Solaera

Believe it or not, this issue comes up frequently on our floor. I am a cardiac nurse and have been nursing for almost 18 years. I started out as an LPN, by taking an LPN/RN program in Kansas. This type of program let people who could not for some reason continue on to get their RN degree. (ADN) The program was the same, all the way through the 1st and second semesters. The people who were getting their LPN "out" took their summer clinicals and then, at that time, sat for their boards. Now some of us wanted to work as LPN's while continuing on in the RN program. I was one of those people. It gave me even more experience to be a better nurse and it also help tremendously in taking my boards! The book work was the same. The practicum was more intense in the last semesters, but it really was mostly clinicals. I have never treated an LPN as a substandard nurse. It comes up because some of the LPN's are being pressured to go back and get their RN degrees, mainly because our hospital is trying to push them out. In saying that, we have a few LPN's with chips on their shoulders because of being treated improperly by other nursing staff. One even told me when she "needed" me to give a narcotic IV push medication that she thought it ridiculous that I had to cover for her. She knew what she was doing and she felt that it made her feel incompetent. I informed her that it wasn't anything to do with how she did her job. It was the fact that her license didn't allow her to do that. Nor did the hospital. She was in school to get her RN and now she is an RN. Interesting enough, now she doesn't want to help the LPN's. It's not a perfect world is it? I don't know what the answer is. I'm working on my BSN and then MSN. There are changes coming and I feel they are not going to be all that great in the near future.

I have been reading the blog here and I am really concerned. I have been a practicing RN for 17 years and I am working on my BSN to MSN in order to teach nursing. Primarily because I see students graduating without the necessary skills that are needed to do the job. First, the need of the nurses has not changed. Now I haven't seen any posts from people from Florida, where I am, but I could be mistaken. We have several needs in nursing down here. I was told that the area colleges have waiting lists for students to get in. But where are they going??? They are not applying to hospitals, nursing homes , or clinics! In fact, we are finding that most students that actually graduate are not even working as nurses at this time. And it isn't because they can't find jobs, it's because they had higher expectations of what their job would be like. I am a cardiac floor nurse, I take care of patients that are fresh from cardiac caths, and step down for post open hearts. It is very hard, hands on work. Most of the students we see who come to the hospital as students are very lacking in the fundamentals of nursing. What happened to the care and compassion that so many of us had, and still most of us have, in taking care of another human being. Most of the students I see now are more concerned with how much money they will be making and not really caring about the patient that they are taking care of! Much less, care about how to place a foley catheter! These people are not allowed "hands on" training at all! When I was in school we started IV's on each other, just short of placing foley's and NG tubes in each other, we did it all. On the floor during our rotations, we gave meds with our intructors, we learned various nursing diagnoses as well as what those nurses were doing with their patients. I am appalled to see that these things are not even being allowed in schools today! It's no wonder we aren't seeing new nurses applying for these available jobs. Most of the students, if any, that come and apply are more worried about the income they will receive than the patients they are going to take care of. For example, look up how many go directly to ICU's. They are completely unprepared to float to a regular floor where the patient load ratio is significantly higher than 1:2. It seems like people hear that there is money in nursing so they jump on it and find out that it is actually work. As a matter of fact, almost all of our LPN's are going back to get their RN degrees because they are essentially doing what an RN does, except pushing some meds. Most of the nurses I work with fortunately are idealists like me. When we went into nursing, we wanted to help people. It wasn't about the paycheck. I started out in Kansas, trust me it wasn't about the paycheck! Now, all I hear about from students are the same thing, how much money will I make? How much work do you have to do? The sad part is the most needed positions are our helpers...now in my day...lol you became a nurse tech while going through school, or if you were thinking about it. I'm not seeing that anymore. We are in a crisis at this time. It isn't just nurses, it is nurse techs, LPN's, and pharmacists. We do have an increase in doctors. Maybe we can cross train! Sorry for the rant, but when I saw that people on here were not seeing a nurse shortage I had to say something. There is indeed a nurse shortage going on. And it is going to get worse! Our teachers, instructors, and fellow nurses that were in large numbers are about to RETIRE! The baby boomers from WW2 are about to leave their legacy to us. And I fear we are completely unprepared to handle the onslaught of patients without the help of adequately trained, caring and compassionate new nurses.