Theyre Finally Getting The Message:

February 19, 2002

Nursing Shortage Blamed On Hospital Working Conditions:

"Nevada's nursing crisis won't be solved until hospitals improve working conditions", Senator Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday.

Reid joined Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.; Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas; and Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, at a town hall meeting sponsored by the Nurse Alliance of Service Employees International Union Local 1107.

"We don't have a shortage of nurses," Senator Reid told an audience dominated by union members. "We have a shortage of nurses willing to work."

The meeting took place at the Winchester Community Center in Las Vegas on the same day that the union released the results of a survey sent to the more than 1,400 nurses who left Nevada hospital jobs in the past two years.

Of the 190 nurses who responded to the survey, more than 70 percent cited poor working conditions and under-staffing as a reason for quitting.

"Nurses are overworked, underpaid and you don't get the respect you deserve," Rep.Berkeley told the standing-room only crowd of about 100.

Union spokeswoman Christy Sawyer said at least 2,000 registered nurses in Nevada are working in other fields, more than enough to fill the state's 1,200 hospital vacancies.

Nurses won't be tempted back to the job unless the hours, pay and benefits are significantly improved, she said.........

Maryanne Dawicki, a union spokeswoman, said Monday no hospital administrators were asked to be panelists because the goal was a non-threatening environment for the nurses to talk with the legislators.............">>

full article at: http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2002/feb/19/513060214.html

[lever5]

I will probably be burned to a crisp before this legislation reaches the east coast. But, it looks like it is going in the right direction.