehow her two teenage daughters who were en route to the hospital didn't get the message and I had to tell them. I'm noticing signs of PTSD in our ICU nurses who are, for the most part, young people. Most are in their 20's. To work so hard taking care of their patients for weeks only to have them die is soul-destroying. I zipped nine people into body bags over the weekend.
Long planned vacations have been canceled, nurses are losing touch with their families and support systems.
I've spent a lot of time and energy talking to people about COVID and vaccines. I've provided them with the latest data and evidence. I've related what it's like for hospital patients with COVID. But it's a waste of time and effort so I'm done with it.
Everyone who isn't stupid is already vaccinated and that just leaves the stupid, and you can't fix stupid. I'll no longer refute disinformation with accurate information, just point out they are liars and move on.
My goal is no longer to convince people to get vaccinated. Now my goal is to identify as many of them as possible so that I can do everything in my power to ensure they are never given a position of responsibility again.
I've already started asking those I do business with about their vaccination status. Unvaxxed or refuse to answer and I'm done with them. My mechanic got vaccinated. I had to switch to another (vaccinated) barber. I spoke at two of my local school board meetings in favor of masking the students (including my children) and requiring vaccinations of all staff. I let them know I would be filing a lawsuit if they failed to do either. Luckily they did both.
Many are using high $$$ agency nurses, but there are only so many of those to go around as well
And oh by the way. those high $$$ agency nurses are not just excess nurses sitting around waiting for a job opening and then taking jobs. No, they are ICU, ED, Med-Surg nurses in my and your hospitals that see all that $$$ and say "If I am going to put up with all the crap, might as well go make some $$$. We've lost more than 20 ED RN from my ED since July to travel nursing because of that. When they can make $4,500-$6,000 per week, it is a no brainer for some of them with no real ties to the community. Thankfully COVID has not been as big an issue in my area as in some other places, but Winter is on the way as is the colder weather so who knows what tomorrow brings. The unfortunately the travel money is exacerbating the nursing shortage that was already present before COVID.
unfortunately the travel money is exacerbating the nursing shortage that was already present before COVID.
There really wasn't a nursing shortage before covid, there was a shortage of experienced nurses willing to put up with the stupidity at newbie wages. There was also deliberate short staffing by facilities to maximize profit. It has now come to bite them in the behind. Now, some who would have chosen nursing before, won't, simply because the light has been shown on the issues, and most self respecting people won't put up with the abuses, by both administration and patients and families
There really wasn't a nursing shortage before covid, there was a shortage of experienced nurses willing to put up with the stupidity at newbie wages. There was also deliberate short staffing by facilities to maximize profit. It has now come to bite them in the behind. Now, some who would have chosen nursing before, won't, simply because the light has been shown on the issues, and most self respecting people won't put up with the abuses, by both administration and patients and families
I will have to respectfully disagree with your opinion regarding no nursing shortage before COVID. The facts say otherwise regarding the nursing shortage existing LONG before COVID. COVID may have exacerbated the issue, but it is not the cause. Looking at a few examples, none cite COVID as a reason for the shortage.
"The American Association of Colleges of Nursing attributes the national shortage to four main reasons:
Nursing school enrollment is not keeping pace with projected demand. Even though enrollment is up, it's not keeping pace with the increase in need for nursing services.
We lack the necessary number of nursing school faculty members. Without enough teachers, thousands of people interested in joining the nursing workforce are unable to do so without degrees.
The rate of retirement for nurses is growing rapidly, as over half of the RN workforce is currently over 50 years old.
An aging population in the United States continues to drive more demand than ever seen for nursing services.
Haddad LM, Annamaraju P, Toney-Butler TJ. Nursing Shortage. [Updated 2020 Dec 14]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/
I do also agree, poor management practices have also helped create the nightmare scenario we are facing as well regarding staffing issues. The seeming complete lack of interest in any type of retention plan for nurses in large systems is mind boggling.
There really wasn't a nursing shortage before covid, there was a shortage of experienced nurses willing to put up with the stupidity at newbie wages. There was also deliberate short staffing by facilities to maximize profit. It has now come to bite them in the behind. Now, some who would have chosen nursing before, won't, simply because the light has been shown on the issues, and most self respecting people won't put up with the abuses, by both administration and patients and families
Exactly! And why would nurses who still need to work show any loyalty to an organization that could care less about them. Sad that it has come to this bc at one point in time it actually was worth it to stay and work at any given facility/hospital but those days seem to be long gone, even before Covid.
