Why hire RN's when other disciplines can do the job

[Marisette]

Has anyone noticed that pharmacist at major drug chains administer flu, pneumonia, and other vaccines at large pharmaceutical chains. The medical assistant at my doctors office calls in medications for me because they don't hire RN's. In the hospitals we have nursing aids, & patient care technicians assist with patient care. I know the value of RN's doing the many functions, but I ask myself when did personnel or professionals from other disciplines start performing what was once mostly performed by RN's.

Could this be part of the reason new grads. can't find employment, or frankly many nurses in different markets. Why bother hiring RN's ? I Know that nurses do more than administer medications, call in medications and perform other physical labor, but sometimes I ask myself if the push for more anxillary health care help is slowly replacing the need for RN's. I recall getting injections from RN's at the large pharmaceutical chains years ago, but now the pharmacist administers. They hire nurse practioners for the outpatient clinics at the large phamaceutical chains or drug stores, but they are advanced degree Registered Nurses. Does anyone value a nurse with a simple RN behind her name anymore?

[nursel56]

I felt that once they wrote "lies, damn lies and statistics" that they would not be responsive to other ideas regarding the issue. They are set in their ways even with data supporting my position. The source that I used was the first one I found on google scholar. I can access CINAHL of more primary articles regarding the matter.

It like trying to get your grandpa to change his opinion on democrats, its just not gonna happen. I spent a lot of time getting no where fast.

Since you called me a name I must respond! First, what your instructors and other nurses think doesn't matter. Studies and statistics are malleable. They can be used to mold and bend to anyone's agenda. It's like when politicians debate about the budget. That isn't closed-minded. It's the truth, so I approach research claims as a skeptic first. That's not closed-minded, it's really a requirement no matter if the subject matter is nursing or the mating behavior of aardvarks. If it can't stand up to rigorous scrutiny it has to be scrapped. That's the context I meant when I used that phrase.

I have no personal stake in the outcome of this and I don't think RNs should be replaced by techs, either. I just don't like crap science in general. So I started to pick apart the link you gave. Not because I'm closed-minded but because you should never nod in agreement with somebody's conclusion without digging a little deeper.

You need to ask who wrote the article and what sort of agenda might they have. You need to look at methodology ie how were the subjects or studies for review chosen? Have the results been duplicated by an independent party? How were they able to isolate the variable so they can be sure it is that one thing that is causing that particular result?

If you see the words "associated with" you know they haven't isolated that variable so there is no cause and effect proven there.

Most of the articles you'll find compare BSN nurses to differently educated RNs rather than RNs (generic) to other healthcare personnel.

The author you will see most often on this subject is Linda Aiken. Specifically this:

Educational Levels of Hospital Nurses and Surgical Patient Mortality

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/290/12/1617.short

Critics at the time expressed doubt about the results not only because it only studied surgical patient records ~ it didn't factor in the level of experience the nurses had. Some people felt new grad vs nurse with 20 years of experience could affect patient care to the point of skewing those outcome calculations.

It does tend to prove your point though so that proves I'm not a grandpa, and it irritates me that you're talking about me behind my back right here on allnurses aka eating your old.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

And this young(er) one is going to have to jump in and say. You've been served.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

huh??

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

Reference to a truely horrendous teen movie.

[MissJulie]

The problem is that nurses have lost a lot of their/our skills.

Someone actually asked me if a nurse was allowed to do an ABG because they're not respiratory! Of course, I've also had people ask me if nurses are even taught to draw blood at all anymore, since techs can do it...

Of course, I wanted to smack these people!

I'm a student, not a nurse yet, but I still get defensive of the career path that I have chosen.

I think originally it was a good idea for nurses to "share" their responsibilities with other fields, but now, it seems that nurses aren't expected to do those things. Then again, it's like my instructor told us, anybody can be taught to give a shot or insert a catheter (for example, patients having to do so in the home setting), but nurses are taught the proper technique, proper sanitation issues, what to do if something goes wrong, etc.

It's time for nurses to become nurses again, skills and all!

[PintheD]

The reason why the RT often draw the ABG's is because they can charge for it. Same reason why, in some institutions, the RT shoots cardiac outputs. It's all about money.

The real problem is the same old story of "room charge". That's all we are. Will we ever get away from this?

[nursel56]

Reference to a truely horrendous teen movie.

Or if you are old-like-me a really clever episode of Twilight Zone called "To Serve Man" :) Carry on.