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Author	Should the focus be on retaining RN's
emmy (offline) Joined: Aug 2005 Location: Posts: 13	Sat Aug 27, 2005 10:08 am Just a thought but, shouldn't the government focus their attention on ways to retain nursing staff, such as better wages and conditions, instead of focussing their attention on getting more student nurses?

nursemorgan (offline) Joined: Jul 2005 Location: adelaide Posts: 28	Aug 27, 2005, 07:16 pm Hi emmySimply retaining nurse's won't actually solve the problem as sooner or later these nurses will retire.this is not to say retention isn't important but a multi- facitited approach is needed encompassing rentetionand recruitment.I also feel that recruitment of oversea's nurse's isn't the way to go for several reasons;1) Without an increase in uni places we will have one nurse for 20 or so years with no replacement upon this nurses retirement. An increase in undergraduate places however would provide 20 nurses over the same time frame. This option would cost more in the long run but a bandaid option can't be used forever.2) There is a worldwide shortage of nurses and hence is it responsible to be acquiring nurses from other countries experiencing severe shortages especially in third world countries.Morgan

emmy (offline) Joined: Aug 2005 Location: Posts: 13	Aug 27, 2005, 07:39 pm I agree with what you are saying, it's just that I remember a lecturer at uni saying that there is no shortage of registered nurses, only a shortage of practicing nurses due to a disillusionment (that word doesn't sound right but what the hey) with nurses due to conditions etc. I agree that we need to train more nurses but I also think attention should be paid to keeping those we have.

Darren (offline) Joined: Mar 2005 Location: Adelaide Posts: 179	Aug 27, 2005, 10:27 pm It's an interesting debate. One of the cases against keeping a focus only on the retention of existing nurses is the average age of nurses is steadily climbing. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I think it's in the mid 40's now. We certainly need an injection of younger nurses over the longer term, but I agree that a stronger emphasis on retention could mean that we don't need to keep going overseas to bring nurses here.

sassygirl (offline) Joined: Aug 2005 Location: Posts: 41	Aug 29, 2005, 07:07 pm I have a sad story to share that might add to the discussion. My son did Year 10 work experience last year in an orthopedic ward. He had a wonderful time and the ward praised him highly. However he was quite upset when nurses (and more that one) kept saying he was a fool to do nursing.. and 'why would you want to be a nurse'?. stating it was such an aweful job. There is really something amiss here.. seems we've lost a bit of pride in being a nurse. I'm not sure if this is because nurses believe the conditions are so bad, the nurse shortage is taking it's toll, the expectations are so high or that the technology has overtaken the need to care. Sounds like I need a glass of something to help my ponderings. sass

suen (offline) Joined: Aug 2005 Location: geelong Posts: 3	Sep 01, 2005, 04:31 pm hello there,I'm new to this but please put up with me ,I'm currently working in victoria as a div 2 (enrolled nurse) ,working in acute mental health and have done so for the last 10 years ,at present I'm doing a research paper on Div 2 working in the community ,many RN's oppose this and feel threatened that they will lose there status as ..........?? I see this project as having another look at how we can look at utilizing our current stock of nurses .What needs to happen is to have some common teachings ,not different rules for different states.Would love to here other peoples reactions .cheers

priscillasmum (offline) Joined: Sep 2005 Location: Melbourne Posts: 36	Sep 10, 2005, 05:18 pm Last edited Sep 10, 2005, 05:18 pm update #1 Hi, I agree with sassygirl. Nursing has been in the tertiary sector for 25 years. So where are all the nurses that were educated in the universities currently working, most practicing nurses are those in their mid forties and older, who trained in the hospital system. So what do we see? A total failure of nurse education in the tertiary sector? I don't know, and I don't know the answer. But for the past 20 years that i have been a nurse I have heard nurses say that they would discourage anyone from becoming a nurse. However, it is not all doom and gloom. All my friends who are nurses, have daughters who have become nurses, and my daughter is a nurse. Most of my friends , and I have mothers/sisters/aunts who are/were nurses and these daughters are proud to part of a nursing dynasty. modified: Saturday 10 September 2005 5:20:07 pm - priscillasmum

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Should the focus be on retaining RN's