lkroa t1_j3njmk0 wrote
Reply to comment by ChrisNYC70 in What New Yorkers need to know as thousands of NYC nurses begin strike by Nscience
it’s not a shortage of nurses. it’s a shortage of nurses willing to work under these conditions (which have been rapidly worsening for years). many nurses are leaving the bedside for non bedside roles, retiring early, or moving to other careers entirely.
fix the working conditions and you won’t have a nursing shortage
ChrisNYC70 t1_j3nro87 wrote
Disagree. I work with a non profit that provides home care and health and wellness classes. Our nurse retired back in Feb. she loved her job with us. No bed pans. It was just meeting with clients and reviewing medications. Setting goals. 90% of the clients came to her and for home bound clients she had an Uber account for them. It was a 9-5 Monday through Friday job. Vacation, sick, health insurance, retirement plan. The works. Salary was in the low $90k.
We have always had a hard time finding nurses and it’s not the pay, location, type of job, co workers or hours. When you speak to any nursing school or temp agency they will tell you the people are not out there. Right now when we need nurses , the most over the last 10 years we have seen less and less people want to become nurses. Younger people are expected to be “more than nurses” all are pushed to go to school and get a business degree or if they have interest in medicine. It’s to be a doctor, dentist, vet even.
It’s not as simple as pay them more and they will come.
PBreg t1_j3o9mf7 wrote
Nobody wants to be a doctor anymore. PA schools and other "provider" pathways provide better schedules, almost the same amount of money, and they wear long white coats so patient's don't even know they're not doctors.
And that's not even mentioning the lack of respect that doctors get now, not just from the C suite executives, but also from a lot of patients as well. Just like nursing, it's just not worth becoming a doctor anymore.
ShatteredCitadel t1_j3o60zo wrote
You can disagree all you want. Why do you think people want to work as a doctor or dentist or vet over being a nurse? It sure as shit isn’t cause they like staring at teeth or putting their hand up a cows birthing canal. It’s money. Nurses earn considerably less than the three professions you listed. If the nurses earned $500K for the top on their field in specialist positions like doctors do (or even more for the real rockstars) then you bet your ass people would line up out the door for nurses.
A lack of good wages for a long time has kept interest in the role down. Now there’s both a wage and staff shortage. Even if they up the salaries to insane levels the staff problem won’t be solved.
volkommm t1_j3ocp67 wrote
Most people are at the job they are at because their ACTUAL dream jobs are unattainable or unrealistic due to lack of opportunity, lack of willpower/intelligence, or other circumstances.
Not everyone can be an astronaut, but I bet you everyone on that mission planning team wishes they were.
There's a difference between people wanting a job for money and wanting a job because it's decent money and it's the best they can do.
ShatteredCitadel t1_j3oh8yt wrote
I would absolutely be a nurse if it paid way more. Many people would. Not because it’s money because there are people who are passionate about many things.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments