There isn't a nursing shortage. There's a shortage of facilities willing to do what it takes to hire and RETAIN the nurses they have.
Who wants to post this idea on r/nursing or r/Nurse ?
This make zero sense.
My GF is a nurse of 6 years, currently working in LTC in a part-time permanent position. She picks up shifts whenever possible. Works 15-20 hours a week.
This is not an isolated situation. She has many friends from school (from all across Ontario) reporting the same thing.
How are we in such dire need of nurses, when nothing is being done within Ontario that allows the nurses who are both willing and able to help, do so?
This is beyond frustrating. If anyone knows of anything in place, please educate us! If not, how do we get the attention of the powers to be? Maybe they just don't know. Not that ignorance is any kind of excuse.
We have a shortage of associates and bachelors degree graduates who are willing to:
-Take too many patients (and accept the increased risk of an incident on their lisence) -Do the work of the CNA when the hospital can't retain them -Push beds and reposition patients without help due to understaffing -Go entire shifts without water because they dont give us 5 minutes to step off the floor (and god forbid you keep a covered drink near you) -Play customer service to patients who yell at us about things outside our control and actively destroy their own bodies, then expect us to magically fix everything -Regularly skip lunch breaks because we couldnt find time or coverage -Get talked down to by doctors who haven't even assessed the patient themselves -Be told we need to speed up that post-mortem care because we need the bed (because fuck respecting the dead amirite?) -Take on the risk of needle sticks or assault from patients security didnt search well enough -Reuse PPE an unacceptable number of times while the hospital boasts about how much PPE we have -Be responsible for the operation and status (and reporting broken) of every single piece of equipment in the hospital -Do our own restocking because they dont want to staff central supply every day. -Provide emotional support to patients during this trying time while ignoring our own mental health needs
There is no nursing shortage. Only a sea of burned out nurses who refuse to do it anymore, and the rest of us on our way to join them.
Edit: Instead of gilding this, donate to Doctors Without Borders or something, lord knows they need it deep in the wilds of the ravaged United States. Jeez, my 3am salt post doesn't deserve fake currency
An interesting new New Yorker article is titled 'America is Running out of Nurses' A summary of this article:
Across America, due to the surge in covid-19 cases, many hospitals are facing severe shortages of nurses. Such shortages have led to excessive patient: nurse ratios, nurses experiencing increased levels of moral distress, deficiencies in the quality of care, and an unprecedented demand for traveling nurses. An important cause of the distress nurses are experiencing when caring for covid patients is not the clinical severity but the intense isolation of the patients. In some cases, hospitals 'stockpiled' travel nurses (hiring more than they needed), and often these travel nurses were used not to care for covid patients, but to assist in clearing the backlog of elective procedures and surgeries that were postponed during the early months of the pandemic. Hospitals have also become less choosy about the nurses they hire, settling for whoever is available. And many nurses are quitting their regular jobs to take up travel nursing (it's more lucrative).
One of the arguments for midlevel independent practice is the physician shortage. But their solution is to take people from one profession (that also has a shortage) and shove them into another that they are unqualified for because shortage and money savings?
Is it really cost effective to essentially throw away #x of years of nursing experience to make incompetent "doctors?" Why are they not advocating for better pay and working conditions for bedside nursing so nurses don't escape from it as soon as possible? Why do they want all of the amazing bedside nurses to leave for NP school?
It is also so strange that some PAs seem to not what to do what they signed up for. Like PA residencies and independent practice wasn't a thing when most of them went to school. They knew what they signed up for when going the PA vs MD route but are now turning it around as this gotcha moment of "you guys are dumb for going to medical school because I learned it all in half the time and am just as good." I guess it is ironic coming from this sub where there are daily (justified) complaints about residency and medical training but its not like we want to change the entire purpose of the profession or key parts of the job description.
I knew I'd never be happy in a role where at my peak I still had to defer most decision making to someone more knowledgeable than me. That is why I went to medical school vs anything else.
I don't think I've seen this argument before or questions like these brought up consistently but could have just missed it. I know there are many reasons why it is a terrible, dangerous thing that is happening but wanted to add one more.
I am doing research on what different facilities do to try and compensate for nursing shortage as part of my Capstone. I have a few other nursing friends that I have gotten information from, but I figured I would reach out here to get some input as well! I've heard a lot of places offer bonuses but was wondering if there was anything more than that?
Thank you in advance!
When I watch the news I always hear that “we have a shortage” of nurses to help take care of Covid patients in addition to their regular patients. Since the pandemic started I have read many stories of people graduating nursing school early, working as soon as they can,ect. My question is how is there a shortage of nurses in the nurses field with the amount of people graduating nursing school?
CRNAs have gained more practice privileges (ie without supervision by any physician) in many states due to Covid this spring and summer. Now with the wave sweeping the nation and a severe shortage of nurses especially ICU nurses, shouldn't CAA practice be expanded as well?
There are still tens of thousands of CRNAs practicing with anesthesiologist direction who can be deployed to the ICU in a nursing role (since all CRNAs have years of ICU nursing experience) and CAAs can fill the void in the OR helping to maintain surgery access for patients. CRNAs would be the greatest ICU nurses as they are ICU nurses with additional training and can intubate. It's a win win for patients and hospitals.
"It is a nursing shortage that Ballad Health was facing before COVID-19 hit the Tri-Cities. The onset of the pandemic stopped the hiring process and led to the adjusting shift duties for registered nurses."
