I lost a relative (the grandmother who raised me & for whom I was the primary caretaker until her last 2 yrs when she required a nurse) because of inadequate medical care in a nursing home. I tell myself that it was due to under-staffing because I like to think the professional wasn't simply inadequate herself (after all, she had the decency to attend the funeral and give me her regards directly). After deeply mourning for over a year, I recently decided instead of being upset over my loss, that I would help. After all, the media was plastered with messages about nursing shortages (and surely that was why the most beloved person in my life was taken years too soon).
So, I tell my boss I'm changing fields, cut my hours back to 40/wk, make my significant other take on a 2nd job (poor guy works 7 days a week!), and, after work, off to evening/weekend classes I go.
But now I learn that not only is there not a nursing shortage, but that the real problem is inadequate funding to hire more nurses. What?! Does that mean my mission to become a nurse is just a waste?
Then, to make matters worse, today I read this... Maryland cuts nursing facilities funds another $23 million! http://is.gd/1PFSy Are they serious?!! Not only am I outraged to the point that I've already cried once since reading this, but I'm seriously questioning why I should become a nurse?
Obviously there's no nursing shortage, obviously there are willing and competent nurses in the world, obviously they just need the funding to be hired.
Now that I no longer have a grandparent to care for, I so wanted to care for the relatives of other people. But how can I do that when there isn't even the funding for anyone to hire me and all the other current and future nurses so that adequate care CAN be delivered? Right now I feel that the poor medical professionals are spread so thin that it's a miracle anyone makes it out of a hospital alive. How does the government expect health care professionals to sustain at this level? I read the posts, I talk to nurses, I know how insanely hard they already have it. Then, to cut budgets even more?!!! Leave it to the politicians to make the situation even worse than it already is.
I'm losing hope that I can even make a small difference in a situation that seems to be growing even more dysfunctional by the day...
At some point the new grads will be set. Many of the "new grads" who preceded them may well be screwed, however, because they will not be "new grads" anymore but won't have any work experience either.
Sure, the pendulum will swing at some point, but if your timing is wrong, you could find yourself heavily in debt with a useless degree and a useless license.
Yes. I'm graduating in a few months, and fears of being in that specific "screwed" category keep me awake some nights. Only thing that lets me fall asleep eventually is that I'll bite the bullet and relocate to some really undesirable place that many other new grads aren't willing to move to.
I have to say, I had moments where I didn't know what I wanted to do or if nursing was the right thing, but having been in it this long... I feel like it's a good thing. Nursing, for me, was a good decision. I have a job that I love; there are hard days, and there are easy days, and there are average days, but my job moves me. It moves me to be a better, more educated person, a more caring person, a more confident person. My job has developed my character. When my job stops moving me, when I stop loving what I do, then i have the option of doing something else. There are so many options. When Telemetry stopped moving me, when I stopped liking it, I moved on to ICU nursing and now I'm quite happy.
Shortage or no shortage, I wouldn't have changed my decision in the beginning to start the journey.
Yes. I'm graduating in a few months, and fears of being in that specific "screwed" category keep me awake some nights. Only thing that lets me fall asleep eventually is that I'll bite the bullet and relocate to some really undesirable place that many other new grads aren't willing to move to.
Regarding the fear and stress, you and me both, my friend.
At this stage of my life, moving just isn't a viable option for a whole host of reasons. The irony of it is that I turned down a great out-of-state job in order to enter nursing school.
If you decide to continue with nursing be very careful of your own sensibilities. A person who enters the profession for all the right reasons is the person who will frequently experience sever burnout. It just tears a person who really wants to do things correctly but must compromise constantly to pieces. A person who is just there for the money, well it doesn't bother them one bit to ignore psyco/social issues because there are so many task to preform.
So funny you should say that because I can *absolutely* see that happening. If fact, it already has back when for 20 years I had this insane idea that I could save the planet. Needless to say, that too was bigger than me. lol For years I suffered insomnia, exhaustion, and burnout before giving in to sanity. Some of us are stubborn. lol Thank you so much for the caveat!
Multicollinearity, BSN, RN
3,119 Posts
Yes. I'm graduating in a few months, and fears of being in that specific "screwed" category keep me awake some nights. Only thing that lets me fall asleep eventually is that I'll bite the bullet and relocate to some really undesirable place that many other new grads aren't willing to move to.