The "Nursing Shortage"
I was watching TV this evening with my mother. During one of the interminable commercial breaks there was a teaser for this evenings news broadcast. The gist of the story was that unless the local nursing schools cranked out more nurses, there was going to be a shortage of nurses resulting in a health emergency.
What a crock of shit.
There is no shortage of nurses. What there is, is the current ongoing abuse and neglect of the nurses who are currently in the workforce as nurses. Should we be surprised when they leave for something else that is less demanding/stressful and pays more?
The majority of hospitals are understaffed with nurses. Not because the nurses are not out there, but because when nurses work as nurses they are chronicly understaffed, overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated. They work murderous hours, the ratio of patients to nurses has risen to the point of being dangerous, and when something goes wrong (which it always does under those circumstances) the nurses are blamed because they are the first persons on the scene. As a result a lot of very qualified and experienced nurses are moving into fields like pre-certification which require a nursing liscense, but you don't have the risk of having someone die on you each day.
Nurses have to carry almost as much malpractice insurance as a doctor. Why? If you have to ask that question, you obviously did not read the paragraph above.
My mother is an RN with about 30 years of experience. She has worked the ER, orthopaedics, and most recently nephrology/dialysis. She left hospital nursing for a variety of reasons. She does not have to worry about someone dying on her when she goes to work (a very real possibility working the acute dialysis patients at the hospital). She does not have to worry about docs who abuse the system and their patients for their own gain. She does not have to worry about being overworked, understaffed, and while she may still be unappreciated she is under a lot less pressure and strain.
The hospitals need nurses like my mother, nurses with experience and insight. But they will not be able to keep them because they will never be given the support and staffing that they need to do a good job.
And we will suffer for it.
What a crock of shit.
There is no shortage of nurses. What there is, is the current ongoing abuse and neglect of the nurses who are currently in the workforce as nurses. Should we be surprised when they leave for something else that is less demanding/stressful and pays more?
The majority of hospitals are understaffed with nurses. Not because the nurses are not out there, but because when nurses work as nurses they are chronicly understaffed, overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated. They work murderous hours, the ratio of patients to nurses has risen to the point of being dangerous, and when something goes wrong (which it always does under those circumstances) the nurses are blamed because they are the first persons on the scene. As a result a lot of very qualified and experienced nurses are moving into fields like pre-certification which require a nursing liscense, but you don't have the risk of having someone die on you each day.
Nurses have to carry almost as much malpractice insurance as a doctor. Why? If you have to ask that question, you obviously did not read the paragraph above.
My mother is an RN with about 30 years of experience. She has worked the ER, orthopaedics, and most recently nephrology/dialysis. She left hospital nursing for a variety of reasons. She does not have to worry about someone dying on her when she goes to work (a very real possibility working the acute dialysis patients at the hospital). She does not have to worry about docs who abuse the system and their patients for their own gain. She does not have to worry about being overworked, understaffed, and while she may still be unappreciated she is under a lot less pressure and strain.
The hospitals need nurses like my mother, nurses with experience and insight. But they will not be able to keep them because they will never be given the support and staffing that they need to do a good job.
And we will suffer for it.
posted by Elizabeth at
9:33 PM
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