VCR Alert: Nursing Shortage on 60 Minutes

Stargazer · Dec 30, 2002

Here was the email I sent:

"Just watched your piece on the nursing shortage and I must say I was disappointed. After getting off to a promising start--describing impossible working conditions, insufficient pay, and a persistently poor public image of nursing--the 60 Minutes piece seemed to veer off into a different story, discussing the ethics of "stealing" nurses from other countries experiencing their own shortages.

Why not discuss the ethics of U.S. hospitals that are willing to spend millions of dollars recruiting, sponsoring, educating, testing, licensing and housing foreign nurses, but will not spend a fraction of that money making bedside conditions (staffing, scheduling, hours) attractive enough to lure nonpracticing licensed U.S. nurses (and there are many) back to hospitals? Why not discuss hospitals willing to pay millions to strike nurse agencies rather than negotiate in good faith over working conditions which they know are untenable? Why not discuss the fact that hospitals are cutting costs by reducing ancillary staff--respiratory therapists, pharmacists, phlebotomists, EKG techs, Central Supply staff, housekeeping, security--thus forcing the few RNs left at the bedside to take on all these tasks as well as doing direct patient care?

I am a registered nurse with 7 years of ICU experience who left the bedside 8 years ago because of inflexible scheduling, mandatory overtime, an unsupportive manager and hospital administration, and critically unsafe staffing levels. I miss critical care nursing--and there's no question that I am desperately needed. I would love to work part-time. But I will NOT return to hospital nursing as long as the conditions which drove me away remain. And there are hundreds of thousands of nurses in the U.S. just like me.

The next time you do a piece on the nursing shortage, I hope you'll concentrate on the problems here at home. I trust that members of your viewing audience would find their own inability to get safe nursing care at their local hospital a much more compelling story.

Best Regards,

____________"

howie122832 · Dec 30, 2002

I'm sorry that I missed the show.... But, I can figure out what it was about. I found the problem to be that the US doesn't have the schools to educated those who want to be nurses, and those who are already nurses are treated so unfairly (ie.. poor working conditions...etc...) so lets fix it the way we fix everything else in this country..... lets bring people in the country to do the job, and promise them the world, and pay them cr@P!

Now I'm done.... will someone please kick my soapbox out from under me!!!!!

SmilingBluEyes · Dec 30, 2002

disgusting.....we once again, abuse our power in the most vulnerable countries...while screwing our own citizens in the process. Oh the good ole American Way!

susanmary · Dec 30, 2002

I sent a letter to CBS essentially stating that I believe they "missed the mark" regarding the nursing shortage. I believe that nurses are leaving acute care for primarily two reasons:

1. Working conditions.

2. Benefits.

The ultimate "Survivor" show in my opinion would be to have a contestant follow a med-surg nurse for a 12 hour shift -- let's see how long they'd last. Seriously, the show should have gotten down into the trenches with nurses -- followed them around -- missed the point. Very disappointed.

SmilingBluEyes · Dec 30, 2002

Why give experienced, qualified, U.S. citizen-nurses what they deserve when we can rape the 3rd world at a fraction of the cost? Believe me, they don't think they missed the mark and they won't care. Sad.

xantha31669 · Dec 30, 2002

I also sent a little note to CBS, let's get the bulliten board going and inundate them with mail, it will only take a few minutes of your time and show some solidairity from different nurses in different fields from all over the country, kind of a grass roots effort. I know I am looking at this through rose colored glasses but we have got to try or things will never get better for us.

JMHO

Lori

sjoe · Dec 30, 2002

"the hospitals are using these recruiting companies that promise the moon!"

Actually, according to this program the salaries being offered began around $25K/year plus "help" with finding a place to live, etc. (Specifically, the program said the annual wages in SA were in the area of $5K/year and the recruiters were offering 5 or 6 times that much.) And this is for the most experienced nurses to be found.

PS: I emailed CBS, as well, and suggested that if anyone in their news department were really interested in the subject, have that person surf this BB for a few weeks and learn what actually is going on.

hapeewendy · Dec 30, 2002

I watched it and was excited during the first few minutes thinking to myself , finally our true worth will be recognized by the masses.. watching that frazzled nurse, totally relating to her and what have you ,and then in a matter of minutes we travel to a far away land and watch nurse recruiters in action, have I missed something? yeah I missed something and so did anyone watching, I missed not being able to address the REAL issues at hand !!

Sigh

mind you , being a nurse in Canada I wanted to look up more on the recruiters because lately I have been contemplating a move , partially for professional reasons (nursing here in ontario is going through some struggles of its own) and partly for personal reasons (a new start, new environment, change etc)

I will also drop a line to the CBS people, saying sadly I think they missed their mark on this story ...

Q. · Dec 30, 2002

Great email, Stargazer. Perfect.

Sleepyeyes · Dec 30, 2002

Well, i wrote to them too.

I hope they'll understand that their very lives may one day depend on how this story is covered today.

They can either keep ignoring the problems, or watch in dismay as the inevitable happens....

Love-A-Nurse · Dec 30, 2002

why wasn't the entire show on the nursing shortage?

Sleepyeyes · Dec 30, 2002

I have another question:

if these nurses are not US citizens, what are their legal responsibilities in the case of a lawsuit?

Like, what do they lose?

won't they be the perfect company toadies if they don't have to be accountable for their care, the way we are?

something to think about...