Nursing Shortage: Fantasy or Reality

cannoli · Jul 5, 2006

Has been for years.

steelcityrn, RN · Jul 5, 2006

This has been going on for years where I live. Nurses, even new nurses with only 1-2 years of experience in the hospital are bailing out of them. No, there are plenty of nurses in the U.S., just many were pushed to the extreme and found other careers.

NHavenRN · Jul 5, 2006

I'm a new nurse, so not much historical experience, but that is definitely the case on my floor right now. Low census, but still short staffing due to people being asked to stay home (as I was today, which is why I'm on here right now!) and so I've still been feeling stressed and overextended while I'm on. Pretty frustrating.

burn out · Jul 6, 2006

I just don't understand how hospitals can get by with it. How is bringing in foreigners going to help solve this problem?

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Jul 6, 2006

I am actually agency, and even I am being called and cancled for low census at my hospital. The fear at the hospital that we have is that all the sudden we will get slammed and no one to take on those extra pts while they have so little staff on a floor. It has been happening, and thank goodness I have been able to keep open and take on a shift or two half way through to help.

As far as a nursing shortage...I really don't think that is the case. I think it is nurses realizing they are professionals and are less inclined to stay in a facility that treats them poorly and move on. So when I hear about a local shortage of nurses...I just keep my eyes on that facility...and typically yep..turn over like crazy and very dissatisfied employees (not just RN's either!).

SO to cover up this fact, facilities just blame the 'nursing shortage' and keep that phrase alive and well to the general public and media.

zacarias, ASN, RN · Jul 7, 2006

It depends on the facility. I have few complaints about the staffing on my unit at my hospital except this: On tele, we'll have like four or five patients on nights, and at 4am, they send someone home and we now all have six patients. This is according to the "staffing grid." I guess it's not really that bad since at 4am, we only have three hours left in the shift and most charting and meds have been done.

blueyesue · Jul 7, 2006

I really don't understand the shortage situation in America. Nursing is one of the fastest growing professions, and our school is full of students waiting to get in. It seems as though this is a made up problem, or they are purposly making one. Am I wrong on this? I don't think that recruiting from certain foreign countries is good practice. Some of these countries are the ones with the real shortage, and we are only adding to their health care problems, while selfishly filling our "needs." This will also lower American nurses pay. Think about it. If they hype up this shortage, recruit foreigners, and pay them less, how long will your rates go up or stay the same?

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jul 7, 2006

They are simultaneously making the problem with poor treatment, and using it as an excuse for poor staffing. With the problem they can make more profits, without a problem they will be honor bound to hiring and keeping a decent staff. This is a problem that works for TPTB. Amazingly enough, when there were enough nurses they just told us we were a dime a dozen and to suck it up. If nursing doesn't tak their power others will be happy to hold onto it for us.

HARRN2b · Jul 7, 2006

Aren't the powers that be a dime a dozen. Most of them do not have real skill. Maybe an MBA, but there are plenty of MBA's on wait lists for nursing school who want to have desireable skills.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jul 7, 2006

You are right but they are self perpetuating and self reinforcing, unlike nurses. They can sit in a meeting and convince themselves they need someone else to help them with their workload, AND they can hire someone. We can't even call in an extra secretary without their permission.

MIA-RN1, RN · Jul 7, 2006

Usually this time of year alot of people are on vacation and our in patient census drops to low levels. This years and now over the 4th of July has been no exception. The one thing that surprises me is that even though our census is low our staffing is still the same and we continue to work short handed. My hospital is so short of full time nurses that we have used agency nurses for over 2 years to fill in, but now they are told to stay home and even our full time RNs and pct's are being called off on daily basis . The other day in ICU there were 2 RNs on duty (we had 2 patients)
but 2 minutes after I returned from CT scan with my patient we received a
fresh OR patient and 2 minutes after that we recieved a patient from the floor coding and connected to external pacer. There was no extra help because everyone was called off....a hospital created shortage. I believe that this pattern is more the rule than the exception and exactly how nurses are being exploited by hospitals. Is this how it is where you work?

I think the shortage is in real effect at the hospital where I work. Our floor has mandatory 16h call time per week, and most nurses are being called in regularly. We don't have enough nurses to staff the nursery many days, and have to close it often. Myself and two others were just hired, with two more coming on in the next couple weeks. The hospital overall hired about 35 new nurses last month, and one of the nurses in the DOE said that about 14 or 15 are starting next month as well. I believe the nursing shortage is due to not having enough schools, which is due to not compensating the instructors enough, leading to fewer instructors and smaller classes, leading to long waiting lists, causing too few schools.... Just my 2cents.