Is there a shortage of nurses?? really???

Question

No not really, there just is a displacement of nurses of where they are needed. There are 3.2 million nurses (RN's) in the USA, but they are not where they are needed, they are not in the ER's or in the ICU's, they are in other jobs like social work that could be filled by other qualified candidates, because of the stress and fatigue of ER/ICU work. Why do RN's compare themselves to doctors or lawyers... the trend has been most rn schools are moving to the community colleges. Doctors and lawyers trained at CC's? Thanks to the nurses union they have kept healthcare costs for the general consumer and nursing pay temporarily up, by creating an imaginary scarcity.

so far it has been all nurses responding with facts I already know. It is the nurses that are in it just for money that give RN's a bad name the ones who would not take a social work job because "the pay is half as much!". I know many and work with many nurses and unlike most of the ones I work with I actually went to a real university and would never attempt to become a nurse, not saying I do not respect the profession. Nurses comparing themselves to doctors or lawyers is like a construction worker compared to an engineer.

Answer 1

You can do basic RN work with a ASN- however to work in other areas you must have a BSN, MSN, or NP education and status. I know those TV shows have doctors on the floor when a crisis hits in reality its the nurse who is there to handle the crisis.

What MSW jobs are being done by nurses? To be a licensed social worker you have to educated as such and pass tests in that area. A RN education program does not fit that bill.

As for unions, the AMA and ABA (yes they ARE unions) have nurses beat. They keep their folks salaries high by limiting entry into those professions by having unreasonable limits on education. Let a med school try to expand enrollment and the AMA squawks- and the ABA has unreasonable rules on law schools.

EDIT: You really don't have a question. You have a uninformed, unreasonable opinion. All occupations can be compared to other occupations. It is doctors pay that has kept healthcare costs at an unreasonable level. The uninsured, doctors on call pay systems, and new equipment, have put additional costs on hospitals which must be passed on to consumers. There is a nursing shortage. If you had been in a hospital lately you would understand that.

For most real universities Eng 101 is a core course. Run on sentences aren't very readable.

As for comparing constructions workers to engineers (we NEED BOTH, BTW), it wasn't the construction workers faulty work that caused the bridge collaspe 2 weeks ago. It was bad engineering.

Answer 2

Many RN's have more education than lawyers, and many are practitioners!

I don't know of any RN's doing social work as you usually need an MSW for that! Some are used as nurses to make sure children get proper medical care while in Foster Care!

Actually more 2 year Associates degree in Nursing, also an RN, has opened a lot more schools, usually tech colleges, but most know you need at least a BSN! Those shortages were caused when all the diploma programs closed down and hospitals used them as slave labor!

As far as shortages, I think your premise has been misapplied! Their are many nurses who are specialty nurses. You don't just get an RN anymore and do OJT to be a Nurse anesthetist!

One of the reasons that there is a shortage is that many nurses are specialized and that takes them out of the market that you count them in! Nurses have always been underpaid!

Someday a nurse will be the best friend you ever had!

Answer 3

Have you been smoking crack today?

No RN would take a LOWER paying job as a social worker. That is about half the income an RN would make.

The "trend" has not been going with community colleges for RN programs...would it interest you to know that NO STATE has EVER had a 4-year Bachelor degree requirement for an RN degree in the history of nursing? South Dakota actually recently tried to increase the requirement and was not successfull...it's because of the nursing shortage.

Do you think all nurses belong to unions? The VAST MAJORITY of them have not. In fact, in my entire state, there is no such thing as a nursing union.

I think the next time you post, you need to do more research on the history of the profession.

What happened to you? Did you get rejected for nursing school?

Answer 4

Well, I can't combat your statistics, but I can tell you the salaries are not artificially high. When I started working thirty years ago I was working in ICU and getting paid less than the local grocery checkers! And nurses compare themselves to other professionals because they are held to the same standards. They get sued just like doctors and hospitals. Their responsibilities are different but no less than other professionals. As far as nursing salaries being the cause of high healthcare costs, that's a joke! Healthcare costs are a complicated mix of drug companies' profit-seeking, equipment requirements to keep up with the Joneses, and insurance companies denying or delaying claims so that the hospitals have to charge outrageous bills just to break even with what they eventually get! Nursing salaries are a tiny part of the mix. And I think if you check with nursing schools in your area, you will find it the same as here - the waiting lists to get in are two to three years long. Part of this is that so many nursing schools have closed in the past ten years, due to funding for student loans being cut by the government.

Do you even know any nurses?

Answer 5

Those who can do and those who can't do something else. I have been nursing all my life but have no college papers that say I can. An RN certificate does not a nurse make unless you are in the 4077 Mash Unit. Even there you don't have to be a nurse to administer assistance.

Answer 6

No there is none. In fact, here in our country, there are tons of nurses wanting to go abroad. So, there is really no shortage.