nursing shortage

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every time i read newspaper, there are stories about nursing shortage, and they believe it is due to lack of nursing instructors. nursing schools are making nursing education more difficult, for example, we can take net test only two times, our school increased passing percentage to 80%, and we can only repeat class one time. if we fail two times, we are kicked out of nursing program. so what if we are allowed to repeat class more than once? do you think more students are able to graduate this way and maybe solve the problem of nursing shortage? what do you think?

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

I think if they would just recognise LPN's as full nurses the shortage would shrink quite abit. Here in Mass. we are religated to Long Term Care Facilities. I would love to work in a hospital but until I come up with the time and cash to go for RN I'm stuck.

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every time i read newspaper, there are stories about nursing shortage, and they believe it is due to lack of nursing instructors. nursing schools are making nursing education more difficult, for example, we can take net test only two times, our school increased passing percentage to 80%, and we can only repeat class one time. if we fail two times, we are kicked out of nursing program. so what if we are allowed to repeat class more than once? do you think more students are able to graduate this way and maybe solve the problem of nursing shortage? what do you think?

the schools do not set all of the rules, some are by the nursing boards in each state. a big one is the math exam, you get three chances to pass or are out. and this is per the bon and brn, not the schools.

nursing school is hard, no doubt about it. but lowering the standards is not going to fix anything. if anything they need to be increased. that is one of the reasons that the nclex exam is going to change come next month. patients are more critical than they used to be in many hospitals. and they demand much more critical thinking.

perhaps better preparation on the student's part, but definitely not changing the standards. patient's safety should be the first thing and only thing that school should focus on.

and the area that you are in has probably one of the smaller shortages of nurses due to the high salaries in the area, as well as the number of schools in that area.

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Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.

I agree with the above posters -on the one hand, LPNs aren't fully utilized where they could be -and the solution does NOT lie in making it 'easier' to get through school -patients faced by new RNs are getting more acute all the time. I think a large problem is one that has plagued the profession for years -attrition. The profession is bleeding nurses almost as fast as they can find new ones. Oftentimes low pay, poor working conditions, and for that matter, ever-increasing paperwork and responsibility (reads as "ways you can be held more accountable -or things that can cost you") are all contributing to understaffing -and to burnout.

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I believe that there is a nursing shortage - however, not a shortage of nurses.......What I mean by that there is a shortage of nurses willing and able to work as a nurse.

Quite frankly, when I first started school - everybody was clamoring to get in. It was a tough market then for the nursing students with long waiting lists - 80% needed to pass exams, finals & etc. Then, there was the .com boom and many people were shifting to get into this field.

I believe that history tends to repeat itself. Eventually, when many of the nurses today realize what the working conditions in most places are like - they will exit. Of course I can only compare this to my walk of life as a career in nursing. However, when I graduated over 12 years ago in my ADN and 10 years ago for my BSN - It appears that less than half of them are currently working as nurses. - I can't say that I blame them.

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I don't think nursing school is responsible for the nursing shortage. I think that the problem lies with poor working conditions. The attrition rate for nursing is horrendous.

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Specializes in cardiac/education.
I don't think nursing school is responsible for the nursing shortage. I think that the problem lies with poor working conditions. The attrition rate for nursing is horrendous.

:yeahthat:

And WHY OR WHY did NCLEX have to get harder right before I graduate?? Grrrrr.....Guess I'll really need that Kaplan test now!

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:yeahthat:

And WHY OR WHY did NCLEX have to get harder right before I graduate?? Grrrrr.....Guess I'll really need that Kaplan test now!

You probably would not even notice a difference in the exam. The increase in the passing level is by a deciaml point. If you are properly prepared, it will not make any difference. And the key is to understand the material and not memorize questions/answers.

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Specializes in Looking at: ER-Trauma-CC.
every time i read newspaper, there are stories about nursing shortage, and they believe it is due to lack of nursing instructors. nursing schools are making nursing education more difficult, for example, we can take net test only two times, our school increased passing percentage to 80%, and we can only repeat class one time. if we fail two times, we are kicked out of nursing program. so what if we are allowed to repeat class more than once? do you think more students are able to graduate this way and maybe solve the problem of nursing shortage? what do you think?

personally, i'd rather work with 2 nurses who could meet those "difficult" requirements than 15 who couldn't. nurses are responsible for people's lives! how comfortable would you be with your pcp if you found out s/he flunked out of med school three times (or even once)? i'll admit i don't have many ideas on how to actually reduce the shortage, but i do know that lowering the standards is not the solution

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every time i read newspaper, there are stories about nursing shortage, and they believe it is due to lack of nursing instructors. nursing schools are making nursing education more difficult, for example, we can take net test only two times, our school increased passing percentage to 80%, and we can only repeat class one time. if we fail two times, we are kicked out of nursing program. so what if we are allowed to repeat class more than once? do you think more students are able to graduate this way and maybe solve the problem of nursing shortage? what do you think?

in relation to the shortage of nursing instructors, the biggest reason in the very low pay offered to nursing instructors. the pay is less that what they can make in the hospital.

just a note of interest, there is an article from boston, about the shortage of doctors who are willing to teach in the medical schools. it goes on to say how harvard medical school, and three affiliate hospitals will double the money that it pays doctors who teach, in hopes of luring them away from private practice and research. the increase to $16 million dollars a year. it also goes on to say that they had a task force look into why doctors don't want to teach (sound familiar?). they determined that "the already busy doctors are to busy seeing more patients due to the pressures from managed care".

the new plan will pay doctors $100 an hour to teach. some doctors are only being paid $30 and hour, well below what they make in private practice. imagine that!

perhaps schools should pay nursing instructors $100 an hour, and there would be more that enough of them to teach. isn't it strange that hospitals can afford to help pay for this? but they can't seem to manage to help pay more for their staff nurses, who by the way, they can't run the hospitals without, and can't help pay for nursing instructors. i haven't read that there is a shortage of doctors, but there is a shortage of nurses, albeit, mostly because they don't want to work in hospitals. jmho.

lindarn, rn, bsn, ccrn

spokane, washington

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