Here's the letter I wrote to the President, Vice-President, U.S. Congress Rep. and Senator:
"I'm an R.N. and I recently started working as an agency nurse because the pay is so much better and the hours are very flexible. The hospital system in my area that uses most of the agency nurses is in the process of hiring foreign labor to cut costs and fill positions. I read an article, "Is there REALLY a nursing shortage?" by Richard Armstrong and what he said really concerned me. It is true that American jobs are going overseas and there are over 8 million Americans out of work. People who go to school for certain professions do not have jobs when they graduate. Where is the AMERICAN DREAM going??? I realize our country is a melting pot and all, but what about OUR JOBS for US HERE???!!!
Please abolish the H-1B program. Americans need to demand that employers not be allowed to replace American workers with foreigners... I'm finally not living paycheck to paycheck as a nurse and I'm finally able to get ahead... But now there is this big black cloud looming over my head and it's full of foreign nurses trying to get out of THEIR country to take MY job. Why are you letting this happen to your fellow Americans???
Sincerely,
Marie L. Schultz
Shreveport, Louisiana"
I don't know if it will help or not, but I figured it was worth a try. Nurses from India, Africa and Thailand (among others) are coming to the Shreveport area to fill gaps of this so-called nursing shortage so that the hospital system I work at won't have to use agency nurses. Instead of paying American nurses better... this is what is happening. Nice. Very nice.
Do you see this happening where YOU are??? I just started working agency and that's all I'm doing right now. I love it. I just started April 19th, 2004 and here it is... not one month later and 15 foreigners are starting in the next week or so as a "pilot" for the other 3 hospitals of this hospital chain. This hospital chain uses most agency nurses here in Shreveport. They're trying to get rid of agency nurses all together by using these other nurses.
Again I ask: Do you see this happening where YOU are???
It may be a bit perverse, but I think a crisis will be the best thing for nurses. If it gets bad enough, perhaps that will be the fuel that drives the motor for change. When hospitals have no more nurses to pick on, they'll have to play nice. It's kind of like the situation in Iraq. It's so bad and hopeless now, Bush and those who tell him what to do (e.g. Cheney) are now having to entertain the idea of holding talks with Syria and Iran, their sworn enemies.
Well my fellow nurses... I'm pretty sure that the hospitals (the boards), in all their greedy arrogance, hold us in similar contempt- we are their Syria's, Iran's, and North Korea's. So when it gets bad enough, then they'll HAVE to talk with us. Just like the Bush Administration has to make nice with Iran & Syria in order to make things better in Iraq.
I'm sorry to compare our profession to states of terror, but I do so from the eyes of the hospital executives. We are the terrorists that threaten their profits. THEY know that. They're just hoping we don't collectively realize that. Perhaps our "bomb" is a union. Hmmm.... or just a matter of time and critical circumstance.
I hear a code blue...
Jeffrey,
Don't EVER think you can hold a corporation hostage. They have deeper pockets than you have and can buy whatever legal assistance they want, including judges and legislators.
What is more likely to happen if the nursing shortage gets serious enough to cramp their operating style is that they will devise a new classification of health care technician and run their own training "schools" that will be considerably less expensive for their students, have lower admission prerequisitions, and require less time to complete the course than today's schools of nursing. In addition the corporations will be able guarantee their graduates a job when they have completed the training because they will know that their student trainees have been well prepared to function as entry level employees.
I received a reply to my thread. I am ready to apply to nursing school to become a RN the problem is that in the state I live in the waiting list to get in two years long and I am to old ( I feel ) to wait that long to get in. I was told that there are not nurses willing to teach and the classes can't take everyone. Here you can't get on the waiting list until you finish your cores and that's when your wait starts, also considered is your grade point average and mine is not a 3.8 or even a 3.2. Oh, it is not easy to find a bridge school. I think there must be an easier way, I tried that testing school but is wasn't for me, I need a real classroom. thank you for listening.
After reading many reply's regarding this topic, I feel that there is not a "real" shortage, although we could use more "good nurses. The schools of nursing need some instruction on working in the "real nursing world" they teach that the Med/surg floor or the skilled nursing facilities are easier than what they are and therefore the "green"new grads are unprepared and get frustrated and quit or go into private duty, insurance companies or etc. Organic Chem is not as important as hanging an IV, delivering an Oxygen setup or just basic skills. I realize they can't teach you everything there is to learn in the time you have in clinical,experience is certainly the best teacher. The schools are leaving a lot to the seasoned nurses to teach the new grads and we have our patients to care for as well. On any given day we might have as many as 7-10 med/surg pts and at least 15-20 pts in a SKF. Some nurses just aren't "teachers" or ones that want to orient new grads and if you throw them to the wolfs to fast we scare them away.
Specializes in Accepted...Master's Entry Program, 2008!.
pjs91n: regarding your post about waiting lists - this is the exact reason why I am applying to a direct-entry program. I do not have the time or desire to wait several years to start training. The grad programs I'm looking at are relatively new and do not have waiting lists. You are either accepted or not accepted.
Not to mention that I would plan on getting an advanced degree in the future anyway, so why not just do it now? I simply have no desire to enter some silly lottery for an associates degree.
