Survey: Would there be a nursing shortage if...

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Here are the results of last months survey question

Would there be a nursing shortage if nurses were paid better and had better benefits? :

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Please feel free to read and post any comments that you have right here in this discussion thread by clicking the "Post Reply" button.

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I can apppreciate your situation. There are many LPNs/LVNs that are extremely competent. I must recommend to you to dig your heels in and do it. Get through the red tape of education. It is what is necessary. The extra education is truly valuable. I'll be rooting for you. You can do it. It's just red tape. And when your done, you can be as great as you aspire to be!!!!!!Shelly

Nurse 1986 I agreed with you. I've been an LVN in a acute care hospital for 24 years and I work everywhere, including critical care. I feel I am very competent and and very experienced. But the BORN in CA doesn't give me or any other LVN any credit for the on the job training in a acute care setting. I see a lot of new grads with no experience at all and I think wow there is so much to know about nursing and they're just new at all of this. With all the advances in nursing today there is so much to know and they don't have the experience or the expertise to fall back on. Nursing is the type of job that the longer you've done it the more you know. I know I know a lot more than a lot of the RN's but because I am an LVN it's as though whatever I know is negliable. The Boards have made it harder and harder for an LVN to become an RN. We can not even do any classes on-line. It is now not recognized by the state of CA for an LVN to become an RN like that. Now anatomy and phisology have to be taken separately, and also in the local community college I have to get a B in phisology to even get accepted in the RN program. but someone who never has never been a nurse who gets A's will get in the program before me. Now does that sound right? I love my job and I love being a nurse and I will not stop working in an acute care when I get my RN. I an going back to school and I have to retake a nutrition class because the one I took years ago apparently is not the right one. Another thing nursing is a lot of common sense and a lot of compassion and caring and having a gut feeling about a patient that you sense something's not right. That kind of stuff they can't teach in school you have to live it and do it and that's what I've been doing for the past 24 years. Everyday nurses, LVN's and RN's and CNA's are always asking me why don't I challenge the RN board. I tell them if I could I would do it in a heartbeat. A lot of times nurses that I don't know automatically think that I'm an RN so when I asked them could you give my patient's piggyback they ask me why I don't just give it and then I tell them I'm and LVN and they say I thought you were an RN. I could easily function as an RN and in many ways I already do but I don't get the pay or the recognition,. It is hard going back to school esp when you have a mortage and kids and you're the only breadwinner in the family. If the boards would just give the Competent LVN's a chance just to take the boards based on our years of experience in an acute care hospital there would be less of a nursing shortage which has been created by the CA BORN. We don't want to take yours jobs for lesser pay we just want a chance to become an RN too. A lot of hospitals would be staffed with their own nurses then to have to hire travelers for a lot more money. And plus we're dedicated to the hospital that we've spent half of our lives working in. Just because we are LVN's we are not stupid. Being an LVN you have to really prove yourself to others that you're not stupid. You can be a dumb RN but don't have to prove it at all to anyone. I know you nurses out there know exactly what I mean right? Of course there are dumb LVN's too.

But there are a lot of really sharp competent LVN's out there who deserve a little respect and credit for our knowledge and for our years of experience. I usually work with all RN's in CCU and they are Great! They are just like my family and they teach me a lot. so I have no bad feelings against any RN., just wish the board would give this LVN a break. Thanks

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Probably....because there are a lot of older RNs ...who are getting ready to retire..I wouldn't mind the pay though!!! :) We do get pretty nice perks already (but a little more money never hurts though!) I just graduated from nursing school May'04...and out of all of my non-nurse friends...I had the easiest time finding a job...so I can't complain too much.

Here are the results of last months survey question

Would there be a nursing shortage if nurses were paid better and had better benefits? :

surveyresults03-03.gif

Please feel free to read and post any comments that you have right here in this discussion thread by clicking the "Post Reply" button.

