Nurses Flocking Back to Hospitals

[chare]

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Many nurses who left hospital staff jobs during the pandemic out of exhaustion or for lucrative temporary jobs are coming back.

Their return in recent months, spurred by falling pay from the temp agencies and new hospital perks, is helping ease shortages that have crowded emergency rooms and forced hospitals to turn away patient referrals.

[...]

Nurses Flock Back to Hospitals After Leaving in the Pandemic

[chare]

Tweety said:

Travel nurse income isn't fully taxed?  

I think he or she is referring to the housing stipend.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

Tweety said:

Fortunately we're a growing area where people are moving too (thus the high rents) and have several nursing schools, but we are still short of staff.  

 

 

I know quite a few recent grads who thought that they were going to "travel nurse" and make bank out of the gate, and are now finding those days are gone/disappearing, and experience is actually needed again. Others are finding out that they actually have to work, and not just hang out at the nurses station like on TV or in nursing school (I've had 3 say this to me!), and they've quit, thinking that they'd find higher paying WFH jobs without any experience. Now they're scrambling to find jobs that aren't an hour away, as they've burned bridges at Country Bumpkin General and Hillbilly Healthcare, and won't work LTC or whatever they consider beneath them

[toomuchbaloney]

I know some recent nursing graduates... within the past 5 or 6 years.  One of them remains in the hospital setting, now working ICU after the pandemic experience.  One left the hospital and now is happily working outpatient dialysis, one went to community health, one completed his NP and two others have enrolled in advanced practice programs.  Those newer nurses are in Michigan (2), Ohio (1), Florida (1), and Louisiana (1).

https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2023-04-13-study-projects-nursing-shortage-crisis-will-continue-without-concerted-action

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"The pandemic has stressed nurses to leave the workforce and has expedited an intent to leave in the near future, which will become a greater crisis and threaten patient populations if solutions are not enacted immediately,”

What could possibly change in the near future that would improve working conditions for nurses on the heals of a pandemic that a portion of our population wouldn't even try to mitigate? 

[Epidural, BSN, RN]

This is a topic that just keeps getting more interesting. Who actually has time to hang out at the nurses station. Some  computer charting systems require using 3-6 different flow sheets for basic charting (let's redesign some of those flow sheets  please). Management seems to be heavily focused on doing chart audits, so all of the information better be in the chart. And patients have definitely been more stressed out during this whole CV situation. I have noticed that some new nurses do not realize how less than glamorous nursing actually is, how much body fluid cleanup is required , and how many unusual smells you may have to learn to deal with.

I love my profession; I have always loved my profession. I do see new grads come and go more frequently than they used to, however, because they never realized how messy some patient care issues are.

If the hospitals paid us what we are worth, and stopped being inconsistent with pay increases-if the hospitals required all staff to be an active part of the team or be counseled for not doing their jobs- if we usually had adequate back up to take a lunch break off the unit- and if staffing ratios were generally fair....maybe we wouldn't have a nursing shortage.

[toomuchbaloney]

Even when there wasn't widespread nursing burnout from a poorly mitigated pandemic, short staffing at the bedside and in nursing support positions has been a business model for hospitals and nursing homes for a very long time.  

[mdsRN2005, ASN, BSN, RN]

toomuchbaloney said:

Even when there wasn't widespread nursing burnout from a poorly mitigated pandemic, short staffing at the bedside and in nursing support positions has been a business model for hospitals and nursing homes for a very long time.  

And the poor quality in healthcare will continue until this is remedied.  Along with the high turnover, as no one can tolerate working in these conditions long term. 

[toomuchbaloney]

mdsRN2005 said:

And the poor quality in healthcare will continue until this is remedied.  Along with the high turnover, as no one can tolerate working in these conditions long term. 

Too many Americans have believed deeply dishonest narratives about the simultaneous decline in health outcomes and steep rise in costs... they need to be concerned about socialism and all.

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022

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In the previous edition of U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, we reported that people in the United States experience the worst health outcomes overall of any high-income nation.1 Americans are more likely to die younger, and from avoidable causes, than residents of peer countries.

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Highlights

• Health care spending, both per person and as a share of GDP, continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries. Yet the U.S. is the only country that doesn't have universal health coverage.
• The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates.
• The U.S. has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions and an obesity rate nearly twice the OECD average.
• Americans see physicians less often than people in most other countries and have among the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population.
• Screening rates for breast and colorectal cancer and vaccination for flu in the U.S. are among the highest, but COVID-19 vaccination trails many nations.