Kind of off topic here is my rant but where did these facilities come up with this kind of money to pay nurses crisis wages, I am for any nurse who quits to go travel and help pay down student loans, credit cards try to build up retirement, buy a house etc I worked like a dog for 37 years in ER and ICU tripling more often than not, did travel nursing for 8 years and had to beg for $30 an hour. Was hoping the system would fail and we can get universal health care breaking up the greedy ill gotten systems started in the early 90’s but am sure they propped up just like Wall Street in 2008.
I will have to respectfully disagree with your opinion regarding no nursing shortage before COVID. The facts say otherwise regarding the nursing shortage existing LONG before COVID. COVID may have exacerbated the issue, but it is not the cause. Looking at a few examples, none cite COVID as a reason for the shortage.
"The American Association of Colleges of Nursing attributes the national shortage to four main reasons:
Nursing school enrollment is not keeping pace with projected demand. Even though enrollment is up, it's not keeping pace with the increase in need for nursing services.
Currently, that is the situation. Prior to covid, there was a website (if anyone remembers the site, please feel free to add it). Most states were showing a projected overage by 2025, and it took into account retirements, those leaving for other reasons, and schools pumping out new grads at breakneck speed. It was a .gov or edu website, not a Mary's opinion website, so the info was reputable. My state (IN) was showing a projected overage of 249,000 give or take a few thousand. Many states were showing that type of projection as well, as many were flocking to the profession. A very limited few were showing shortfalls. On this site alone, many new grads were upset at not being able to find jobs, there were limited areas hiring new grads. At this time, it seems, most places are snatching up any warm body with a license
Currently, that is the situation. Prior to covid, there was a website (if anyone remembers the site, please feel free to add it). Most states were showing a projected overage by 2025, and it took into account retirements, those leaving for other reasons, and schools pumping out new grads at breakneck speed. It was a .gov or edu website, not a Mary's opinion website, so the info was reputable. My state (IN) was showing a projected overage of 249,000 give or take a few thousand. Many states were showing that type of projection as well, as many were flocking to the profession. A very limited few were showing shortfalls. On this site alone, many new grads were upset at not being able to find jobs, there were limited areas hiring new grads. At this time, it seems, most places are snatching up any warm body with a license
Not sure what you mean by a Mary's opinion website, but two of the three sources I listed were, what I would think a registered nurse would consider reputable: Journal of Clinical Nursing and the AACN website. Would love to see the website showing an overage by 2025.
That said, here is an excerpt from information from an .edu website from January 2020 PRE-COVID, again showing COVID is not the cause of the shortage. It is an aggravating factor.
"Nursing shortage statistics.
The nursing shortage is a large issue that’s highly prevalent around the U.S., and the statistics prove just how widespread it is. There are currently 3.9 nurses in the United States, and it’s estimated that one million additional nurses will be needed to meet the demand in 2020 alone. The American Nursing Association says that there will be more nursing jobs available than any other profession through the year 2022.
Research also shows that nearly 1 million nurses will retire by the year 2030, adding to the shortage and creating even more need. And the nursing shortage goes beyond replacing current nurses. The BLS shows that nursing will be adding over 300,000 new jobs by the year 2028, the third highest profession in the country when it comes to adding new jobs.
While there is a shortage of nurses coming into available positions, there is also concern about the qualifications of current and future nurses. The Institute of Medicine has called for higher education for nurses, hoping for 80% of nurses to have bachelor’s degrees. Currently only 56% of nurses have bachelor’s degrees, far from the target number. online schools like WGU help registered nurses earn their bachelor’s degrees or master’s degrees while continuing to work, helping move those numbers upwards and ensuring more nurses are qualified and credentialed for their jobs.
These statistics show that the nursing workforce is in dire need of an upswing in order to keep up with the demands that are here, and the demands that are to come. (again, this is January 2020 before COVID was a known/big thing) Registered nurses are vital to the operations of hospitals and clinics, and so more registered nurses are needed in order to satisfy the growing demand."