Thanks

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you don't get it, the supers are working off of predetermined staffing numbers that are based on profit, not nursing. you ceo makes 6 million dollars, for one of those million he could hire, 20 rn's but he isn't going to do it and the politicians know this, but they are not going to take on the hospital industry, they give them to many bribes. health care is a business and nursing is subordinate to profit. unless all of you nurses decide to walk out on nursing week, you're just wasting your breath.

i soooo agree low census on call mabe 4-5 hrs hrs if i'm lucky at :rotfl: 15.77 an hour w/shift diff. new grad but been a cna for 13 yrs. a nurse can be a cna but a cna can't be a nurse. as an rn i can do more then a cna but .... i'm an a rn let me work as one. knew what i was getting into but come on. this last week worked 1 -12hr shift and 2 days of less 12 hrs between them.last nigh was my 12 hrs the super came in the am she said we had to many people working for the number of pt's. 13 pt to 3 rn's (1 new grad) 1 cna. 7 of the pt were fall risk, 4 - were 1 to 1 care most incont w/ bed changes and turns q 2hrs. this is at a hospital not an ecf. we have one at our hospital and they have 3 cna at night but of course 1 nurse. although they have no iv's or ivpb's to hang, or beeping pumps to check out, call lights every 5 mins to answer, no iv push meds to give, no iv restarts to do after it's been ripped out by the pt, and charting every 2 hrs, and every time you go into the room. it's so much better at night right :rotfl:

when is the 6 to 1 going to be the safe number. admin just don't get it.. when you have complex pt that need care and they don't get it, it will cost money in the long run... with malpratices. 7 to 8 pt's are to much. 1 thing we have are some nice doctors, their not rude and they treat you like you have brains. but that's not going to protect you or your license. at what point is it safe. worked as lpn first job as a nurse in ecf in alzhimers unit with 25-30 pt's only nurse w/ 3 cna's. from the time i got there to the time i went home all i was doing was the pill pass. most nights no dinner, sat only after 10:45 to chart on 15 of them. was still in school but left after 90 days. was just to much. the only good thing was the double time for the hollidays and the eve's.

i look at my license from time to time at ask my self will i be ok and a safe nurse or just get by tonight at work.

can do the job w/ 6 or less but when you add the 7 or 8 that's when i worry. what am i missing did i chart it , was the iv hung, did the accucheck get done, was the pill given and the list goes on. this plays over and over in my mind. at the end of 12 hrs :uhoh3: :crying2: :uhoh21: :stone

and then if i'm lucky i come back and do it the next night and maybe get 3 days off to sleep til 7 pm and its the same day when i wake up. then still stay up late the other 2 days because ....wont be rested when i go back. stressssssssss just is't the right word. think i need the psyci ward.

? am i insane or just a nurse??????????????

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Better pay and benefits might help recruit more nurses, but they wont STAY if the working conditions remain unbearable.

Exactly.

I quit several jobs in my area, not because of pay, but because of working conditions and not being treated as a professional. I am now a travel nurse. I go to areas where I'm better treated, and working conditions are much better. The pay is better, too, but that's not why I travel.

I travel for better working conditions.

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What do you classify as an "old RN" Don't dis. And we won't dis back. Old or experienced RNs can teach you alot. Shelly

Probably....because there are a lot of older RNs ...who are getting ready to retire..I wouldn't mind the pay though!!! :) We do get pretty nice perks already (but a little more money never hurts though!) I just graduated from nursing school May'04...and out of all of my non-nurse friends...I had the easiest time finding a job...so I can't complain too much.
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Travel Nursing is great for a little while. Then it gets old. Many people have a need to belong to something greater. Remember, getting **** on is universal.Shelly

QUOTE=Hellllllo Nurse]Exactly.

I quit several jobs in my area, not because of pay, but because of working conditions and not being treated as a professional. I am now a travel nurse. I go to areas where I'm better treated, and working conditions are much better. The pay is better, too, but that's not why I travel.

I travel for better working conditions.

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