As nursing students we strongly support this bill for multiple reasons. Our main drive for support is that we feel responsible for the implementation of safe and efficient care of our patients, and we believe this bill plays a large role in securing these priorities. There is already evidence of a growing nursing shortage. It has been projected that there will be a nursing shortage of 800,000 jobs by 2020 (Johnson & Johnson, 2002-2006). This shortage continues to exacerbate as the number of active nurses is decreasing and the number of graduating nurses are unable to fill the vacancies. A poll done by the American Nurse journal in 2008 showed that 73% of nurses polled, found staffing on their unit to be inadequate, and 51.9 % of nurses these nurses are leaving their current jobs do to insufficient staffing. In addition, burnout is on the rise. The same article stated that when polled 82% of nurses said they put patient care before their own personal safety. These statistics put a damper on our enthusiasm to become in involved in the
To take political action we plan to contact stakeholders and refer them to this blog in order to further educate them on the need for action. We also plan to write to legislators in our area. Further research will be done on this topic, and data collected will be posted and shared and discussed with other nursing students.
2 comments:
As a fellow nursing student, I support this bill. I believe you are correct in speculating that a decreased financial burden will be followed by an increase in nursing school interest and number of applicants. I have heard first hand from a number of my peers about the lofty loans they are accumulating while completing nursing school. Luckily these individuals are perusing their desire to go into the nursing profession however I am sure many have been turned away due to financial constraints. I hope this bill will go on to encourage an increase in nursing students and continued nursing education.
I also support this bill due to the fact it has the potential to relieve the nursing shortage. A major factor contributing to the nursing shortage is the lack of qualified educators while there may be nurses who have the passion to pursue higher education. However, they may not have the finances available to go back to school. If we have the financial assistance available to nurses to obtain more education, we would also be producing more nurse educators. There are many steps to relieve the nursing shortage, but I believe providing financial assistance is a crucial first step!
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