We don't have enough nurses!

[StudentRN@NIC]

I am a second year nursing student in Canada. I am concerned with the nursing shortage that we currently face and I am afraid of where the shortage will be in a few years. How do other nurses feel about this?

[Alnamvet]

Originally posted by nialloh

Part of the problem is that Hospitals (ect.) put little or no effort in retaining staff. They will spend thousands to recrut new rn's, but nothing on keeping those they have already. When a nurse is leaving, they don't try to get that nurse to stay. They are just short of saying "don't let the door hit you on the way out".

The reality here is that NURSES don't want to let another nurse know that they are valuable...it goes against the thinking of nurses to acknowledge excellence in practice. Administrators, doctors, allied health care pro's know this...this is why nurses can't get anywhere, unless you are willing to step on other nurses; in case I never said it before, I'll say it now...The only enemy a nurse has is another nurse!!!

[fergus51]

Alnamvet, I think it's unfortunate if that's your experience. I certainly know many nurses who do not treat coworkers well, but I have worked in places where coworkers went out of their way to compliment eachother when they noticed something well done. Needless to say, their turnover was lower than average!

[StudentRN@NIC]

I would tend to disagree that the only enemy a nurse has is fellow nurses. In my experience (which is small), the nurses generally work together and assist on another. If nurses did not work together and help one another, they would be even more run down. The nursing shortage is stressful enough, if nurses did't work together they would burn out even faster.