Nursing Shortage

ainz · Oct 4, 2003

Welcome to the BB. There are literally thousands of threads on this subject. Makes for some interesting and informative reading.Take a look at some. Again, welcome and hope you will be active in sharing your experences and opinions!!

mayberry · Oct 4, 2003

More patients, higher acquity, less help, staff being pulled elsewhere inhouse or constantly elsewhere, less respect all the way around, compensation staying the same or going down, and rarely a thanks for coming in extra. Try to make the best of it...most of the time it works and sometimes I just can win for breathing.

I've also recently just changed jobs and in some areas you would never know there is "nursing shortage".

ainz · Oct 4, 2003

How about this as food for thought. There really is not a shortage of nurses!!

The shortage is getting the nurses to work in the hospital as employees of the hosptal. Currently there is an adequate number of nurses with a license to fill the vacancies.

This will change very soon considering the enrollment in nursing schools and the changing demographics in the USA.

It should send a strong messege to hospital administrations. Most nurses would disagree but that message is getting through to administrations. I have attended 2 conferences of 2 hospital corporations within the past 9 months. these conferences included admnistrators from literally all over the country as well as CNOs. The topic of both was focuses on recruiting and retaining RNs and why they are leaving the hospital and what to do about it.

The wheels of progress are changing slowly. The time is ripe for nursing to unify and go for the gold!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a wndow of opportunity here to get some things done that will provide long term solutions for us. It is not unionization or staffing ratios or any of that, it is taking steps to literally change the way nurses fit into the healthcare system. We need to be autonomous professionals and conditions are ripe for political powers to listen to us collectively so we need to get organized in an effective national organization while that window is here. Someone will come up with a solution to the nursing shortage, I hope that someone is nursing, not some other God-know-who or what with a crazy idea that they are able to sell to the government!!!

amyslater · Oct 4, 2003

Bravo ainz

cwazycwissyRN, RN · Oct 4, 2003

ditto BRAVO............CLAPPING MY HANDS.......YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD

SmilingBluEyes · Oct 5, 2003

maybe we should be private consultants/contractors.

(in areas that dont' have unions,that is).

it would sure put us in the driver's seat, as far as pay and working conditions would go.....