Here is another article discussing post pandemic shortages. It actually discusses the issues and points to the pre-existing shortages and causes of those shortages, one of which talks about the shortage and turning away nursing student applicants pre-COVID. In a nutshell, we can't train them fast enough to replace the losses because we don't have enough faculty. Looking at the article, that may also a self-inflicted problem, when schools are mandating doctoral instructors, rather than using Masters Level instructors. That is not my area of expertise, so I won't delve into that.
"The pandemic seemed to inspire a career in nursing. According to a study from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), student applications surged. Enrollment to bachelor of science in nursing (BSN), master of science in nursing (MSN), and doctoral nursing programs in fall 2020 increased.
While the interest was high, 80,521 qualified applicants could not be admitted. They included:
66,274 who applied to BSN programs
1,376 to RN-to-BSN programs
8,987 to MSN degree programs
3,884 to doctoral programs
Applicants were not accepted primarily because of a shortage of teaching faculty and clinical sites for nursing students.
According to AACN, nursing schools turned away 80,407 qualified applicants in 2019 for some of the same reasons like a shortage of clinical and classroom space. Another report identified a shortage of 1,637 educators in 892 nursing schools. Many of the empty faculty positions required or preferred a doctoral degree.
At the end of the day, I don't see COVID as the primary reason for the shortfall in nurses, but it hasn't made it easier to retain quality either. As the article mentioned, COVID actually seems to have been a factor in many looking to nursing as a career option. We just need to get more instructors to open more seats and then more clinical sites open. I know the students I precpet have mentioned the difficulty in obtaining suitable clinical situations. One I am precepting now is driving 2 hours one way and staying at an Air B&B to do his clinicals at my hospital. We need to figure a better way to provide quality clinical rotations for students. Just my two cents again.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
1 hour ago, Hoosier_RN said:
Prior to covid, there was a website (if anyone remembers the site, please feel free to add it). Most states were showing a projected overage by 2025, and it took into account retirements, those leaving for other reasons, and schools pumping out new grads at breakneck speed
Probably not the site you were thinking of, but I did find this:
Therefore, Minnesota will need 20,330 new RNs through the year 2025.
Assuming no increase or decrease in the number of students sitting for the NCLEX-RN in Minnesota, we will add three times as many nurses as there will be job openings. However, the number of licensed applicants will surely increase, as it has doubled over the past five years.
I'm glad you posted this, but the site I was thinking of listed all 50 states. At least by you posting this, I'm glad I wasn't hallucinating!
1 hour ago, RETNAVYTHENMEDIC2RN said:
Not sure what you mean by a Mary's opinion website, but two of the three sources I listed were, what I would think a registered nurse would consider reputable: Journal of Clinical Nursing and the AACN website. Would love to see the website showing an overage by 2025.
That said, here is an excerpt from information from an .edu website from January 2020 PRE-COVID, again showing COVID is not the cause of the shortage. It is an aggravating factor.
"Nursing shortage statistics.
The nursing shortage is a large issue that’s highly prevalent around the U.S., and the statistics prove just how widespread it is. There are currently 3.9 nurses in the United States, and it’s estimated that one million additional nurses will be needed to meet the demand in 2020 alone. The American Nursing Association says that there will be more nursing jobs available than any other profession through the year 2022.
See the above. Again, I will try to find that article that was put out prior to covid, it covered all 50 states. Mary's opinion website is my backhand way of saying that it's basically a blog with unsubstantiated claims, so I was saying that this came from a reputable source, just like Rose_Queen's note from above. If I find it, I'll definitely post it. But the basic consensus was that there were going to be 2-3x the nurses needed than positions available overall in the US. The nursing schools/colleges will definitely push the need for nurses, it keeps their coffers full-especially students taking and retaking prereqs, and statements of the same from the ANA keeps them relevant (sorry, I don't have much use for the ANA, especially after continuously dissuading talk of mandatory staffing ratios everywhere). Some other organizations definitely have their paws in the cookie jar as well, so I always wondered about the sincerity of articles. Again, currently, is a different story
Fran L, LPN, EMT-I
10 Posts
Klone's vaccination clinic post.
My reply No wonder you are let me say " Burned out?" I am sorry you had such a rough time.