Nurse Celebrates Her Non Existent Raise with a Non Existent Cigar
About Jim Manierre
Nursing Career Outlook for 2010
The state of the nursing profession is that there is clearly a shortage of manpower. In July 2008, the American Health Care Association compiled a report titled, “The 2008 Nursing Facility Staff Vacancy, Retention and Turnover Survey.” In it, the AHCA found long term care shortage in all degrees of the profession. Specifically, and maybe most troubling for the system there was a vacancy rate of 16.3% from Staff Registered Nurses. This translates to over 135,000 open jobs in the nursing market based on 2008 figures.
One of the biggest dilemmas surrounding the nursing field and retention is that the population is getting older. This is a “double whammy”, so to speak for the industry. On one hand, the Baby Boomers are beginning to reach the age that they will require advanced and long term care. According to the AHCA study, the projected population of people 65 years old or older will go from 37.2 million in 2006 to 72 million in 2030. That’s a 193% increase in 25 years! This will certainly create a rise in the demand for qualified nursing staffs across the country. The second part of the problem is that while the population ages, so do nurses. Accompanying the increase in retirement age patients will be a great many more nurses retiring at the same time. This will add to the nursing shortage.
The other variable that may lead to an abundance of shortages in the nursing profession is the attempt of some state and federal legislators to enact comprehensive, or near universal, healthcare. This is an issue for the industry and is not selective toward your political affiliation. The fact is that by some estimates, there would be as many as 50 million people added to the healthcare system. Those are large numbers for a profession already faced with shortages in many areas. And while the conservative numbers suggest that it will add closer to 15 million onto the roster of insured patients, the effect on the need for nurses will be dramatic and sweeping. Put simply, an increase in patient load translates to a large amount of manpower to assist the growing numbers.
There is good news. First and most basic, an increase in demand for nurses will translate to an increase in pay for qualified nurses. Additionally, it will mean increases in the long term regarding the overall payroll in the future. Once the pay raises take effect, they won’t likely return in lower rates any time soon.
Another advance for the industry is the ability to recruit the best and brightest of the next generation to the field through an increase in seats at universities throughout the country. The Council on Physician and Nurse Supply, based out of the University of Pennsylvania, has suggested that 30,000 nurses per year need to be graduated to keep up with the need. Most universities have added the seats, meaning that many qualified high school students will have a greater opportunity to succeed in the field. The higher number of students increases the chance of getting better nurses in the long term. All of these factor show great promise for the industry and for you as a nurse.
Nursing as a Profession Has Corporate Sponsorship
Nursing shortage? Check. Never ending deluge of news about nursing shortage? Check. Corporate sponsor to recruit more nurses? Check. Wait. What? Yes, you read that correctly. Nursing – as a profession – has a corporate sponsor in the form of Johnson & Johnson. They created The Campaign for Nursing’s Future at campaignfornursing.com a few years back – though it is completely new to me. Wrapped up into one site you will find information about nursing education (school info, scholarships, etc.), topics about nurse appreciation and plenty of resources for nurses.
I don’t think it’s all bad to get a corporate sponsor for the nursing profession. But it is a little strange. Johnson & Johnson seems to be building a grass-roots campaign with nurses in the field doing all the recruiting. You need only sign up as an Advocate and you’ll be sent a branded scrub top and loads of materials to present.
While I believe in the slogan, “Nurses can change the world!” – I have to ask myself if Johnson & Johnson has some other motive for running this campaign. What do they get out of disseminating all of this free information to the country’s (world’s?) nurses? They produce a massive amount of supplies used in the healthcare industry, so I hope that they aren’t merely feeding their revenue pipeline. Maybe that’s a thin connection here, but I still have to wonder!
At the end of the day, I suppose all of this is to say – are you an advocate for nursing? If so, maybe you should head on over to the Campaign for Nursing’s Future and see what you can do to help recruit the next generation of nurses!
Another Reason to Be Paranoid of Drug Companies
For those of you working in the daily grind of the healthcare industry, it should come as no surprise that drug companies are rather aggressive in their promotion and distribution of new medication. And I’m not talking about the commercials and magazine ads that the average consumer is exposed to. I’m talking about the sponsored drug trials. The daily visits by sales people. And the closets overflowing with sample medications for the masses. Like I said, aggressive. Well, it is coming to light that AstraZeneca, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country, was involved in some rather shady dealings with their drug Seroquel.
AstraZeneca sponsored trials around the country with prominent psychiatrists who would push the medication and provide valuable research data on it’s effectiveness. Think of it as a “real-world” trial. One such psychiatrist in Chicago, a Dr. Reinstein, was “bringing the company a small fortune in sales” with his successful trial of the drug. Where this gets interesting is that this Dr. Reinstein’s research was providing better-than-normal results. His rock start status with AstraZeneca led to $490,000 in income paid over a decade for speaking engagements, participation in the trial, etc. AstraZeneca went so far as to put him on a pedestal and bow to his every whim.
“If he is in fact worth half a billion dollars to (AstraZeneca),” the company’s U.S. sales chief wrote in 2001, “we need to put him in a different category.” To avoid scaring Reinstein away, he said, the firm should answer “his every query and satisfy any of his quirky behaviors.”
During the time that Reinstein was being paid for his services, he was accused of overmedicating and neglecting patients – yet AstraZeneca turned a blind eye because he was actively promoting (read: selling) Seroquel. Reinstein’s peers are even quoted as saying he put his patients on as much as twice the drugs as other doctors. Despite claims that the income received from AstraZeneca in no way swayed his research or patient care, this situation has turned into a federal lawsuit.
So if you were ever on the fence as to whether or not you should be paranoid, or at the least skeptical, of major drug and pharmaceutical companies – I hope this story changes your mind. When the next sales guy comes to your hospital or doctor’s office, listen to what they have to say, but take it with a grain of salt. They are pushing a product and will do, say and pay anything to get that drug into the hands of patients.
Nursing Apparel is Set to Get Trendy
Have you ever wished that your employer would relax the dress code so that you could wear your “comfy” shoes – or perhaps your “stylish” shoes to work? Well, instead of hopelessly waiting for your employer to bend to your will, how about celebrating clothing and shoe companies creating a new line of nursing apparel instead? This week, the ever popular Skechers footwear company announced their intentions to license a full line of medical apparel to be available as soon as January of 2010!
Skechers is already in the business of designing footwear for healthcare providers with a limited line of non-slip shoes. But this new initiative takes it to a whole new level. Not only will they beef up production of medical-grade footwear, but they will be designing and manufacturing scrubs, pants, jackets and t-shirts – all of which available in the typical uniform outlets or catalogs.
It represents “the fashionable, fun and feminine side of caregivers who want to allow their style sense to carry over into their jobs,” Michael Singer, CEO of Strategic Partners, said in the Nov. 10 statement, and “will give health care professionals the opportunity to indulge their personal sense of style while on the job.”
The only downside to this announcement is that you won’t be getting your new Skechers scrubs and shoes for Christmas. Perhaps you can just tell all your family and friends to wait, or better yet, give you money so you can be ready to refresh your wardrobe come January. Thank you Skechers!
State vs. National Nursing Licenses
There was an interesting article over at NurseZone’s RN Talk blog last month regarding the issue of whether or not national nursing licensing practices should be adopted. Most nurses today secured their license in a single state – meaning they were only licensed to be a nurse in that state. If you move or are relocated because of your job, different licenses are often required, or at the very least a review of your exam scores and a nice, hefty fee to get a current license in your new location. Now an organization called the Nursing Licensure Compact (NLC) is aiming to create a national program that will allow your nursing license to be portable over many states.
As the RN Talk article explains, currently only 23 states participate in the NLC. This means that more than half of the US is still independently governed at the state level. Not a perfect system. Many of those states are holding out for state revenue reasons or an inability to relinquish control over the licensure process. In short, politics.
I think the obvious next step should be license reciprocation among all of the states – or multi-state licensure – but politics, power and money are the big stumbling blocks.
When you think about it, a national-level governing body makes the most sense – regardless of whether it is government run or not. The mere practicality of it is obvious. As a society, we are constantly on the move. The travel nursing industry is growing exponentially, and the current state of affairs makes travel nursing a slightly challenging field to engage in. And when you think about it, that struggle further fuels the national nursing shortage. My vote? Go with the NLC and get a multi-state licensure policy in place.
7 Basic Communication Techniques for Nurses and Doctors: Part 2
On Monday, we began this 2-part discussion on communication in the healthcare workplace. More to the point, techniques to improve communication between nurses and doctors. It would seem that as long as there have been nurses and doctors, there have been issues stemming from poor or inconsistent communication. This struggle forces many on both sides to dislike their workplace and profession or to become bitter and lose sight of the end-goal: quality patient care. In part one, I discussed 3 techniques to improve communication – effective speaking, effective listening and feedback. Today we will discuss 4 more techniques, and hopefully provide you with the right information to make progress in your workplace communication skills!
Nonverbal Signals
When anyone talks, the words and sounds produced are only a small fraction of the overall conversation. Your physical presence makes all the difference in the world. Many of us know this as “body language,” but technically speaking, your physical contributions to a conversation are considered nonverbal signals. You make facial expressions, your hands move, you settle into a specific posture or stance – all of these things affect how others perceive your mood and the true meaning of the words coming from your mouth.
