So What?
I had no idea what to call this blog entry. The above seemed to be appropriate enough.
I’ve been reading a professional journal – a nursing professional journal.
There’s an article on nursing leadership, one on bladder cancer, one on Lunesta (a new sleep med that’s been all over the TV commercials lately), one on safety. But nothing on the realities of my nursing life.
So I need to ask: Where’s the information on the following:
1. Where do I get more staff?
2. How do I retain the staff I have?
3. What is the government doing about the ongoing nursing shortage?
4. Why do state surveyors interpret regulations so they strangle our facilities (as in why does a nursing home have to treat a resident as “suicidal” if the doctor and psych units say she isn’t and won’t assist the facility in the suicide precautions) In case you want to know – that was a rant.
5. How do we handle fourteen different formularies for Medicare residents? How do we call the doctors over and over until we get the right drug that’s on the right formulary. Remember: There is a nursing shortage and only a nurse can take an order from a physician.
6. How can nursing homes care for the residents who are under 60 (and we have a lot of them) under regulations written for the elderly?
Those are just a few of my questions.
If I had gone into teaching I would be retired by now.
Why is there a nursing shortage?
1. Do you want to work weekends, holidays, nights?
2. Do you want to clean up all bodily excrement?
3. Do you want to work on your feet, passing meds, giving care, walking the halls for 8 to 10 hours a day?
4. Do you want to look at, touch, redress, debride, smell and generally care for meesy things?
5. Do you want to give care (all personal care) to an elderly person who is so confused he or she may haul off and slug you - maybe even hurt you? And have to do it day after day after day after day.
Many “new” nurses leave after five years – because of the above. Yeah, decent pay to start but it’s not a profession one can retire from – at least not easily.
Yep – if I had gone into teaching I would be retired by now.
I’ve been reading a professional journal – a nursing professional journal.
There’s an article on nursing leadership, one on bladder cancer, one on Lunesta (a new sleep med that’s been all over the TV commercials lately), one on safety. But nothing on the realities of my nursing life.
So I need to ask: Where’s the information on the following:
1. Where do I get more staff?
2. How do I retain the staff I have?
3. What is the government doing about the ongoing nursing shortage?
4. Why do state surveyors interpret regulations so they strangle our facilities (as in why does a nursing home have to treat a resident as “suicidal” if the doctor and psych units say she isn’t and won’t assist the facility in the suicide precautions) In case you want to know – that was a rant.
5. How do we handle fourteen different formularies for Medicare residents? How do we call the doctors over and over until we get the right drug that’s on the right formulary. Remember: There is a nursing shortage and only a nurse can take an order from a physician.
6. How can nursing homes care for the residents who are under 60 (and we have a lot of them) under regulations written for the elderly?
Those are just a few of my questions.
If I had gone into teaching I would be retired by now.
Why is there a nursing shortage?
1. Do you want to work weekends, holidays, nights?
2. Do you want to clean up all bodily excrement?
3. Do you want to work on your feet, passing meds, giving care, walking the halls for 8 to 10 hours a day?
4. Do you want to look at, touch, redress, debride, smell and generally care for meesy things?
5. Do you want to give care (all personal care) to an elderly person who is so confused he or she may haul off and slug you - maybe even hurt you? And have to do it day after day after day after day.
Many “new” nurses leave after five years – because of the above. Yeah, decent pay to start but it’s not a profession one can retire from – at least not easily.
Yep – if I had gone into teaching I would be retired by now.
posted by Mitzi at Monday, November 07, 2005
1 Comments:
Hi Mitz! I'm stopping by to say hi, too, but I wanted also to let you know that I'm going to show your blog to my daughter when she gets home tonight. She's in the LPN program right now and won't graduate until August. This has been a dream of hers for years. She tried the RN program and it was just too hard for her, so she took a year off and decided to go back, but into the LPN program instead. Those things you just mentioned...she's a perfect candidate. She wants this so bad that she'd do anything to get it. Sort of like us writers, huh. Thanks so much for the post and see you in the hen lit group!
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