[Aaron C.]

facing nurses at this point in time?

Feel free to throw out more than one if you deem it necessary.

I look forward to seeing your responses.

[Judyd]

Large pt load and to high acuity,With such rapid turn over and multiple admissions that quality total body care is not possible. If my mother went to the hospital I would feel it absolutely necessary to have a family member stay with her to help with the nursing.Shame on America...

[Kimble]

Staffing. Staffing. Staffing. Not enough of us to go around. Too many patients, too high acuity. Not enough hours in a day. Very frustrating

[nursekat]

Money. There's a shortage, yes, and it's killing our profession as well as our patients. The minute you see the average salary of a nurse increase, the minute you see more nurses enter the profession. Who wants to enter a profession that is struggling as much as nursing is, and hardly get paid to boot?? I know every hospital administrator will groan and say that they can't afford it - but can they afford the increase in death rates that has been shown to be related to the staffing shortage?? We can't go on like this - how do we fix it? Money.

[Maddie]

Lack of respect for us as professionals: doctors who treat us as inferiors, patients who expect one-on-one "hotel service" & 24 hr waiter/waitress services, administrators who fail to see that if the hospital thrives and patient satisfaction & outcome is high, it's because of us. The benefits of this profession fall short in comparison to the amount of time, education, level of compassion, personal safety & health risks that we give to it every day.

[Marie_LPN]

Old thread, yep, but some issues don't change after a couple of years.

Lack of respect for each other is another one. The education debate, the job title debate, the-my-dept./shift-has-it-tougher-than-yours, etc. etc.

[hfergrn]

More money would be great, but it is the shortage that is going to break us. The facility where I am at offers double time on a regular basis. Many nurses do not even take up the offer because they have already worked 4-5 12hr shifts that week. Sometimes the money just isn't worth the peace of mind you need when you walk out the facilities doors.....
Educating the public on our profession and encouraging our youth (not so youth) to become involved in the profession will help us in the long run....