What do you think would happen if....

[Lisa CCU RN, RN]

there was an organized day where every nurse in America went on strike and refused to come back unless nursing conditions improved--pay, equipment, shifts, treatment, and any of the other problems. Do you think that the hospitals would simply be flooded with agency nurses? Has there ever been a widespread strike?

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

I would love to see it happen and bring about change, but I think this is what would really happen:

1. Most nurses would back out, give in and go to work as scheduled.

2. The brave nurses who did stand up and do it would be fired, ostracised and black-balled.

3. The nurses would be seen by the public as selfish, uncaring and abandoning their pts. Hospitals would run with this and make themselves out to be the victims of bad nurses.

4. Nurses would be even more screwed than we are now.

There have been so many nurses' marches in Washington DC, that they don't even get press coverage anymore.

Million Nurse March to “Blow the Whistle” on Unsafe Healthcare Practices and Gain Respect for Nurses May 9-10, 2002

http://www.nursezone.com/job/MedicalNewsAlerts.asp?articleID=6749

"...Dr. Vonfrolio was the organizer of the Nurses March on Washington DC, March 1995 and May 10, 1996 ...."

http://www.greatnurses.com/

In April 1861, Dorothea Dix and a hastily assembled group of volunteer female nurses staged a march on Washington,

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/prm/blunsungsisters1.htm

There were several nurses' marches on Washington in the early 1900s, as well.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

may 2001 philadelphia: millennium nurses march: nurses air their concerns

had a great time organizing that event and learned how to use mass media.

just wish i had read bernice buresh and suzanne gordon book silence to voice more than one week prior to the event....did help with having talking points prepared and my 15 seconds of tv fame.