Why Is There A Shortage?

heatherbless · Jan 25, 2004

originally posted by lizz

hellllllo nurse: you've acknowledged that working conditions in california are better because of the cna union, and that you don't have a union in your state. yet you continue to discourage student nurses, like myself, who might be in a different situation. why do this if your particular situation doesn't necessarily apply to all student nurses?

lizz:

you said it--you are a student nurse....so why don't you just act like one and quit acting like you are better than everyone else--look up the word humility in the dictionary....maybe you will learn something. hty/

heatherbless · Jan 25, 2004

Originally posted by lizz
Actually, I noticed that and edited my post. There are only two AA programs in the country and, if I recall correctly, only six/seven states license them. So, for all practical purposes, CRNA is the only anethetist program alternative for most people (besides MDA, of course.)

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR CONDESCENDING PROFESSIONAL OPINION AND ABILITY TO IMPRESS US ALL--WE ARE SOOOO GRATEFUL FOR YOUR OBNOXIOUS PRESENCE ON THE BB--WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE WOULD BE WITHOUT YOU!!

PLEEEEAAAASSE!! QUIT!!

heatherbless · Jan 25, 2004

but your collective advice is inconsistant. as students, all this does is make our heads spin, and that's not helpful.

[/b] your head is already spinning backwards by itself--you don't need any more help from us!

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jan 25, 2004

This is a support board for Nurses. We empathize, sympathize and frequently demonize our profession.

I LOVE Nursing.

I HATE Nursing .

I wish I had taken a different educational track than I did.

I'm glad I waited til my children were a little older before I went back to University.

I LOVE where I worked. I HATED working there. I can name 100 things wrong, and a 100 things right about the place.

My NM was a tyrant.

My NM was one of the smartest nurses I've ever met.

You know I believe every one of these things. But you know I don't want everyone to.

It's as if you ask me should you buy a Chevrolet Truck and I say No, they're horrible and you should get a Ford. Do you get angry and argue, defend, protest? No you just weigh MY opinion and form your own.

No one is trying to do anything to students here. We are just telling it like it IS to each ONE of us. You have to find your own niche; we can't put you in it.

J. B. · Jan 25, 2004

I was think very much the same thing. Except for the inclenation to stop my connection to this thread.

Well stated.

Thank you.

JB

obgynlpn · Jan 25, 2004

i think the reason there is a shortage is the nurse/patient ratio. i work in a ob/gyn clinic now fulltime and i also work at the hospital as a pulmonary nurse...we have a 6:1 ratio and we are a progressive care unit with all our patients on telemetry. so not only do our pts. have resp. problems they also have cardiac problems. they are high demand pts. i can see why nurses get burnt. that's why now i work in a clinic that is wonderful and so much less stressful. :roll

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Jan 25, 2004

Lizz,

As I have stated in another thread, I hope things will be different for the new nurses coming up than they have been for many of us seasoned nurses.

-You seem to have the idea that a person should not bring attention to a problem unless they also have the solution.-

You cannot understand my perspective, and I will continue to voice my opinion. If this bothers you, please ignore my posts.

You are not yet a nurse. When you are, I think your perspective will change.

prmenrs, RN · Jan 26, 2004

The last couple of pages of this thread have been getting a bit toasty--please watch out for personal attacks, and try not to post in all caps, i.e., "shouting" @ the other posters.

If you're getting too "involved" w/the discussion, back off, get a drink of water and a snack, do something else for a while. And if you feel that YOU were attacked by another poster, please report it to a moderator.

Thanks.

J. B. · Jan 26, 2004

Good idea for all of us here. I knew there were good people here. Glad I stayed.

JB

ctruth · Jan 26, 2004

Hi all,

After reading a number of the posts here I felt a need to add my perspective on the nursing shortage. I'm unsure if anyone else has already mentioned this but one of the big reasons there is a nursing shortage right now is the basic fact that a huge % of working nurses out there are approaching retirement age, which is also one of the reasons for the shortage of nursing faculty. I am aware of the government intervening with the shortage of nursing faculty by implementing accelerated masters & phd programs for education. However, I am a bit frustrated as to the response, or lack of response, regarding the nursing shortage. For example, instead of implementing incentive programs to increase the number of nurses in the US, the government has reverted to other countries--basically stealing top nurses by offering grand bonus packages & relocation assistance & set-up. This is in turn creating shortages in other countries, such as Africa. It's disgusting to say the least, and quite a self-centered approach, indeed. Perhaps it's offering the potential for better lives for the nurses transferring over to the US, but at the same time it's negelecting to focus on the issues at the root level, which many have mentioned in earlier posts (pt-nurse ratio, management issues, pay rates, etc). I've recently learned that California has implemented a mandatory pt-nurse ratio, which is great--hopefully other states catch on very quickly, as this should have been put in place forever ago.

I am a recent BSN graduate. The program I graduated from is like many others regarding the admittance of few select students. The weeding process is vital, but there definitely needs to be enough programs with enough seats out there for the vast number of future nursing students, as many are responding to the stability of the nursing profession with great interest.

Ctruth*

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jan 26, 2004

ctruth

Here is a truth for you, I am getting up there, but I will never retire, I figure one night in the ER, my coworkers will come around a corner and just find me dead in the middle of the hallway.

DO NOT RESUSCITATE

DO NOT BREATHE HERE

DO NOT COMPRESS HERE

AND NO FOLEY THERE

Florida Native, BSN · Jan 26, 2004

When I was a student in the early 1990s there was a glut of nurses due primarily to workplace redesign. Consultants, primarily accountants with no healthcare practice background, advised hospitals to cut staff and increase nurse patient ratios. They were considered heros. By the end of the 1990s they could have been tarred and feathered.

During the 1990s the shortage of the late 1980s disappeared due to the staffing cuts. Nurses who remained in the profession faced the added stress of unrealistic patient loads. More nurses left the profession. When the hospital industry discovered the error of their ways in the late 1990s the nurses were gone. The average age of a nurse had jumped to about 45.

I was the co-author of the 1994 NSNA resolution calling for a modification of the Immigration Nursing Relief Act which at that time was being used by consultants to further supress wages and working conditions. The act was allowed to sunset in 1996. During the course of my research I discovered that nurses who left the profession during previous gluts seldom returned to the profession when conditions changed. The nurses who left were lost forever.

When I graduated from nursing school in 1994 NCLEX pass rate percentage for new graduates educated in the United States was in the 93 to 96 percent range depending on the type of program the nurse attended. ADNs had the highest percentage passing on teh first attempt. BSNs the lowest. But all groups were passing above 90%. Today the first time pass rate is about 7 to 10 points lower. I asked an educational consultant I know if the test was more difficult. Her answer at that time (2002) was that the quality of the students entering nursing had dropped. Students were being admitted who would have been never been considered before. Though I suspect that has changed with the economic down turn, it will likely return once the economy recovers unless the hospital industry has learned from their past mistakes.

We are now facing the most serious shortage in history. It is projected to continue through at least 2020. The present shortage is compounded by the lack of nursing instructors. The average age of a nursing instructor is even greater than that of practicing nurses. For the immediate future the United States will need to continue to bring nurses from overseas to avert a crisis in healthcare delivery.