A Nightmare in Nursing: circa 2017
I was talking to some of the Supervisors at some of the places I work (I do temp work as an LVN for an Agency). They are having a great deal of trouble finding Nurses and CNAs (Nurse's Aides) here in San Antonio -- and it's a pretty widespread problem.
One look at the Newspaper told me why:
Any Nurse's Aide ($9.00/hr) can make more money washing dishes at a local hotel ($12.00/hr) --
An assistant manager at McDonald's (22.00/hr) makes more than an LVN ($18.00/hr) --
A McDonald's Manager ($33.00/hr) makes more than an RN ($28.00/hr).
And The Essential Worker Immigration Coalition wants to bring in foreign workers to pay them LESS than that??? Surprise -- IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING! The local teaching hospital has wholesale recruitment programs to bring in student nurses from Nigeria and the Philippines, who work as CNAs until they graduate, then have a 4-year commitment to work as RNs after graduation.
See anything wrong with this picture? No?
Want to hazard a guess at the quality of care you get from Nurses and Aides who can barely speak English -- and really don't care if they answer your call light because they don't have the American work ethic?
And everything I've written here is from personal observation and experience, by the way. I've complained about these Aides playing cards and ignoring call lights in the middle of the night shift, and been told in return "Yeah, but they work cheap, and we need the help badly."
Imagine what this will be like in 10 years when the baby-boomers get to retirement age and start getting sicker. Can you say "Nightmare"?
The Good News (if you can call it that) is that I'll have a job until the day I die and beyond.
~~JD~~
3 comments:
Nursing is a job that has enough parts to it that make it unattractive to so many. And, for those who chose the work they become disillusioned quickly with the management policies that don't favor patient care. Unions are not the answer. Nope.
Ethical business practices are.
American business- the shady variety has ruined this career- profit over all else. And of course it doesn't help that many patients depend upon Government programs- Medicaid and the like limit reimbursements for hospital visits, nursing home care ect- and our pay suffers for it.
The answer? Get government out of this. And businesses NEED to become ethical.
I can dream.
The funny part of all of this is that if either Unions or Business were required to have the amount of scrutiny, regulation, and documentation that Nursing undergoes on a daily basis; there would be such screams of "Intrusion!" and outrage -- not to mention indictments and scandals -- I'm pretty sure they wouldn't survive in anything close to their current forms.
I had a JCAHO inspector tell me one time that Nursing generally (and Nursing Homes in particular) are the Second most regulated industry in America, right after Nuclear Power Plants. It's a profession where you can get written up for assault just for laying a reassuring hand on a weeping patient's shoulder (and I've seen that happen, by the way.) It's a profession where the preferred method of documenting errors is to "Write yourself Up" so that at least you've had some input into your own errors!!
"Please, Sir, May I have another?"
Yeesh!
~~JD~~
LOL....Have you ever seen a copy of the OBRA regs? I have an updated manual, over 1000 pages long. Nevermind the manual the surveyors use! So much is lost in the paperwork shuffle= mostly patient care. When we have nursing homes hiring people just to input required MDS data, we know we have a problem...esp when that person HAS to be an RN, who by the nature of the job NEVER actually sees the resident they are supposedly assessing!
I think there is a trend happening here: More and more money is being given to the states for nursing home alternatives- of course the industry cries that this takes away from "patient" care...yeah right!!- wage pass thru laws?? The money NEVER reaches the pocket of a CNA or a nurse.
Post a Comment