Covering the nursing shortage crisis and emerging trends in nursing education

Monday, January 30, 2006

Working Nurse Gives Wake-Up Call

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.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Hospitals Recruiting Nurses from India

Imagine this look on my face... "Are you friggin kidding me?!?!?!"

That's me. Right now. After reading that Rhode Island Hospital sent a recruiting team to India last September to find nurses to relieve their nursing shortage crisis.

I thought for a moment that I had just stumbled across another piece in the news about how there aren't enough nurses to care for the growing population of elderly people and that there aren't enough nurse educators to train students to become certified nurses, RNs or MSNs. But as I neared the end of this article on The Pawtucket Times website, the last paragraph honestly floored me:
One hospital has turned elsewhere to meet its needs. Rhode Island Hospital executives went on a recruiting trip to India last September to seek nurses. Thirty nurses signed agreements to work at the hospital, said Louis Sperling, Rhode Island Hospital's vice president of human resources, who went on the trip. The nurses could arrive before the end of this year, he added.

This is scary on so many levels - especially after learning that starting salaries for nurses set by the government run about $190 per month according to the Indian Nursing Council.

A response to the article on the Pawtucket Times website had an interesting idea: Maybe it would be cheaper for everybody if we just shipped the elderly and medically indigent off to India for medical treatment.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Emergency Nurses Encourage President Bush to Increase Federal Investment in Nursing Education

592 million is the magic number being asked of President Bush to help alleviate the national nursing shortage. This is an excerpt from the press release on U.S. Newswire that contains a complete copy of the letter written by the Americans for Nursing Shortage Relief (ANSR):

Without an infusion of funding that can really make a difference, the nursing and nursing faculty shortages will continue at the expense of the health and well being of this country's citizens.

More from U.S. Newswire

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Overworked nurses plead for help

I'm glad to know that in a time of crisis at Alice Springs Hospital where a shortage in nursing staff is so severe that the safety of both the patients and staff are at risk, our Health Minister has stepped in with some words of authority. Apparently after being briefed on the situation the Health Minister asked the hospital's CEO to "take immediate steps to alleviate the situation".

How's that for pressure?

Maybe it's just me, but the root of the nurse shortage at this hospital probably goes a little deeper than the CEO's hiring efforts.

Maybe the Health Minister should have taken this news worthy opportunity to address the issue of the decreasing number of qualified nurses available to hire and the fact that over 30,000 applications to nursing schools were turned away last year due to a shortage in educational staffing.

More on the Alice Springs Hospital Nurse Crisis:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1548830.htm

Friday, January 13, 2006

Nursing School Enrollment Needs 40% Increase to Meet Demands

Recently I ran across this article projecting a shortfall of 800,000 registered nurses (RNs) by the year 2020.
While it's obvious that healthcare facilities are focusing more of their budgets on recruitment of new nurses, the problem lies in the fact that their is a limited number of qualified registered nurses to employ.

Many healthcare workers are seeking RN to BSN and RN to MSN degrees, but are being turned away because there simply aren't enough qualified teachers to fill the demand. Online nursing degrees are helping to fill the gap as we are seeing a new trend towards distance learning for adults. Below is an excerpt from the EndoNurse news item:

"According to research conducted by Peter Buerhaus, PhD, RN, FAAN, from Vanderbilt University, enrollments in nursing programs have to increase by at least 40 percent annually to replace those nurses expected to leave the workforce through retirement."

http://www.endonurse.com/hotnews/5ch1616152570378.html

Monday, January 09, 2006

Nursing Shortage Increasing Turnover Rate?

The National Commission on Nursing Workforce for Long-Term Care reported last May that there are nearly 100,000 vacant nursing positions in long-term health care facilities. Even more shocking is that the nurse turnover rate now exceeds 50%! The report stated that this situation is costing long-term facilities an estimated $4 billion a year in recruitment and training expenses.

This news is shocking and sad. Qualified nurses are busy recruited and incentivised my institutions with more financial backing while the patients in a facility with a more modest budget suffer. I don't blame the nurses at all - they deserve as much as they can get for the work they're doing. But the system as a whole is out of synch and it starts with nursing education.

Earlier today I read that over 30,000 applicants to nursing school for a BS in Nursing were turned away last year because they simply did not have enough qualified instructors to handle the demand. Let's hope that the qualified nurses that want to advance their degree to become Health Care Educators are not being put on the same type of wait list.

This trend in the nursing field provides qualified nurses with an opportunity to evaluate their current salary, benefits and responsibilities. Knowing the facts about this nursing shortage provides the upper hand for her to request 100% reimbursement for continuing education, a salary increase and improved benefits. If she's interested in exploring other employment opportunities, new recruitment firms have been established exclusively for nurse placement.

More on the Nursing Shortage: http://www.newszap.com/articles/2005/12/27/az/west_valley/pi03.txt

Earn your Nursing Educator Degree online: http://nursing.earnmydegree.com/universityphoenix/master_nursing_education.html

Nurse Placement Agency: http://www.execusearch.net/

Friday, January 06, 2006

Nursing Salary Survey Says...

I came across some information today that convinced me that the cost of continuing education for nurses does indeed pay for itself -- and then some!!

According to the Nursing2005 Journal, the average income for a BSN responding to their salary survey was $58,600, 7.3% higher than 2004 ($54,600) and 18% higher than 2003 ($49,600). Those with an MSN earned $10,300 more on average than the average RN respondent. Read more...

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