I did a paper on the nursing shortage and all the information I researched from the college data base supported the fact that there was a nursing shortage throughout the country. The primary reasons: Retiring nurses, longevity of the population, previously low salaries, bad working conditions. It's baffling and I still wonder what is true?
I work on a med/surg unit in a hospital and the problem I see is not so much with staffing, yet with the accuity of the 7-8 patients I take care of a night. With multiple dressing changes, new admits and meds around the clock (pain and nausea mostly), I find it difficult to perform good patient care and chart it all. SO frustrating!
Specializes in Accepted...Master's Entry Program, 2008!.
I did a paper on the nursing shortage and all the information I researched from the college data base supported the fact that there was a nursing shortage throughout the country. The primary reasons: Retiring nurses, longevity of the population, previously low salaries, bad working conditions. It's baffling and I still wonder what is true?
I think it's a combination of all of these. I have read several white papers on the "shortage" which leads me to believe, time and time again, that it's not that there is a lack of nurses, but rather a lack of nurses willing to work under the conditions they are required to accept.
Look at lpngrad05's post. Too high patient load = unsatisfactory working conditions.
Amoe, I am also a teacher who is planning on leaving the field after only three years. I am in the process of lining up LPN school for next year and would love to eventually work in a private office or possibly a school. I too have been reading some of these posts and started to feel a little leery.
But in my opinion, the statistics on teacher turnover speak volumes. In my district, nearly half of all new teachers quit in the first three to five years. That's significantly higher than what was posted earlier on this thread. Someone posted a statistic, something to the effect that 10-15% of licensed nurses are not working in the field.
I am still planning on going for it. Not all nursing jobs are created equal. Much in the same way that not every teacher would be happy teaching third grade to at-risk limited English students; not every nurse is cut out for any given nursing position.
I know that no job is perfect, but hey, nursing sure pays a heck of a lot more than teaching.
I agree with you 100%. I'm also a teacher (biology), though I've long had an interest in nursing. I've been teaching for less than two years and I'm already applying to an RN program. I like teaching but have never loved it.
I have recently moved to a new state that has a state regulated pay schedule and was pretty saddened to find out that my master's degree would only earn me 36k a year to start. The median RN starting salary in this state is 42k. According to our current teacher pay schedule (the exception being if I took more coursework) it would take me 11 years worth of raises to get to a beginning nurses salary! Yes, 11 years! Besides that, the unemployment rate for teachers in my state is terrible. There are many unemployed teachers here as schools are closed down and class sizes grow.
Of course, as with nursing and other professions, the politics in teaching are pretty bad too. Stressed out administrators, cranky parents, low pay and kids with a plethora of problems make one out of every two new teacher graduates drop out of the profession in the first 5 years. Many teachers do not receive training (outside of college) and are put in a classroom with 25 students on their first day of work, alone.
I think it's rough all around but being in a profession that suits YOU makes it a lot easier to deal with that crap that come along with the job. If you are a nurse then you'll love nursing regardless of the baggage that comes with the job. For instance, my husband is in IT. He works crazy hours (80+ hours/week sometimes under deadlines) with amazingly high levels of stress and terrible politics. He makes great money but I would NEVER have the stamina to deal with the crap that he deals with. However, though he acknowledges his job is stessful, he loves what he does!! Sounds crazy, but he loves his field and he mostly likes the people that he works with. So, he stays with his company.
Sorry, this has gotten long winded! Yes, some of these posts are scary but the point I'm trying to make is that if a person loves their choice of career, then the baggage that comes with the job should be easier to deal with.
Quote: According to our current teacher pay schedule (the exception being if I took more coursework) it would take me 11 years worth of raises to get to a beginning nurses salary! Yes, 11 years!
I agree... that is not only sad, it is disgusting. This is exactly why I am getting out of teaching.
Quote: Many teachers do not receive training (outside of college) and are put in a classroom with 25 students on their first day of work, alone.
I was thrown into the classroom cold. No experience whatsoever, just a few classes and a teaching certificate. On my first day of teaching I was bitten and kicked. One student ripped off my ID badge and ran around the classroom with it. Then he threw my papers all over the floor.
So, yes, I expect I can handle the stress of nursing!:rotfl:
I've been a nurse for 4 months and I think there is a shortage because of the poor working conditions and the huge retiring nurse population. Med Surg is a temporary thing for me. I am sad to say that, but the conditions are horrible and I am already tired of being treated like dirt.....
To all unhappy school teachers thinking of switching into nursing:
The grass is always greener ... etc. How many evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays do you work? How many of you have mandatory twelve-hour shifts of work that can include hard, manual labor? How many of you can be sued and/or have your professional license revoked for making a mistake?
Why are you letting this happen to your fellow Americans???
:angryfire
Retired R.N.
260 Posts
Jeffrey,
Don't EVER think you can hold a corporation hostage. They have deeper pockets than you have and can buy whatever legal assistance they want, including judges and legislators.
What is more likely to happen if the nursing shortage gets serious enough to cramp their operating style is that they will devise a new classification of health care technician and run their own training "schools" that will be considerably less expensive for their students, have lower admission prerequisitions, and require less time to complete the course than today's schools of nursing. In addition the corporations will be able guarantee their graduates a job when they have completed the training because they will know that their student trainees have been well prepared to function as entry level employees.