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

RN-PA, RN · Jul 18, 2005

So you tell me, are better pay and benefits going to attract more people to Nursing?

They may attract people but many won't stay once they experience the working conditions.

Franlpntorn · Jul 18, 2005

back again,

new at work, low crital labs. the lab calls us with the low lab value then we have 1 hour :stone to call the doctor with the value. were to call the on call doc but we have a doc who want's no one to take care of his pt. now he comes in early 6:30-7am but his labs are drawn at 5. the lab calls at 5:30 to tell us it's low so what do we do when he's not in until 8:30 on the weekend. yes i called and he got mad at meand had an outburst today. he did leave an order in the chart to not to call for route labs. pt has had the same low lab for a week. you would think that there would be something in writing on this but... no. we have 3 doc's who come in early and there labs are drawn early. 2 come in early on the weekends but not this doc. maybe the doc's need to get together and tell us what they want. all the doc come in by 8:30 so why is this such a big deal top call within an hour?

most of the doc's want to see the labs in the am when they come in and not be told at 6:30 am before their awake. it's a good way to make the doc's mad at the nursing staff. can't we leave a note for the doc. yes low crital labs are importent- but you can't wait until the hour is up to call the doc or you get called in and asked why. is this to add more stress or what, or is this away to get nurses to quit. now this falls on the night shift well we don't have to many of us left. this only makes matters worse. i don't have time to hunt down a doctor just to tell him someone else pt has a low or high lab. and he can't or won't do anything about it. if the doc want's us to call the he tells us. now the same doc who is mad at me is the doc who also complained about late labs. mabe managment needs to talk to the docs, or vice a versa. don't put this on the nurses who just want to do their jobs yes this is part of it too but ... maybe the lab should call the doc's at 6:30. still don't know where this came from, hospital jaco, or the lab.

getting more stressed as the days go by.

Sheri257 · Jul 19, 2005

I totally agree but I firmly believe if there was better pay and better benes with a good UNION representative you might lure some non-working nurses back into the force. Now before all of you jump on my case about what I have written here remember, this is just my opinion and nothing more. Mike

Statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Labor actually prove this is true.

In 2000 the Health Department found that teachers were making $14,000 a year more than RN's. When you calculate the difference on an hourly basis, teachers make even more because they have a lot more time off than RN's do.

Why do teachers make more? 42 percent of teachers belong to a union, while only 19 percent of RN's do.

Yet, the few RN's who do belong to a union still do better than non-union Rn's. In 2003, the Labor Department reported that union RN's made, on average, $7,000 a year more than non-union RN's.

This doesn't include other benefits that unions negotiate on behalf of nurses, such as patient ratios, restrictions on mandatory overtime, retirement benefits, etc.

Union workers across the board, in all industries, do better as well. In 2004, the Labor Department also reported that union workers made, on average, $9,000 more a year than non-union workers.

The more unionized a profession is, the more money they make. So, unions do make a difference when it comes to pay.

jaylynn67 · Jul 22, 2005

The working conditions, management, and treatment by physicians all factor into the exodus of nurses leaving the bedside setting. Money is a contributing but is, by no means, the only one.

Wow - this is really discouraging. I have only just applied to nursing school and i am not really sure i even want to be a nurse. I know I want to help people and have a positive impact on peoples lives. When i found out i could become an RN at night and on weekends in just two years, that sounded good to me! I couldnt decide what to do at 37, working as a secretary making under 30,000 a year, and barely making it. I thought nurses made a good living, and could get a job just about anywhere in any part of the country. What makes the working conditions so bad that you're talking about? And the benefits are bad? Where is an ideal place to work as a nurse, if the hospitals are so horrible? I was thinking of trying to get into a research position somewhere down the road.

jaylynn67 · Jul 22, 2005

The working conditions, management, and treatment by physicians all factor into the exodus of nurses leaving the bedside setting. Money is a contributing but is, by no means, the only one.

I think im doing something wrong here, i thought i posted a reply once, but its not here. Im 37, working a dead end job as a secretary, making under 30,000 after working her 10 years. When i found out i could become an RN in two years at night and on weekends, i thought that was great! I really dont even know if i really want to be a nurse, but i know i dont want to be a secretary for the rest of my life. I was originally going to go for phys therapy assistant, but the classes were only during the day, and i cant afford to quit my job to go to school. What is so bad about the working conditions of nurses? I thought nurses made a good living. I do want to help people and make a positive impact on peoples lives, but this discussion is really discouraging to me. What other postions in the healthcare feild would be better? Nuclear Medicine technichian, Occ Therapy Asst?

debroh1 · Jul 22, 2005

I think im doing something wrong here, i thought i posted a reply once, but its not here. Im 37, working a dead end job as a secretary, making under 30,000 after working her 10 years. When i found out i could become an RN in two years at night and on weekends, i thought that was great! I really dont even know if i really want to be a nurse, but i know i dont want to be a secretary for the rest of my life. I was originally going to go for phys therapy assistant, but the classes were only during the day, and i cant afford to quit my job to go to school. What is so bad about the working conditions of nurses? I thought nurses made a good living. I do want to help people and make a positive impact on peoples lives, but this discussion is really discouraging to me. What other postions in the healthcare feild would be better? Nuclear Medicine technichian, Occ Therapy Asst?

