note to Pittsburgh nurses

Published

There is going to be a report about Pittsburgh area hospitals finally being hit by the nurse shortage on KDKA this evening. Well what did they expect? After a decade of using and abusing their staff the hospitals in this area are finally finding that things are catching up with them. I know what they will say. They will sight demographics and the economy as the cause of the problem, young people are not going into the field. No mention of the facts. Facts like the massive exodus from nursing by older RNs like me due to overwork and mandatory overtime. No mention of recent exodus of young RNs to areas of the country where benefits and pay are better. I will be suprised if they mention that pay scales are 20% lower in Pittsburgh than Philadelphia. I will be surprised if they mention that all nurses young and old have had their pay cut or frozen for years and that benefits like vacation time, sick time and health insurance have also been reduced. Will they mention that nurses are doing twice as much work as they were just 5 years ago, I wonder?

On the noon news today they mentioned that Pa. is thinking of forgiving the education loans of nurses educated in this area as long as they promise to work in this state. Now this is not a bad idea. It does not go far enough however. What about all the nurses who have loans that they have been paying on or have paid off? What are they going to do about the fact that they can double their salary by going to NY? What about the baby boom nurses who have worked at the bedside for years? Many of which have not had a raise since 1995? Guess my state congressman's office is going to get a visit from me. I do not write letters these days, I email and make personal visits to his office which is very close by my home.

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To Oramar re: Sending the post I submitted on to the news... GO for it. I am honored. LSMO

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L.Smo RN

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Tonight KDKA is doing a special on Neonatal ICU and it is including nursing. We Pittsburgh nurses will be getting swelled heads with all this attention. Usually our local radio and TV stations only include MDs in their reports.

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Specializes in Psych, Informatics, Biostatistics.

I think that the British comedy series: "Yes, Minister" says it all. The NHS opens a hospital in London. They hire everyone, but never admit any patients. Wouldn't every hospital CEO be really happy, if they could charge for services, BUT not have to supply any product.

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hello pittsburgh nurses,i'm looking for a male nurse his name is steve if i remember right. he worked at the burn unit in 1981-in aug-nov. i was very young about 17. my husband had been burned and was a pt there. his name was ricky bailey, and my name was gladys. i was very poor, and I (lived in the waiting room) all that time. steve the nurse offter me his house to stay at, and he try to help me get a job while i was there, but i was to young. i would like to thank him, and to let him know he is one of the reason i'm a nurse today. if any one knows him please let me know.

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I am a second semester nursing student here in Pittsburgh. Grew up in Pittsburgh, went to PSU and came back after graduation.

As much as I love Pittsburgh, all of my family here, and the house I have put so much time and effort into to rehabilitate, my husband and are seriously thinking of leaving when I graduate hopefully next year and receive my ASN.

I didn't love paying for the new stadiums but they are quite nice, I love living in the burbs but only being 10 minutes away from downtown, I love the small city atmosphere with big city amenities but it is a dying city and I do not want my children to have the same problems that I and my husband have had since we graduated college and tried to make a living here. Now it's a good city to find a job if you are in the medical field, maybe too good of a city since the shortage and still having "mandated" hours, but if you are not in the medical field, good luck. I'm tired of politicians saying that we need more bars and shopping centers to keep and attract young people. The reason we can't retain young people is because there is no industry, no business and therefore no jobs for these young people to have. Most 20 somethings could care less about bars and shopping, what they want are careers and they will not find them in Pittsburgh.

More than likely Pittsburgh will loose this young nurse when she graduates simply because there is no opportunity for my husband's career here and since there is pretty much a nursing shortage everywhere I have the option of gaining experience else where. I truly see little hope for Pittsburgh's future and don't want to be here 20-30 years down the line for fear that my children will feel the need to stay here and won't be able to find jobs and some day when I want to sell my house to down size or retire no one will be left to purchase it.

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There is some good news and some bad news since I last posted. The good news is that wages have crept up since I first posted this two years ago. The bad news is that compensation in the form of benefits has decreased. Some people, that have taken the time to sit down and figure it out, tell me that over all compensation for nurses has not really changed because the money was just moved from one place to another. Your thoughts on conditions as far as economics and the burgh are exactly correct. You really should write a letter to editor of Post-Gazette along the same lines, your post is that good. Sad to say our little city is in deep dooo dooo as far city finances are concerned. However you did an excellent job of describing the burgh's strengths. Like you said the city is so concerned about keeping single college grads in the area and does not give a hoot about wage earners with families to support.

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I know this is an old post but I lost track of it and found it again.

Just wanted to say thank you Oramar for your positive comment and I did write a letter to the business editor over a year and a half ago outlining everything I have said here.

I am interested in your comment that back in '01 Pittsburgh nurse wages were 20% below what one would make in Philadelphia, and wonder if that is still the case.

The one thing I have noticed about Pittsburgh is that even though it does boast a low cost of living, the wages are insanely lower than compared to other parts of the country. Even if you factor in the low cost of living and good housing prices/market, people here still seem to make significantly less than a counter part in another city.

For example, my husband was offered a position within his company to move to St. Paul. It was basically the same position (same title and relatively same duties) at the companies head quarters, yet the position paid over two and a half times what he makes here in Pittsburgh. He investigated a bit further and it turns out that he and his co-workers counterparts in other cities throughout the US all make significantly more than the employees in Pittsburgh. But this isn't the first time of have heard of this. Many friends and relatives have commented the same thing regarding the companies that they work for.

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