Posted on 01/05/2021 2:48:49 PM PST by CheshireTheCat
At a time when the pandemic has exposed a growing shortage of nurses, it should have been good news that there were more than 1,200 applicants to enter the associate degree program in nursing at Long Beach City College.
But the California community college took only 32 of them.
North of here, California State University, East Bay isn't enrolling any nursing students at all until at least next fall.
Higher education was struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing demand for nurses even before the COVID-19 crisis. Now it's falling further behind.
Health protocols are limiting in-person instruction. Nursing teachers are quitting in large numbers, while others are nearing retirement. Hospitals are stretched too thin to provide required hands-on clinical training. And budgets are so constrained that student nurses are forced to buy their own personal protective equipment, or PPE...
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Ideas, such as the bad idea of shutting the world down and freaking people out into thinking what we have going on is the bubonic plague.
Consequences, such as the consequence that lockdowns equal a shrinking economy equals less money available to educate people.
Bring in foreign nationals to fill the spots that they just can't fill with U.S. citizens.
Just another industry that doesn’t want to train its workers, please help us, Congress, we need more immigrant visas.
RE: Despite High Demand For Nurses, Colleges Aren’t Keeping Up
If there is such high demand, I would expect the salaries offered to be at a premium. Are they?
Or can they simply import nurses from the Philippines and other Asian countries?
My daughter is in college now studying Nursing. I hope they don’t plan on importing more through H1B programs.
“Guess what they’ll do next...Bring in foreign nationals to fill the spots that they just can’t fill with U.S. citizens.”
The Nursing colleges haven’t been keeping up with demand for years. Long before the Wuhan Virus struck. The US has not graduated nearly enough RN’s.
Typically, this demand was filled by RN’s from the Philippines. The largest English speaking country in Asia. But, since the virus has struck that country hard their president has forbidden RN’s from leaving the country to work abroad.
My neighbors across the street and immediately beside me are husband and wife RN’s from the Philippines.
Their own nations need them and with travel restricted, getting those foreign nurses isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Thee too many nurses that don’t stay in the field. Too draining.
If you know anyone in nursing, especially in CA, ask about the “Filipino mafia”. The US already hires nurses on two year contracts. They are good nurses, and were specifically trained to work in the US or UK. Labor is a major export of the Philippines. I’d imagine many more are coming with the retirements and continued shortages.
One glaring problem is that hospitals want to hire nurses with a bachelor’s degree, which is at least four years of training. There are associate degree programs that can be completed in 22-24 months, but hospitals will demand those nurses “complete” their education in order to get raises and promotions.
More classes in history, literature, and nursing theories will not make a more skilled nurse. I earned my degree (when dinosaurs roamed the earth) in 18 months, with a heavy emphasis on lab and clinical time. We worked long hours to learn during clinicals. Many hospitals also had in-house training programs for nursing and allied techs.
Another problem is salary of nursing instructors. I considered it - when I found out it would be a 50% pay cut from my hospital salary I quickly dismissed the idea. Also, the clinical preceptors get no pay and no recognition, and I see that they are busy with little time to teach the next generation of nurses. Since nurses jump jobs every few years to get raises and promotions I don’t think experienced nurses are invested in training at their facilities. Practically, many hospitals are not allowing students in the covid era, so current students now have no way of completing their clinical education.
Multiple hospitals in my area laid off staff in April/May so it’s some pandemic. Hospitals so “overrun” that they lay off staff
That's been happening for over a decade. Doctors too. Nursing isn't an easy life. Understaffed, long hours, no breaks, 12 hour rotating shifts, nights, weekends. It's unhealthy, both physically and mentally. My daughter is an RN, and she left a hospital for a job that provided better work-life balance. The $10,000 pay cut was more than worth it.
“Guess what they’ll do next...
Bring in foreign nationals to fill the spots that they just can’t fill with US. citizens.”
They have been doing that for 4 year at least.
A grand daughter will be graduated as an RN this semester from a top E. coast university 4 year program.
Being white and from a middle class home, she was turned down on every application because she had one b, French, in 4 years at a top private high school. A’s in every other course at this top private school.
Finally, she applied to out of state RN schools and was accepted at everyone. The one she is now attending runs a 4 year program not some ditzy 7-8 year program.
She, also, got a $25k a year funding for attending this school.
So, we will end up with the affirmative action pc rns while the good candidates go to out of state schools.
Guess what state she will not go to in a few months after her graduation.
I don’t see how aspiring nurses can do the required labs and rotations and be competent. You just can’t be a nurse doing it online.
Get laid up in Mayo Rochester (Minn.) for a spell, you'll be hoping Ilan Omar and her hubbies aren't stopping by with a scalpel...or a spear.
RE: More classes in history, literature, and nursing theories will not make a more skilled nurse
We already have high school for that. Why the heck do we still need to teach these in a nursing course?
I know nurses making north of $100/hr due to shortages in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.
Filipino nurses are US-certified. They take the same exams and have to follow the same requirements as US ones.
They are being replaced by Indians, as that’s the next field Indians want to dominate.
Scary to see Philippines nursing schools filled up with Indian students. Went to the BI to file my Annual Report. Place was filled with rude Indians demanding to be served before a mostly elderly expat American, German and Dutch community. Makes the Bureau of Immigration branches in Manila and Cebu stink to high-heaven as Indians have not learned the fine art of personal hygiene yet.
Duterte was promised by Trump to be allowed to send “deploy” 30K Filipino doctors and nurses to help out during coronavirus. (They are the largest number of CV deaths for health workers in the US and UK). Later that week, Trump met with Modi. We got “essential” Indian H1B IT workers instead. Duterte was pissed. Slapped a ban on Filipino OFW nurses.
Wow, I did not know that re: Indian nurses.
One of our 2 large local hospitals has gone the Filipino route.
The other hires traveling nurses, but I don’t know if that’s still the case during COVID.
RE: More classes in history, literature, and nursing theories will not make a more skilled nurses
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Got a similar problem at a Games/Media college I teach at. Fully 20% of the required classes are liberal arts filler material garbage. That’s almost a year of college wasted.
The same program at an overseas branch has exactly 1 non-major class - communications - in the entire BSc program.
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