The Government Knows!

[RNSue]

FYI....I came across this site stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos083 The Occupational Handbook by the US Dept.of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics, which predicts the job market in the near future of all kinds of jobs. Under "Registered Nurse" there is a very interesting paragraph that starts... Employment in hospitals...while the intensity of nursing care is likely to increase, REQUIRING MORE NURSES PER PATIENT, the number of inpatients...is not likely to increase much. How interesting. Just validates what we already know. So I wonder, what they are going to do about it? Does anyone know where on the web we can find a list of our representatives e-mail addresses? I think we can refer them to this government-published information to bolster our credibilty when we complain about working conditions! Also, I wonder how much more of an "increase in intensity of nursing care" there has to be before they mandate those "more nurses"!! THEY KNOW!!!

[Mijourney]

Hi RNSue. While many of our representatives are cognizant of the nursing shortage, they are essentially focused on the topics of the committees they are assigned to as well as the lobbies that provide them with the most support. What would get their attention regarding the plight of nurses is if one of them, their family, or their wealthy supporters felt they unduly suffered from inadequate nursing coverage or care or there was a grand public outcry. I think it is important for nurses to continue to contact the media and our representatives. I wish all of us would do it. The nursing profession make up the largest number of health and medical care workers, and we need to make sure our representatives, the media, and the public feels it and knows it. I don't know the web site for the government. I'm sure someone else does. I just type in under one of the search engines, US house of representatives and am able to get access.