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Sunday, 25 January 2009

Nursing Shortage

Why Should I Be A Nurse?
The Ramblings Of a Staff Nurse.

     It’s been in the news lately, but what does it mean? There is a nursing shortage in America, and there just aren’t enough qualified people to fill the openings. The population of nurses is aging, retiring, getting tired and stressed out to the point that they are seeking medical attention. This causes many problems for the industry.
     First of all, there just aren’t enough nurses period. Companies are fighting to obtain the staff they need, offering sign on bonuses, bonuses for staying, college loan repayment, etc…. When they hire a new nurse, it is another company that suffers, because they have positions to fill too. Maybe it was one of their nurses who left for greener grass in the first place. Bottom line, there are not enough nurses to go around, and shifting them from place to place is not going to fix the problem.
     Secondly, Who is teaching the new generation? If there are not enough staff nurses, are there enough nurses to instruct the numbers of nurses that are needed to enter the field? No. As stated the population of qualified nurses is aging, and they are beginning to retire. The pay to teach new nurses does not come close to the pay a nurse can earn at the bedside. Nurses can’t afford to leave their jobs for teaching jobs. As well as the degree needed to teach nursing, you must have a bachelor or better to be an instructor. Therefore, your education costs more, and your pay decreases. While most nurses do not do what they do for the money, trust me, we could not earn enough to really make it worth it, we do it because we care, but we do have financial responsibilities, just like everyone else. We have to pay our bills, feed our families, and keep our households running. There are no discounts for being a nurse, like the military, or teacher discounts, we are not recognized in the capacity of being worthy or needed in the same way, despite the fact that everyone will eventually need a nurse at some point in their lifetime.
     The good news for nurses, and those who want to be nurses is, we are needed. In this economy, with people on the news everyday, telling their story about how they lost their job after 10 years 15, 20 years. I’m not afraid. I can live anywhere in the country, and always be able to keep a job. So if you are looking for security, think about nursing.
     If you are already a nurse, or in school to be a nurse, please join an association. We need so badly to be heard. If we are ever going to fix this shortage, or even keep it from becoming worse, we must be heard, and we must advocate for our own profession.
      Some things I would like to see happen…I would like to see raises for staff nurses. I would like to see the government step in like they are doing for so many others, and form a loan for nurses to further their degrees. Once you hit a certain level, there is no financial help to get a higher degree, and like I stated, not really a lot of incentive once you get out of school. For the country however, we would benefit as a whole if there are more nursing instructors to teach the new generations of nurses getting ready to enter the workforce.
      In my community, we have opened a new high school, the Holland Medical High School. Students will get a foundation in EMS, CNA, and Pharm. Tech. They can start in the 11^th and 12^th grades. I will blog about this further as the program continues.

Friday, 09 January 2009

Staffing:
What Should Be Considered?
     The primary considerations for staffing in the health care setting should include the following: number of patients, the acuity of patients (intensity of care required), and the level of experience of the staff who will care for these patients. Unfortunately, most of the time, in most settings, only one of these factors is considered, the number of patients.
     In my experience as a nurse, the patients are divided equally, by numbers, and usually by geography (i.e. their placement in the hall), rather than by acuity, among the available nursing staff. What does this mean? The very acutely ill patient, who requires a greater number of hours of care, or more intensive care, may not be getting it.  The time the nurse has to devote to that patient may not be enough.
     With the shortage of nursing staff available, nurses are often expected to take a patient load that can interfere with the quality of care provided.  The patient may perceive the nurse as a bad nurse, or incompetent, but sometimes the work load is simply too great. People have become accustomed to the nurse who sits in the room with them, talking, comforting, getting a glass of water for them, and talking to family members, and I agree, this is the way it should be, but today's nurse just doesn't have the time.  Care has become very custodial.  This problem is often compounded by the lack of help nurses can expect to receive from unlicensed personnel. Hospitals are moving away from hiring nurse aids, and moving toward a model of total patient care. (This is a great nursing model by the way, and the way that nursing should be, but with a shortage of nurses, this model will not work as intended).
     With the shortage of people available to care for the growing of numbers of people in need, it's no wonder the health care industry is getting such bad publicity lately.
     I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading.

More to come: Thoughts on how to prevent medication errors; Why is my nurse sitting at the nurses station?; How to staff by acuity.
Hi everyone! I'm just getting started on Xanga... I would like to write some blogs on nursing, the serious and the funny. Drop me a comment if you've got some ideas on what to do first - or just to say, "Hi!"