Why Nurses Leave the Bedside. The Nursing Shortage; A
Bedside RN's Perspective
Global RN earnings . A Companion Page to
Global
Nursing Shortage
Part of Chapter Three:
Nursing and Nurses**To: Homepage
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"Time to Listen"
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Global RN earnings are an inherent part
of the Global
Nursing Shortage discussed in detail at its own page.
Nurses world wide are expressing each year
more forcefully their own need for change. In the poor countries most in
need of their native nurse supply, this is expressed in exodus to
enticement by wealthy countries. But wealthy countries too are competing
for each other's nurses.
This page gives a few examples of the challenge
experienced by other [mostly wealthy] countries as nurses express their
discontent and unwillingness to work there.
This page is best understood in context
of the page Global
Nursing Shortage from which it derives and wherein the facts
of the nursing shortage for each country here mentioned are given. That
page also reviews why it is not moral, neither in our best interests nor
that of our worldwide nursing sisters, to allow our nation to vigorously
recruit foreign nurses.
If you know of any examples that belong
on this page, please alert the webmistress. |
Ireland:
"The nine-day strike by 27,000 nurses'
strike that began on 19 October 1999 was a stark illustration of the
tensions surrounding public sector conflict (IE9910297N). It constituted
a major test of strength between the government and the nursing unions.
The
key issue for the nurses was their bid to enhance both their pay and professional
status to a level that they felt was commensurate with their qualifications
and the demands of their work. The government, for its part, was fearful
that further concessions would provoke "knock-on" pay claims elsewhere
in the public sector. To this end, the government was quite resolute in
its determination to face down the nurses, partly to dissuade other public
sector workers from pressing their own claims. In the end the strike was
called off after nine days, with the nurses having secured concessions
that slightly exceeded what they had already been offered following a Labour
Court recommendation (IE9912202N)....The increase in conflict in the public
sector is linked to the rise in worker expectations in the context of Ireland's
economic boom. Workers expect to receive what they perceive to be a
fair share of the proceeds of economic growth before the boom eventually
recedes. These feelings have been particularly strong amongst nurses and
CIE workers, whose basic rates of pay have traditionally been very low.
" Conflict
Increases in the Public Sector Eiroonline [european industrial relations
observatory on-line]
Northern Ireland:
"Ulster loses 2,000 nurses in two years
. Health Minister told to move urgently over staff crisis. By Nigel Gould....Unless
the 'valuable' work of nurses was recognised by providing them with
a fair wage then the 'vast numbers' leaving Northern Ireland to find
work overseas would continue.' [ From Belfast
Telegraph > News Publication Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 ]
England:
"FIFTY-EIGHT nurses and junior doctors
who were sacked after going on strike in 1996 have resolved to march
on the offices of the Ministry of Health on Monday next week to press their
former employer to pay them salaries covering the past five years.
The Ministry of Health was ordered by
the High Court in September to set aside the termination of the workersí
contracts of employment, which took effect in October and December 1996.
"
The
Financial Gazette [British] . Staff Reporter . 4/20/01
England: "Stuff socialism, nurses need
a market wage " .
" The Radcliffe was one of 12, out
of 190 NHS trusts, to get nul points. It was too dirty. In some respects
it was too dangerous: too many people were checking into the heart centre,
and not checking out again. And above all it failed the test of 'patient
access', which is the bureaucrats' way of saying that you turned up in
a hell of a state, spent a night on a trolley, and were then told to get
your coat on and come again some other time.
The reason they 'fail' is because
patients can't gain admission. Patients can't gain admission because there
aren't any 'beds' , which is a ridiculous locution. There are plenty of
beds, with pillows, sheets, etc. There just aren't enough nurses to make
those beds and keep those wards open. The trouble with such hospitals,
say the managers, is 'nurses, nurses, nurses' .
The Radcliffe has a new contingent of
Filipinos on the way, another 200 or so; and yet it is still 280 nurses
short. At any given time, it is about 10 per cent down on its requisite
complement of 3,000, because it is so difficult to recruit nurses in Oxfordshire,
and so difficult to retain them." Stuff socialism,
nurses need a market wage .By Boris Johnson 06/12/2001 [Boris Johnson
is editor of The Spectator and MP for Henley]. Presented in opinion.telegraph.co.UK
Australia:
"Nursing shortages are also having a serious
impact on patient care. In a recent report, Professor Mike Stacey, a vascular
surgeon from Fremantle Hospital, stated that 25 percent of patients in
public teaching hospitals had pressure ulcers, more than double the prediction
rate.Pressure ulcers, or bedsores, are caused by excessive or prolonged
pressure on the skin. They can be superficial or very deep, extending to
the bone. Stacey blamed shortages of staff, which resulted in patients
not being adequately attended to. 'Most hospitals are having difficulty
getting nurses,' he explained. 'When you have a staff shortage it means
you have less time to do things like this and they are the easiest things
that get dropped off.......Because of poor pay and conditions,
nurses are resigning and seeking casual work with private agencies that
pay higher wages. In many hospitals, half or more of the nurses on duty
are now temporary agency staff, usually employed for less time per shift
than permanent staff, affecting the quality of care and, in particular,
continuity and familiarity with patients' needs.' Funding
crisis forces hospital emergency closures in Western Australia. World
Socialist Web Site. By Joe Lopez 14 December 2000
World Wide Study:
A new survey conducted at the University
of Pennsylvania says about one-third of U.S. nurses under the age of 30
plan to leave their job within the next year. Whether in emergency rooms
or other departments, nurses are becoming burned out. About 41 percent
of U.S. nurses surveyed said they were not satisfied with their current
jobs. That's compared to almost 33 percent in Canada, just over 36 percent
in England, 37 percent in Scotland and 17.6 percent in Germany. Pressures,
demands and rising workloads are driving nurses out of the field. Many
nurses say, for the most part, patient care has deteriorated. And some
even report verbal abuse on the job. Improving working conditions has been
difficult because of financial constraints on hospitals. " CNN.com
Transcripts. Aired May 8, 2001
World Wide Study:
ì(University Park, PA) ó In the first
systematic study of the problems facing nurses globally, Penn State researchers
have found that the nursing shortage is a worldwide phenomenon that is
jeopardizing health care and creates stressful working conditions for nurses.
' Ninety of the 105 nursesí unions and
organizations in our surveyórepresenting 69 nations and every geographic
regionóreported their countries were experiencing a nursing shortage,î'
says Dr. Paul F. Clark, Penn State professor of labor studies and
industrial relations. ' This is bound to have a negative impact on the
quality of patient care.'' ... 'Also, 44 nursesí associations and unions
in 33 countriesóprimarily in Oceania, Africa, Central America and the Caribbeanóreported
that the outflow of nurses to more affluent countries was a serious to
extremely serious problem,' Darlene Clark says. ' This exacerbates the
shortage that already exists in poorer countries and further weakens their
healthcare systems.'
'Overall, nursesí associations and
unions rank better salaries and benefits and improved patient care as their
membersí two highest priorities. The second is all the more significant
since registered nurses have traditionally seen themselves as the
patient's advocate,' Paul Clark notes. 'Other priorities are
professional development, greater voice in the workplace and improved safety
and health concerns.' Worldwide Nursing Shortage Has
Reached Crisis Proportions/ June 28, 2002 . The
College of Heath and Human Development
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