 

[Idealista]

I have been recently been navigating my way back into nursing after working in the corporate world for quite a while...taking refreshers, bringing my knowledge base back to speed, meds, etc.

I have to say I am appalled by the current state of nursing - a person working home care under-the-table can take home more than an RN in some locations.

As to "socialism in medicine", I'm going to share a medical experience in the Netherlands I had when living there last fall. And explain what has happened here in the States since I returned.

I was referred to a research hospital by my Dutch primary for unexplained thinning of my skull. I was paying the equivalent of $134.00 a month in healthcare premiums with no co-pays and an annual deductible of $500.00. This was one of the best, "platinum" plans. I received 2 CAT scans, w/ and w/o contrast, 2 MRIs w/ and w/o contrast, a full skeletal bone scan, advanced hearing testing, x-rays and multiple lab workups, etc. I was offered home IV infusion once a year over 3 years for osteoporosis and I was offered hearing aids at no charge (part of my health plan). There was no waiting for care - it was quick and thorough. At the end of the year, I was reimbursed $32.00 because I had "over-paid". (BTW, you are encouraged to select a primary care physician in your neighborhood, for when the physician needs to make a home visit....)

I came back to the States and realized my blood pressure was higher than it had ever been. I went to the ER locally. Based on my history they did a CAT scan, EKG and wrote a script for Norvasc. I got the bill last week. Over $5,000 (and since I don't have insurance here yet - I'm on the hook for all of it). I can't find a provider up here (close to the Canadian border).  I have an 80-year old friend who has to wait a YEAR to see a new primary.

Our miserable stats are no surprise. They are the result of years of treating healthcare as a "benefit" - rather than a basic human right. (I still grimace when I see "medical insurance" offered in a job posting as though it were some magnanimous gesture of benevolence on the employer's part.)

However, the Dutch culture is one where it is recognized that everyone needs healthcare at some point in their life -whether they happen to be working or not. When all of us pay into the system, everyone is covered when they need it.

So - please - bring on the "socialism" (which by the way, most Americans don't even know the definition of - or are using an outdated definition from the 1950's. ) Thomas Jefferson said "the measure of society is how it treats the weakest members". He must be turning over in his grave when he looks at healthcare in America.

 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

chare said:

I think he or she is referring to the housing stipend.

I didn't know housing stipends were not taxed.  

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

toomuchbaloney said:

Even when there wasn't widespread nursing burnout from a poorly mitigated pandemic, short staffing at the bedside and in nursing support positions has been a business model for hospitals and nursing homes for a very long time.  

I hate to believe it, but you're right.  Look at how hard the hospital industry in Massachusetts fought their safe staffing ratio ballot and the public voted against the hands on nurses and for the hospital executives instead.   At least they were able to get it on the ballot which would never happen here in Florida.

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The proposal, defeated 70% to 30%, had been vigorously debated, with supporters—chief among them the Massachusetts Nurses Association—asserting that it would enhance patient outcomes, and opponents—including the American Hospital Association and its subsidiary, the American Organization of Nurse Executives—asserting that it would "dramatically impact hospitals' and health systems' ability to provide safe, quality care.”

https://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/fulltext/2019/02000/massachusetts_voters_reject_nurse_staffing.7.aspx

[Epidural, BSN, RN]

I am not familiar with this Massachusetts legislation. I do know that California has had a safe staffing law for years, and it is a reason that so many nurses have California licenses.  California hospitals hire "break nurses" who go from one staff nurse to the next giving lunch and break relief. Washington State just passed some initial legislation for safe staffing. How very sad that this bill was defeated, however, this is a start. In a few years and with good support, safe staffing laws may be the norm.

I also love the Japanese mindset concerning healthcare. Japan is filled with holistic massage and body therapy clinics that do amazing work for a fair price. The traditional greeting at these healing centers is: "Please take good care of me". And the response is: "Please take good care of me also". This is such a humble and altruistic way to approach healing treatments. 

Looking forward to a better and brighter future. Firmly convinced that it will happen.

 

[No Stars In My Eyes]

I saw a whole 'flock' of nurses fly away above the Hospital System here; AND docs and their underlings. Guess those things go on regionally. The doc's practice we go to, which is part of the hospital system, lost 2 docs and 7 nurses within the past year.