On reading some articles about the issue of a huge number of nurses approaching retirement or moving to jobs away from the bedside, and not enough new nurses to take their place, it seems a general consensus that retention of the older nurses is a hot topic.
The big buzz is that older nurses are actually more valuable right now (and probably always have been) due to their wealth of knowledge and experience. Given that fact, employers should be looking to increase wages for the experienced nurses as a means of retention. Wouldn't that be great!
But alas, the economy is not cooperating at the moment.
What will happen when more and more experienced nurses leave the bedside? I hate to even speculate. I don't think I need to spell it out.
What about recruitment of younger nurses? How many are entering the profession now?
I read an abstract of a study done on young people's perception of Nursing. It boils down to this: "The majority of young people make a career choice without regard for salary, and base their decision on interest and enjoyment or a desire to help people. The findings indicate that although young people expressed admiration for the work of nurses, this was rarely matched by an envy of nurses, or a desire to become a nurse themselves." Career desirability: young people's perceptions of nursing as a career." (Hemsley-Brown & Foskett.)
Interesting. Obviously work needs to be done to promote a better, more enviable portrait of Nursing as a career. I'd like to see that. Truly, the image of Nursing as a profession by the general public is woefully skewed and fraught with stereotyping.
As a profession, I'd say we'd do well to focus on these issues with more gusto. Or else.....we'll see this decline -
Ironically, it's even difficult to find a non-stereotypical image of the Nursing decline.
1 comment:
I wonder if the lack of interest in nursing as a career is a statement of the selfishness of society today. We have raised a bunch of spoiled brats in our attempts to do what our parents did: make it better for our kids than we had it. (The "we" I speak of is the general "we" and is not a comment about you.)
Better pay for teachers and nurses would seem to be in order to help attract at least the marginally unselfish. ;) LnS
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