Health care consumers suffer losses from nursing shortage

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.

Why nurses hurt people

To start with, let me say I can't answer this question. Only those who have done the hurting can.
In the researching for my book I looked at stories of nurses who have crossed the line. Those who have taken their position of trust granted them because of their chosen profession...and misused it. The result of that misuse is the injury, even death, of patients, or even coworkers. The most recent case I have read was the nurse in Grande Prairie who pleaded guilty to drugging her coworkers.
It is beyonf me to come up with a good reason as to why but I understand ultimately that we are only human. And any human being can be led astray by power. Nursing in its' tasks is difficult enough and yet we still must deal with the difficulties of overcoming the temptations of greed and power over anothers life.

Media view of nurses and the profession

During the research for my book, taking a human look at the nursing profesion, I have run across many opinions of nurses and what we do. Both good and bad, it is still shocking (and yet not) how much people, including the media, do not understand. And we have no one to blame but ourselves.
I found an entry from CBC News Online (Sept 7, 2004) with these statements;
"They check your blood pressure, they give you pills, they clean you and they comfort you. They're nurses...".
If only the job were that simple!

A little later in to the article;
"...because of staff cuts in other areas of the hospital, nurses are often left juggling their own responsibilities with a host of others. They may have to answer phones, clean up spills, and clear away food trays."
Nice to know someone has noticed that we do far more than "give you pills", but this still shows an understanding that does not go deep enough in to the realities of what takes place during a 12 hour shift.
On my web site (www.nursesentry.com) I encourage nurses to write about what they do. I sadly get very little response. But hopefully I have got many thinking about the possibility. It is up to individual nurses, not just our registering bodies, or other organizations to educate people, via the media, as to how "wicked" the profession really is; wickedly difficult and wickedly powerful. I will continue to urge nurses voices in to the open and hopefully my own book will start to spark some true interest in to a profession that is like no other.

CNA's views of the health of Canadians

When I visit the CNA web site they still have posted that people today live "longer and healthier". Strangely I am almost angered by this comment, perhaps because the CNA is supposed to be the representative body of nurses in Canada anf I believe they should know better. Both diabetes and obesity are near, if not already past, epidemic status. When you think about all the other diseases that are caused by, or compounded by these two diseases it has to be clear that we ARE NOT healthier. Living longer? Probably and it has much to do with all the drugs that are now available that doctors can give their patient to prolong their lives. But are they (we) actually "healthier"? In my opinion...by no means.

Please CNA, revisit this statement and outlook on the health of Canadians. Nurses can play a key role, if not THE KEY ROLE, in keeping the next generations healthier than myself or my parents. But we desparately need to entice more people in to this dynamic and powerful profession.