Hospitals also need to examine and reform their skill mix and staffing. Why employ all BSN nurses when RN’s with two year degrees can adequately and safely perform most nursing functions. Taking it a step further could not a LPN handle many mundane nursing chores. Hospital administrators need to rethink their ego trip mantra that more education is always better and professional nursing associations need to get out of the constraint of trade business.
Totally agree
I am a BSN educated nurse. That degree does not give you clinical competence on the floor. It is actual hands on experience that makes someone be a good nurse.. Hospitals getting rid of LPNs and two year degree RNs was a mistake. The other mistake was the12 hour shift which really winds up being a 14 hour shift due to poor staffing. Nurses in their 50s cannot be on their feet for 14 hours, so they leave bedside nursing. A mix of shifts, some part time 8 hour shifts would help.
Short staffing is really the main problem. Short staffing burned out nurses before covid, so there was no flexibility when covid hit. You can educate a whole slew of new nurses, but if they are working in a short staffed position, they will leave nursing.
The last issue is workplace violence. No nurse should put up with being assaulted by a patient. It is also wrong to blame the nurse for an assault, because they did not de escalate a violent patient prior to the assault. You hit a nurse, you go to jail.