More often than not, we ignore these nonverbal signals and miss out on deeper or possibly even subliminal meanings in the things being said to us. What can you do to capitalize on nonverbal signals? Make eye contact. Practice those effective listening skills we learned earlier in the week, focus on the people speaking to you and look for the subtle clues. Look at hand gestures, are their arms folded, do they smile quickly or hold onto a smile for way too long? Pay attention to these red flags – typically, the message being delivered by those nonverbal signals are much more accurate than anything coming from someone’s mouth!
Emotional Effect
Communication is a complex, fickle process isn’t it? To complicate things even more, you must be aware and sensitive to the emotions of those you are communicating with. More importantly, you need to be proactive in engaging in communication that actually shares emotion. The two factors at play here are “I” and “you” statements. “I” statements immediately make your communication personal, and therefore set with emotion. These statements are immediately perceived by those you are communicating with and will set them at ease to be forthcoming with their own honest, emotional language. What should you avoid? Well, “you” statements! When starting a conversation off with “you,” it immediately places a sense of judgment or blame onto the other person and will trigger a defensive response – effectively killing what could’ve been a great conversation.
Assertiveness
I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here, but my opinion is that assertiveness is the biggest reason for poor communication between nurses and doctors. Social stigmas, pre-defined roles, you name it – all of these things have positioned doctors as individuals to be revered and considered more important than the nurses and surrounding staff. Conversely, nurses are not as important and should simply do their duty and let the doctor’s have the final word. This is a dangerous recipe for communication – anytime someone has the upper-hand, that position will be abused and both parties will suffer. Everyone should communicate with assertiveness. Be honest, use direct language and defend your position and rights in a positive way. That being said, this is not a war cry for taking a stand and ignoring the needs and requests of your co-workers. Being assertive is simply a tool for you to use to let those communicating with you know that you mean business and that everyone has a right to their opinion! Remember your nonverbal signals here too – maintain direct eye contact and sit/stand straight.
Handling Conflict
All of the techniques we’ve discussed up to this point will improve your workplace communication and allow positive relationships to build between doctors and nurses. However, they are not the “perfect drug” and conflicts can and will still happen. It’s how you handle the conflict that will prove whether you have actually strengthened those relationships or not! When conflict arises, don’t panic – and most importantly – don’t ignore it. Deal with conflict immediately and put all of your great communication skills to use. Everyone involved in a conflict should participate in a discussion where the conflict is brought to light, everyone has a chance to share their opinion and feelings, everyone has a chance to offer a solution to the problem and in the end, a solution should be decided upon by all of those individuals. Democracy at work, folks! It may seem silly, or a time-suck in a busy day, but it works. Trust me… it really works.
So, that’s 7 communication techniques to improve workplace relationships between nurses and doctors. It isn’t a perfect system, but these 7 techniques will go a long way to helping you build meaningful, lasting relationships with ALL of your co-workers, not just the doctors. It will take time and practice to make everything work, but your patience with the process will reap huge rewards. Good luck!
7 Basic Communication Techniques for Nurses and Doctors: Part 1
A lot can be said about communication issues between nurses and the doctors they work for/with. Misunderstandings, lack of patience and ineffective communication skills abound. Perhaps nurses and doctors each have their roles and they should just go with the flow. Or maybe everyone should realize that communication is a 2-way street and that small changes in behavior can go a long way to creating stimulating professional relationships in the healthcare workplace. Over the next 2 days I’ll be discussing techniques to improve communication between nurses and doctors.
Research has been completed, seminars have been delivered and nursing students have all sat through communication courses – but still there are issues. Rather then complicating an already complicated situation, I feel that the quickest way to improve communication is to get back to the basics. Here are the first 3 of 7 basic communication techniques that nurses and doctors can use to get along:
Effective Speaking
You don’t have to be an accomplished public speaker or the most engaging conversationalist, but what you can do is use your deep knowledge and understanding of your profession to offer something to the conversation. Using your knowledge, take a moment to cull your thoughts before speaking so that those listening will truly understand what you have to say.
Effective Listening
When your nursing peers or doctors are effectively speaking to you, pay attention. This is more labor intensive than it seems. Focus on the speaker so that you are tuned in to body language and facial expressions – which carry much more meaning than the words by themselves. If you are busy doing something else and choose not to really focus on the speaker, you are likely to miss out on the true meaning of the conversation and create an unnecessary misunderstanding. When you are spoken to, stop what you are doing and listen with your ears and eyes.
Feedback
Remember when I mentioned communication was a 2-way street? Well, feedback is where this idea comes to play. Feedback happens in two ways: internally and externally. It’s difficult, nay impossible, to control the internal response (i.e. the way a particular word or phrase evokes an emotion or memory). But it is possible to control the external response. Negative feedback includes withdrawing from the conversation, offering judgmental or over-analytical responses – all of which lead to the speaker becoming defensive or offended. Positive feedback includes reassurance, questioning (when done in a productive manner), and paraphrasing – all of which lead to a stronger conversation and both parties feeling confident in the outcome of the interaction.
