I was talking to a collegue today who informed me one of our area hospitals might have to close because of the shortage of nurses. It is a rural hospital, down to 6 acute care beds. Now that number may not seem like much to some but for people who live one half hour, or more, from a larger city hospital it may at some point in the future be the difference between life and death.
There is no easy answer for the situation today; many hospitals are running on shoestring satffing, but there is an answer for the future. We must encourage others to enter the nursing profession. By word of mouth, through written word and by demonstartion, we who are already in the profession should take on the responsibility of showing just how powerful this profession is.
Calgary will be opening a brand new childrens hospital later this month. I have not to this point had much chance to research where the nurses will be coming from to staff the facility. Are they closing down another site? Are they luring nurses away from other facilities, and if so what other hospitals ...and health care consumers...will suffer because of it?
Time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment