Nursing Shortage? I think not. Artificially manufactured.

[dotherightthing]

I think that the nursing shortage in Illinois and probably other states is artificially manufactured by RNs encouraging the decreased utilization of LPNs in hospitals.

This is not RN bashing, I am a RN. There are plenty of working LPNs that could be effectively utilized by subsidizing the upgrading of their skillsets, either in-house or per Jr. college. This would lessen the burden of RNs and the hospitals would be able to better manage costly overtime and Nurse burn-out.

Med Techs are not a good solution, their very limited education has resulted in some massive lawsuits related to the confusion of whether they're working as Nurses.

And not that I would in any way want to eliminate foreign born nurses but their estimated 40% of the nurse work force in the U.S. is inappropriate since the patient population doesn't reflect that number.

Invest a little in the nurse pool and the workforce would increase and RNs still wouldn't lose their standing, such as it is, in the medical field.

[jjjoy, LPN]

Why not suggest making it easier for LPNs to become RNs - such as tuition reimbursement or pay-to-study programs?

[dotherightthing]

Sure, that might be one way to help move the process along but I'm sure LPNs use tuition reimbursement programs, when available now and it would likely take much longer. Also, currently LPNs work primarily in LTC and they are much less likely to offer tuition reimbursement.

In any case, in-house programs would likely have a bigger bang in terms of moving the process along and helping to resolve the "shortage" more quickly. I'm personally not familiar with pay-to-study programs.