If all the nursing school suddenly open the door and let more people in, there will be a overflowed. Think about all those software programmers back in the days, lawyers, MBAs. We used to think lawyers and MBAs can make a pretty good living but now there are too many out on the streets.
I'm sure you guys don't want to see the same thing happen in nursing, don't you? DO NOT increase enrollments of nursing schools please. Otherwise, we will all suffer. Graduate 10,000 new nurses each year across the nation would be enough.
If you are in nursing education, tell the dean DO NOT increase the enrollments therwise, we will all be screwed.
Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care, Gero, dementia.
It's a lot about entitlement.
Including the sense that they are entitled to every possible intervention that might just extend someone's life by the smallest amount -- quality of life be damned.
People in the US who are afraid of rationed healthcare don't realize we already have rationed healthcare -- it's just rationed by the insurance companies. That said, until there is a major sea change in terms of what is actually good care, we'll continue to throw an incredable amount of resources at futile treatment.
Sorry this is way off thread, but BelleKat, you just hit a nerve.
Personally, I am convinced that politicians and the media downplay the importance of nursing due to the strength of the AMA and AHA!
Since AARP has become such a vital voice for the aging population perhaps as a group we should be sending our thoughts and ideas about that same populations pending care to their magazine and voting block. Perhaps they will be the driving force behind the resurgance of respect towards nursing.
Maybe we just need to get the "right voice" to represent their concerns....someone has to do it! It doesn't seem that as a group we can bring the "fight to the forefront".
I will be looking to Kasia in the next few years.....we'll see if work is what she thinks it will be....I hope so. As for the others, until you walk in anyone's shoes, don't even think YOU KNOW...YOU CAN'T.
As for the rest of us, we do have a choice....we make it every day when we get up for another day of unknowns. We need more nurses, but do the people who are nurses need to do this job? We'll see.
I had a 20-plus year career in software engineering and management and chose to go into nursing. One of my classmates had nearly 20 years as an accountant. Granted, not many choose that particular path coming from those backgrounds, but many of my former colleagues are envious of me but lack the guts to make such a career move. There are a few who wouldn't "stoop" to it, but the reaction from people is mostly very positive.
I had a 15+ year career in software engineering, and am doing the same thing. Many of my former co-workers thought I was crazy, and perhaps I am, but everyone who knows me (and thus, whose opinions I actually value) believes I would be a great asset to the nursing field. I have a lot to offer, both in terms of life experience and compassion, and as I have gotten older, my priorities have changed. I am no longer interested in working 60-80 hour weeks increasing a corporation's profit margin; I would rather spend that time doing something that has real meaning, like taking care of those who cannot care for themselves. I would rather fall into bed exhausted at the end of a long day, knowing I helped saved a life, or actually helped someone who needed help, rather than wondering how I'm going to be asked to help the CEO rake in another million tomorrow.
I realize I'm still new at this (1st yr nursing student), but isn't that the kind of attitude you NEED to be a good nurse? It's about CARING, not keeping people out of the profession for your own selfish reasons. At least that's what I got out of reading the brochure. JMO
I realize I'm still new at this (1st yr nursing student), but isn't that the kind of attitude you NEED to be a good nurse? It's about CARING, not keeping people out of the profession for your own selfish reasons. At least that's what I got out of reading the brochure. JMO
You bet we need caring nurses. Stat!
What we don't need is holier than thou nursing students who call us bitter, assume we don't care about our pts, and imply that we are crusty because we vent about the realities of nursing. (You might have missed some of those posts as they were deleted)
And selfish reasons? I missed that part of the thread. Most people agreed that the nursing shortage would be improved with RETENTION, rather than just increasing enrollment.
In fact, the OP only said to not INCREASE enrollment. It didn't mention anything about preventing new students from becoming nurses.
Specializes in CVICU, Burns, Trauma, BMT, Infection control.