The problem with Nursing is this, the money is not bad, it's the conditions. You end up working the evening or midnight shift in the beginning. You work weekends, holidays, birthdays, etc.. It's hard to get days off because of staffing problems. My facility has mandatory overtime, that you can't refuse. You are responsible for the care of not only your pts, but dealing with the staff, lab, pharmacy, drs, families, charting, treatments, passing meds, mountains of required paperwork for falls, injuries, etc.. It's a lot to deal with. If your lucky enough to find a job that has treatment nurse, or office assistants to help you deal with some of the above your lucky. My facility has those but they only work day shift. So after 3:00 pm I'm the one that does all the above for 50 residents on my floor. And you have good nights with the bad, but the problem is that any mistake you make jeopordizes your license. Reporting requirements have become stricter and our facility turns ALL POSSIBLE errors into the board of nursing for them to investigate. So you spend alot of your own time staying over to ensure everything was done right.(my facility has a strict policy of clocking out on time, so you do it and then go back to finish up your work). You learn to deal with all of that but you always have the possibility of an innocent mistake making you lose your career.

jaylynn67 · Jul 22, 2005

The problem with Nursing is this, the money is not bad, it's the conditions. You end up working the evening or midnight shift in the beginning. You work weekends, holidays, birthdays, etc.. It's hard to get days off because of staffing problems. My facility has mandatory overtime, that you can't refuse. You are responsible for the care of not only your pts, but dealing with the staff, lab, pharmacy, drs, families, charting, treatments, passing meds, mountains of required paperwork for falls, injuries, etc.. It's a lot to deal with. If your lucky enough to find a job that has treatment nurse, or office assistants to help you deal with some of the above your lucky. My facility has those but they only work day shift. So after 3:00 pm I'm the one that does all the above for 50 residents on my floor. And you have good nights with the bad, but the problem is that any mistake you make jeopordizes your license. Reporting requirements have become stricter and our facility turns ALL POSSIBLE errors into the board of nursing for them to investigate. So you spend alot of your own time staying over to ensure everything was done right.(my facility has a strict policy of clocking out on time, so you do it and then go back to finish up your work). You learn to deal with all of that but you always have the possibility of an innocent mistake making you lose your career.

That sounds absolutely horrible! this is really making me think twice. I have to say, do you think all these conditions would exist if this was a male dominated profession? I dont.

jaylynn67 · Jul 22, 2005

That sounds absolutely horrible! this is really making me think twice. I have to say, do you think all these conditions would exist if this was a male dominated profession? I dont.

What about physician's assistant? How is that different from a nurse?

debroh1 · Jul 22, 2005

That sounds absolutely horrible! this is really making me think twice. I have to say, do you think all these conditions would exist if this was a male dominated profession? I dont.

My husband is also a nurse at the same facility. It's no better for him than for me. Maybe if there were a larger percentage of male nurses it might help. But we also have a union at our facility and these are the conditions. You have to REALLY want to be a nurse I think to be able to work in Nursing. If the compassion to help is not there than it's not worth it. I think that is what leads to burnout, and people leaving the profession. They don't realize what being a nurse encompasses and when they get out of school it's such a shock for them. People think it's good money for a shorter period of school. If you don't WANT to be a nurse than the conditions will never be acceptable. But if you feel a desire that this is what you want to do with your life than that makes it easier to deal with everything else.

Franlpntorn · Jul 23, 2005

i think im doing something wrong here, i thought i posted a reply once, but its not here. im 37, working a dead end job as a secretary, making under 30,000 after working her 10 years. when i found out i could become an rn in two years at night and on weekends, i thought that was great! i really dont even know if i really want to be a nurse, but i know i dont want to be a secretary for the rest of my life. i was originally going to go for phys therapy assistant, but the classes were only during the day, and i cant afford to quit my job to go to school. what is so bad about the working conditions of nurses? i thought nurses made a good living. i do want to help people and make a positive impact on peoples lives, but this discussion is really discouraging to me. what other postions in the healthcare feild would be better? nuclear medicine technichian, occ therapy asst?

jay

don't lose heart, we vent becuse this is the only place we can. what we do makes a difference in the lives we touch, we care for a person who unable to do it for them self. we speak for them when they can't. we help the families try to understand why this happen. we do a lot more then the job discription. we are there at 4 am to hold the hand of the pt who is afraid, after they've been told they have cancer. we give our heart and sole to our job's but sometimes we just don't get the respect we feel we should. a pat on the back is nice once and a while. managment get to wrapped up in pt satisfacation and forgets that the nurse is where the bucks stops. it's hard to do your job when you over worked, tired and stress out from 12 hrs of work. some of this come from the stuff we have to do becuse of jaco, to keep certfied so we can take medicare pt and get paid for them ... so we can get paid.

the job does come with stress but at the end of the day we go home knowing that we did make a differnce. hospitals try to down size and when that happens only the pt suffers. it may take a while for them to under stand it.

don't get us wrong we love what we do, but no job is 100% ideal. i think we vent so that we find out it's not as bad as we thought it was.

we need new nurses and ones willing to work at night. vcr's were made for the night nurse.

so jay please think about it, don't give up on the ideal just yet. things will get better but it will take time. maybe you'll be at the right place at the right time to make happen.

mstigerlily · Jul 23, 2005

Frankly, I expected better benefits. It seems strange to me that Vons supermarket employees are paying less for their health insurance with better coverage and lower deductibles than I am. I mean I am a NURSE and I work in a HOSPITAL. You would think that we had better health benefits than someone who checks groceries for a living. Not to mention the hourly wage they get as well.

Melissa

Here are the results of last months survey question
Would there be a nursing shortage if nurses were paid better and had better benefits? :

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

deandean50 · Aug 10, 2005

no. look @ the posts on htis board especially the ones who ask aboyut their low pay. Most are very frustrated, cuz they go to school for years, find a job after a long search and start nursing @ say 11 bucks an hr,,not many would go thru ALl this for almost the same pay rate as flipping burgers,, sore spot as a nurse,,LOW pay,,(mostly cuz one CAN find better paying jobs in other states, ie" Ct, where I live). Or thru an agency as a temp,, better pay,, choose your own assignemnts. IMO