Covering the nursing shortage crisis and emerging trends in nursing education

It's a relief to see working nurses respond publicly to the Nursing shortage crisis. A nurse from South Carolina spoke up today stating that the quality of medical care is at risk if we don't seriously address the issue.

I've been a nurse for 22 years, and I've been saying the same thing for 22 years. Unfortunately, the public will pay dearly for this in the coming decades.

So wake up. Start rattling cages with your elected officials, hospital administrators, physicians, nurses and educators before we all end up on the short side of quality medical care.

Individual hospitals are responding to the nursing shortage in their own way - I've seen some improve their package benefits to recruit nurses from other health care facilities, while others are searching overseas to recuit nurses that will not only beef up their staff, but save on the salary budget as well.

Cheers to the South Carolina nurse. This issue needs to be addressed at a national level and put an end to the bandaid approach. Let's get more educators in our nursing schools and produce a higher graduation rate of qualified U.S. nurses.

And a note to the nurses on waiting lists for advanced nursing degree enrollment, make sure you research opportunities with online distance learning - it could get that diploma in your hands much faster. Here's some info about online nursing degrees.