[ArkansasSlim]

In some of the other Threads there has been mention of a shortage of Registered Nurses in AR, and elsewhere. I worked as a medical lab and X-Ray Tech for about 20 years and my wife just retired as a Registered Nurse after almost 60 years, so I think I know the facts about what's going on. There is no shortage of RNs, just a shortage of RNs who are willing to tolerate the primadonna doctors and hospital politics. When we first went into the profession, doctors and support personnel had a mutual respect for each other, but now, the more specialized the doctor becomes the more difficult they are to please. Also at that time, the hospital policy was to support the patient first and the employees second. Now, it is the patient first (as it should be), the "bottom line" second, and the employee way down the list. I would like to hear some other views on this subject.

[PurpleLove08]

Originally Posted by ArkansasSlim

In some of the other Threads there has been mention of a shortage of Registered Nurses in AR, and elsewhere. I worked as a medical lab and X-Ray Tech for about 20 years and my wife just retired as a Registered Nurse after almost 60 years, so I think I know the facts about what's going on. There is no shortage of RNs, just a shortage of RNs who are willing to tolerate the primadonna doctors and hospital politics. When we first went into the profession, doctors and support personnel had a mutual respect for each other, but now, the more specialized the doctor becomes the more difficult they are to please. Also at that time, the hospital policy was to support the patient first and the employees second. Now, it is the patient first (as it should be), the "bottom line" second, and the employee way down the list. I would like to hear some other views on this subject.

I think it all boils down to hospital budgets.
In a perfect world, hospitals could hire all the nurses they need but until we get away from a for-profit health care system...it will be business as usual.

[ArkansasTgirl]

Originally Posted by PurpleLove08

I think it all boils down to hospital budgets.
In a perfect world, hospitals could hire all the nurses they need but until we get away from a for-profit health care system...it will be business as usual.

But I thought it was a shortage of RN's not a shortage of nursing jobs. If they can't fill the jobs they have now how would money for more jobs help?

[Cindiana]

There are plenty of RNs, there just aren't plenty of RNs that want to put up with all the BS that nurses put up with.

[ArkansasSlim]

Originally Posted by Cabe09

There are plenty of RNs, there just aren't plenty of RNs that want to put up with all the BS that nurses put up with.

Thanks, that's the point I was making. Oh, I could tell you some stories! But nothing would be gained by it, except to vent!!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by ArkansasSlim

Thanks, that's the point I was making. Oh, I could tell you some stories! But nothing would be gained by it, except to vent!!

We are already seeing some of this and our granddaughter just graduated 6 months ago...I shouldn't say we are seeing it, but we are hearing from her stories.

Nita

[Mt-7]

May I add that many enter nursing for noble reasons and hats off to them.
IMO you just have to love it or you just cannot tolerate it.
No disrespect to anyone. It is just not what some hope for after graduation. The old way of education involved learning at the elbow of a much experienced nurse. Schools now have become more theory than practicum.

[ArkansasSlim]

Originally Posted by seven of nine

May I add that many enter nursing for noble reasons and hats off to them.
IMO you just have to love it or you just cannot tolerate it.
No disrespect to anyone. It is just not what some hope for after graduation. The old way of education involved learning at the elbow of a much experienced nurse. Schools now have become more theory than practicum.

I certainly will not argue that point. My wife and I are from the "old school" and fully understand what you are talking about.

[canudigit]

In our area, the trend has been for the hospitals to get rid of all of their LPNs and unit secretaries and divide the work that they were doing between the existing RNs. There are hiring freezes in place for RNs in many facilities, so how are the existing RNs supposed to do the work that the LPNs and unit secretaries were doing without any new RNs hired to help out? I am an RN who is getting by without working in nursing because my husband and I have rental property and he has a decent job. I hope I never work in nursing again under these new circumstances. Hospitals won't hire an adequate amount of patient care staff, but they can tear down entire wings and replace them with new wings with professionally decorated "suites" and a lobby that looks like it belongs in a Crowne Plaza. Gotta look good, even if quality of care is going down the tubes...

[renault]

If hospitals would go back to treating hospitals as a place of healing and not as a place of business there wouldn't be any "nurse shortage."

For the record, there is no such thing as a nurse or even a teacher shortage. There is, however, a shortage of hospitals willing to pay for what registered nurses are worth. Basically, hospitals want to be able to fly by using just nurse assistants: people who do not have the medical training that nurses do. Would YOU want to be attended to by a nursing assistant? I know I wouldn't. I'd be very afraid to be admitted into a hospital nowadays.

Proof There’s No Nursing Shortage: Show RN’s the MONEY - Nursing for Nurses