Nursing Shortage

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Jun 4, 2006

What's a low cola area? 18.oo/hr is my top.so far.

cost of living area.

If the cola is low, then 12/hr in say, some town in Ark, might be on par w/ 18/hr in So Cal.

~faith

Timothy.

vloho · Jun 4, 2006

Thanks Timothy

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2006

In the UK all nurses country wide can join a nurses union for a fee of $24 per month. It is a massive money spinner as you can imagine but not many nurses would dare not be a member of a Union because when you have difficulties in your nursing practice or you have been involved in mal practice-they support you. They are an excellent resource, and you can contact them 24/7. Unfortunatly I do not believe they help increase wages anymore the government just doesnt listen.

PANurseRN1 · Jun 4, 2006

In the UK all nurses country wide can join a nurses union for a fee of $24 per month. It is a massive money spinner as you can imagine but not many nurses would dare not be a member of a Union because when you have difficulties in your nursing practice or you have been involved in mal practice-they support you. They are an excellent resource, and you can contact them 24/7. Unfortunatly I do not believe they help increase wages anymore the government just doesnt listen.

You're still better off. If I joined the ANA, they would take my money with pleasure, but would do bupkis for me if I had a problem at work or if I were involved in a malpractice issue.

PS: Timothy, the ANA hates diploma grads like me just as much. We're not "professional nurses" either. My patients don't seem to mind my lowly status...go figure. :rolleyes:

vloho · Jun 4, 2006

The way I see it the nursing shortage is bogus. There are so many LVN 's out there,and we were all suposed to work together,not attack each other .

LVN's were never suposed to take the place of RN's, we were suposed to be led and taught by RN's. To be a bit more educated to take up some slak,to free the RN up for leadership.That was so long ago,now you get a knife in the back Qshift.

lorster · Jun 4, 2006

I live in Montana and many Dr offices pay 10 to 15 an hour for RN's. I know 2 nurses that are making that and they take it because they do not have to work nights and weekends. McDonalds here starts its employees at 11.00 an hour. This is a huge slap in the face for these professionals who have college degrees. I have worked med surg for 18 years and let me tell you, after some of my shifts at the bedside with very sick patients and not enough help, McDonalds is starting to look pretty good to me. I will gladly take the 11.00 an hour rather than have the huge amount of stress that this job brings on. I don't mean to sound negative but some of the things that go on in this profession are out of control and need fixing.

burn out · Jun 4, 2006

It sounds like the one thing most nurses agree on is that the shortage is hospital created. (yeah, we agree on one thing). However I am very much

against unions but I would support a all nurse union ran and led by nurses

and for nurses only.

chadash · Jun 4, 2006

I think this is connected with, or a result of the nursing shortage. I went to our state BON and they had this list for Nurse Aide 2, I was wondering if you felt it was an appropriate approach:

1 Role of the Nurse Aide II

2 Oxygen Therapy - Setup and Monitoring Flow Rate

3 Sterile Technique

4 Wound Care: Sterile Dressing Change for Wounds Over 48 Hours Old (Part A)

Wound Care: Wound Irrigation (Part B)

5 Suctioning: Oropharyngeal and Nasopharyngeal

6 Tracheostomy Care

7 Peripheral IV Fluids: Part A - Assembling and Flushing Tubing During Setup

Peripheral IV Fluids: Part B - IV Fluid Monitoring

Peripheral IV Fluids: Part C - IV Fluids Site Care and Patient Activities

Peripheral IV Fluids: Part D - Discontinuing Peripheral Intravenous Infusions

8 Urinary Catheter: Part A - Catheterization

Urinary Catheter: Part B - Irrigation

9 Oral/Nasogastric, Gastrostomy, Jejunostomy, and Percutaneous (P.E.G.) Feeding Tubes: Module A

Oral/Nasogastric, Gastrostomy, Jejunostomy, and Percutaneous (P.E.G.) Feeding Tubes: Module B

Oral/Nasogastric, Gastrostomy, Jejunostomy, and Percutaneous (P.E.G.) Feeding Tubes: Module C

10 Elimination Procedures: Ostomy Care and Irrigation

11 Break-up and Removal of Fecal Impaction

nursesarah · Jun 4, 2006

are they stating that these duties are part of the Nurse's Aide's role? well if the aides are doing all that, what did i got to school for 4 years for? i'm not saying that an aide is incapable of doing these tasks....however part of our role as RNs is to not only do these tasks, but assess the patient at the same time. does a nurse aide have the education to recognize when something is abnormal? there's more to it than just "performing a task"...there's also the critical thinking piece and using your clinical judgment about certain situations.

i don't know if this would solve the problem. hospitals need to focus on retention. maybe if the RNs were paid on a level equal to our education and were actually treated as human beings, more might stay in the profession.

on a side note, in Canada, i dont think we have nurse aides. we have health care aides, but their role is very limited (i should know, i used to be one). it involves basic patient care, such as bathing and ambulating, and general gopher jobs on the unit.

Retired R.N. · Jun 4, 2006

I think this is connected with, or a result of the nursing shortage. I went to our state BON and they had this list for Nurse Aide 2, ...

What state is this?

ILoveMax · Jun 5, 2006

Wow, propaganda huh? I have a marketing budget I need to show you. Nurses don't answer my ads. I have competitive wages and job responsibility. I have an idea... Nurses don't want to work anymore. People are scheduled to work for 12 hours but they don't want to work. One ounce of pressure to perform and they are gone. Then I spend more money to get another person hired. Then spend money to train them. It is a terrible cycle that doesn't stop because nurses don't want to work. There are not enough nurses working to meet the needs. This going to get worse.

My question is, How do we get nurses back to the field? Why are they leaving?

nursesarah · Jun 5, 2006

Wow, propaganda huh? I have a marketing budget I need to show you. Nurses don't answer my ads. I have competitive wages and job responsibility. I have an idea... Nurses don't want to work anymore. People are scheduled to work for 12 hours but they don't want to work. One ounce of pressure to perform and they are gone. Then I spend more money to get another person hired. Then spend money to train them. It is a terrible cycle that doesn't stop because nurses don't want to work. There are not enough nurses working to meet the needs. This going to get worse.
My question is, How do we get nurses back to the field? Why are they leaving?

perhaps there wouldnt be so much pressure if there were more nurses working. and perhaps more nurses would work if there were more than just 12 hr shifts available. 12 hr shifts are very draining.