Who's trying to keep anyone out,we need more nurses. We also need to be treated better,we need to get that started so maybe YOU can be treated better too.
Just some random ramblings going on in my mind that I'd like to share. I'm not sure whether or not they are valid for the present discussion:
You must remember "caring" isn't a requirement to be a nurse. I know people who went into nursing for money...one is on their way to CRNA school..they said they would have never considered being a nurse had it not been for the CRNA program. I have to admit, yeah I have an attitude, but my attitude keeps me sane when things around me are going insane. I care about my patients. Most of my patients have NOTHING, some of them have no home, some have no family, no one to care for or about them.
I remember going through school thinking idealistically about what nursing "was". Not one year out of school, I remember telling my preceptor asking me exactly what I thought nursing was because I was upset at our patient load which was four stepdown patients who were very heavy and busy. Now that I look back on it, as a student I was more idealistic about what nursing was rather than realistic. School did not teach me how to care. I learned that on my own.
I would have to disagree. Many men would still not do nursing. It's not a clean job like computers where u get to sit at a desk all day. So I disagree with you. There's enough drawbacks to nursing to keep people out, (ie cleaning ass). Plus there's no prestige in nursing either. It's a humbling job. Trust me, you have no worries.
I second the (ie cleaning ass) part. It seriously prevents people from entering this profession, or sticking around. My (idiotic) sis-in-law asked me if as a nurse I have to do "menial, useless tasks" as a nurse "like clean poop, and wash people". I of course told her that is a crucial part and helps with the assessment or indicates a deteriorating condition. Her reply? "Well then I don't want to become a nurse. Maybe I should think about becoming a doctor" For the love of humankind, I hope she stays as far away from healthcare as possible. So there lies some job security!
In the end, we are all just human beings. We need to vent our frustrations every now and then. How many times and in how many threads have we discussed this?
The system isn't perfect. Nursing is not perfect. We don't float around the units like some spirit with a plastic smile attached to our face. We have emotions and sometimes emotions need to come out. For someone who has not been in my shoes to call me bitter because I complain about being verbally and physcially abused by patients and their families, being mistreated by administration etc..all I have to say is your balloon is going to pop when you are six months out of school and exhausted because you are having a hard time keeping up with the demands. You will fall down from your pedastal and your high horse.
I don't care what anyone thinks, I LOVE my job. I love seeing my patients progress from sicker than hell to being transfer to a general practice unit. I love the adrenaline rush of a cardiac arrest or when a patient is crashing. I love holding my patient's hand and listening to them vent their frustrations to me. I love hugging family members and praying with them, comforting them.
Since AARP has become such a vital voice for the aging population perhaps as a group we should be sending our thoughts and ideas about that same populations pending care to their magazine and voting block. Perhaps they will be the driving force behind the resurgence of respect towards nursing.
Maybe we just need to get the "right voice" to represent their concerns....someone has to do it! It doesn't seem that as a group we can bring the "fight to the forefront".
Maisy
AARP is a great voice. Also I really believe it helps when we educate our local state representatives. I have spent hours with ours and keep pointing out the need for nurses to get proper voices (read help).
I learned about the pyramid of ages of Americans back when I got my BSN (when dinosaurs roamed, it seems). This is not new news, it it just that we baby boomers are here now and the reality cannot be ignored any longer.
Please make sure there are enough professional nurses when I reach your beds. I probably will rarely see a nurse if we don't keep educating more and retaining more. I want to see you there and have time to hold my hand as I suffer whatever the future has in store for me. I will need your caring. I am sure you will be busy, but I may need the special skills you have. Piecemealing the tasks that nurses do is like ignoring the holistic approach we adopted many years ago. The whole is worth more than the sum of its parts.
.thumb.jpg.755b83f43c9f3860c778e2fcb2022ecb.jpg){kind=small}
Music in My Heart
1 Article; 4,111 Posts
Everybody faces that.
Our society is becoming meaner and surlier by the year.