Staffing Shortages in HealthCare

The problem is the corporate way healthcare is run today and that administration doesn't want to staff adequately to keep the budget down and save money. Nursing is stressful enough without having to work short or being mandated or being pressured to work overtime! Its true as you become experienced hopefully some of the stress and anxiety will disappear and you will be calmer and able to function, but anyone can be overwhelmed. My trigger point is dealing with confused, agitated patients that get on my last nerve. You don't know what you are walking into and you have no real control over your work environment and patients and you are supposed to put on a fake smile and be a cheerleader. It is just too much so I work only what I'm required to. My refusing to work overtime is not out of selfishness, but about self preservation, my sanity at least. I cope by not working extra. If others have the stamina to work extra and can handle the emotional overload good for them, but given the current state of working conditions I'm not going to work extra unless for a friend on a rare basis. Problem is management expects everyone to be a "team player" always ready to work extra, yet the staffing shortages are not rare, rather they are the order of the day! Pool, agency, travelers are available but of course pressuring and mandating your staff is much cheaper so that is the choice of many hospitals. I feel sorry for the new nurses because working conditions are only getting worse at least I'm getting closer to retirement. I'm sorry but I don't think a person should have to work in pain and be consoled that all your coworkers are also suffering in pain and exhaustion. That's not the answer!

Excellent post. I especially enjoyed this:My upper management look the other way. I know this because I get senseless emails asking me if I have explored every avenue in my search for staff. I really wanna say, "No I thought I would wait and see if they flew in from Heaven to save me." Why would you even ask this question!

The only job that I could find was at a dialysis clinic- at the time they were willing to hire new grads. I have over a year of experience now but it is still hard to transition to a hospital. Most of them want a BSN so that is something that I have to look into. I TOTALLY agree about laughter- it is what gets us through at work. One of the patients said that the only time that he laughs is when he is at our clinic- it was so nice to hear because we really enjoy our job. It is really nice to read your post because it is from a manager's perspective.

There is a glut of new grads, and a shortage of hospitals/clinics/various places that do not want to hire and train them, because it costs money to do so, and they can't really be thrown in at the deep end and expected to swim, like someone with prior experience. What is the answer?Perhaps hiring new grads for a preceptorship period, in which they repay the hospital with a commitment to work there for 2 years, or more?I don't know, but I do know that it is hard to give quality care like we learned in school when we are short staffed. I only see things getting worse if health care businesses don't invest in new grads....and decent staffing!Jane

Hospitals should not have to pay for what schools neglect (and get PAID) to do.

Quote from xtxrnHospitals should not have to pay for what schools neglect (and get PAID) to do.

I see several issues here:First,I remember the day when hospitals stopped training student nurses ... saying they were being used and abused as members of staff. I was one of those student nurses who complained about working 40 hours a week while having to study, pass assignments, and finals each year. I was thrilled when students would no longer be used as a pair of hands on the wards, working 10 days in a row

I've got one for you...A few years back, over the course of the year, we had several nurses out for FMLA leaves for various reasons. We all pulled together and kicked butt, managing to maintain our results and PG scores, all the while knowing that it was a temporary thing and would pass. Unfortunately, we did so well with the lower staffing that they cut our floor's staffing budget and changed our grid to make that our new norm. Way to reward everyone for not having a nervous breakdown...let's just do it all the time!Thankfully when they wanted to do the same thing last year, our managers pitched a fit. Otherwise it'd be even worse now. This year it won't be an issue since we haven't met productivity consistently...which of course we're getting talked to about.Sometimes all you can do is grit your teeth and smile like a maniac.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...src=mp&spon=24This article describes what hospitals are doing in response to the recession. The recession drove many older retired nurses back into the workforce (often due to their spouses losing employment). Hospitals have taken the short-sighted, money-grabbing approach by demanding experienced nurses and shutting out new grads. But this will severely hurt hospitals in the long run. As soon as the economy turns around and older nurse's spouses re-gain employment, a glut of these older nurses will re-retire (along with the huge group of nurses about to retire for the first time). The RN vacancies will be vast, and then the hospitals will be forced to hire tons of new grads ALL AT ONCE. Hospitals can either gradually pay a little at a time to orient new grads at a slower pace (and thereby drop the average age of their nurses to a more sustainable level), or they can do the money-grab now and be forced to pay a LOT later on when they have to orient tons of new grads all at the same time with a shortage of experienced nurses who are able to train them. This will also lead to obvious safety liabilities. Forward-thinking hospitals and managers are taking note of the average age of their nurses and the probability of impending retirements and are gradually incorporating new grads and supporting them with adequate training.

and you wont! things have changed, honey! the days of big spending are over. Plus the stress of everyone wanting something for nothing, plus us baby boomers are getting older (remember the end of WWII, there was a lot of baby making), and need health care. Get used to it, it aint going to change. etc, etc.If there is something you dont like about the area your in, go to your manager, hopefully, he/she has an open door policy.

Welcome to third world health care in third world America.

I'm a graduate of a ABSN program.I graduated with honors.I've been inducted into STTI.I was a paramedic.I can't get a GN job after two years.I have invested three years of my life working on this new profession, and all you have to offer me is shrugging shoulders and finger-pointing. You tell me about how this is a cyclic thing and it will resolve itself after after a few years. Then you say that you've never seen anything like this.You high-and-mighty experienced nurses have done nothing to change the system so to prevent this feast-and-famine new grad hiring phenomenon. What is the ANA doing? What is the AACN doing? Writing articles? Doing research that shows (over and over) that the profession of nursing will require 500,000 or more nurses by 2015? That 30% RNs and GNs in bedside care roles leave for other roles or leave the profession althogether?What you have done is begun to lean toward "Versant" type GN programs. Thanks for that, by the way. Now GNs have an expiration date (GNs become rancid between 6 and 12 months from graduation). No RN recruiter will talk to me. I've been escorted out of an HR department after I decided to use the "walk-in" method. There are literally tens of thousands of us in Socal and only a few GN jobs.Nursing is a worthy profession to join, but now -- for me -- the decision was a horrible, horrible mistake. And, I blame you the nurse leaders, APNs, nurse managers, RN professional organization leaders, and RN instructors. This is your fault. I held up my end of the deal and so did the other ???? thousands of American GNs who are in soup lines, living at home, living in their cars, standing in line with high school grads hoping for a job at Dairy Queen because the hospital won't hire a GN even as a CNA because they are afraid he or she will be jumping ship to get a GN job at any moment.I wash my hands of nursing.