Speaking With Our Feet

Published Oct 2, 2000

5,758 Posts

Is anyone doing any statistical studies on the exact demographics of the current nursing shortage? I for one would like to know how bad it is. It seems to me that it has come up very severly and very suddenly. It appears that there was a mass, unexpected exodus of nurses from the institutional bedside. It also appears that these same instutions were totally oblivious to what was coming. One only has to read the message boards to hear why we left. Would it not be in someones best interest to take a survey that would give more detail about the situation? Are the instutions that are scrambling for the remaining bedside nurses so determined to hold the line on wages and benefits that they do not want to hear the truth? How will they ever begin to deal with the situation if they remain in denial? The list of possible questions is endless. When did these bedside nurses leave and where were they working when they left? Who is still hanging in there and why are they hanging in there? What were the conditions the nurses who left working under at the time they left? If you ask them to list the one single factor that drove them out of bedside nursing what would they say? What are they doing now and how much are they making now? Are they happy and do they miss nursing? What do they say it would take to get them back? What are there ages, sex and marital status? Perhaps someone is already working on a study like this, I hope so.

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