Speaking, listening and providing feedback. Not to difficult, right? So, the next time you have a conversation with a fellow nurse or a doctor – think about these techniques and use them. I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the outcome! Check back in tomorrow when I’ll continue discussing communication techniques with non-verbal signals, emotional effect, assertiveness and handling conflict.
Get the Best Nursing Education – Pick From the Top 5 Nursing Schools
If you’re already a nurse, forgive me, this post is not for you. If you are an aspiring nurse trying to decide where to get your education – today’s your day! To be quite frank, trying to decide on what institution of higher education you want to attend is an extremely difficult decision. And as a nurse, you want to make sure that you are being taught by the best so that you can be your best – and maximize your earning potential in a nursing career. Thanks to our friends at College Crunch, I’ve got a description of the top 5 nursing schools in the US.
- University of Washington, Seattle: For fans of Gray’s Anatomy, this might be the choice for you (sorry, but Dr. McDreamy won’t be teaching you). Why is this such a good choice? Well, between top notch research, new technology and a dedication to advanced nursing decrees (19 master’s degrees in nursing specialties), UoW is a great choice.
- University of Pennsylvania: Perhaps pediatrics are your thing. If so, Penn’s nursing program has direct access to the Philadelphia Children’s hospital for training purposes. Aside from the peds advantage, Penn also is known for a focus on technology for nurses.
- University of California, San Francisco: If you’re like me, the sheer fact that this university is located in San Fran is almost enough to sway the decision (I like San Fran — a lot). Other than location, this university is known for carrying nursing students from under-grad through graduate school – offering a wide variety of masters and doctoral nursing degrees.
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: A focus on leadership. A BS in nursing in 2 years. Continuing education for alumni to maintain fresh knowledge of the nursing industry. Need I say more?
- University of Illinois, Chicago: This school has a highly competitive nursing program, so your peers would be the best of the best. Additionally, Univ. of Illinois is focused on the more hands-on part of nursing education ensuring students have plenty of access to clinical opportunities.
There you have it: 5 nursing schools well placed around the U.S. Each of these nursing schools is worthy of your attention as you make your higher education decision. Good luck!
Become a Travel Nurse: Pack Your Bags and Set Off for Adventure!
Economic crisis, nursing shortage, unemployment, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I said it. Blah! If you’re a nurse and in need of a job, all you need to do is broaden your horizons a bit and you’ll be set. One of the biggest trends in nursing these days is that of travel nursing. Either as an independent contractor (less likely) or through an agency (typical), nurses everywhere are packing their bags and going to where the jobs are. As a travel nurse, the extent of your traveling is dependent on you. How far are you willing to go? But you should also consider, how much are you willing to be paid? Travel nursing can be very lucrative if you are willing…
What is Required in Travel Nursing?
- Flexibility. You’ll be sent to facilities you’ve never been to and thrown into an active nursing role rather quickly. That’s not to say you won’t receive on-site training, but you’ll still need to be willing and able to learn new processes and get along with new people.
- The want and ability to travel – possibly for long periods of time. Some travel nursing assignments are short, maybe only days or weeks at a time. Other assignments could last up to 6 months or longer. If you have a family at home and can’t stand the thought of leaving them behind, maybe you should reconsider being a travel nurse.
- Depending on where your travel nursing assignment takes you, it is possible that you could be asked to update your license or acquire additional credentials for legal purposes.
Benefits of Travel Nursing
- New workplace experiences. Some nurses, or any working individuals, often become complacent or bored with their work environment. Travel nursing offers the chance to always be on the go and to work with new people and in new places with each assignment.
- Explore the country! Travel nursing could almost be considered a paid vacation. Granted, you’ll be working – and working hard. But your travel and living expenses will be covered in most cases in addition to your pay granting you the freedom to get out and see the local scenery. Travel nurses often request assignments (meaning you won’t necessarily be granted the request!) in Hawaii, Alaska, Florida and California – common vacation destinations.
- Higher pay. Because of the unique nature of travel nursing, the salary is understandably higher. Greater demands are placed on you, so you are rewarded accordingly. Plus, in many cases you can receive sign-on bonuses for hard-to-fill travel nurse assignments.
- As more of an abstract benefit, traveling looks great on your nursing resume. Employers see that you are dedicated to your career choice and the fact that you participated and found success in travel nursing shows that you are a flexible, team player.
If you are interested in becoming a travel nurse but are unsure of where to start – let me make a simple suggestion: head on over to Google and search for “travel nursing agencies.” Pick out a few of the agencies in the results and see what they have to offer. Or if you would prefer, you can always check out sites like Indeed.com or SimplyHired.com and search for travel nursing jobs there. Either way, travel nursing has a lot to offer the right individuals. So, pack your bags and prepare for a nursing career-adventure!
