A Nurses Guide To Nursing

A confluence of factors is causing the shortage of nurses. Among them are declining nursing school enrollments (down 17% since 1995), an aging workforce nearing retirement, decreases in relative earnings (the average elementary school teacher earns $13,600 more than the average RN), dissatisfaction with work conditions (largely brought on by managed care), and increasing alternative employment opportunities for women.
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The economy is ripe for the nurse entrepreneur. Why wait? The nursing shortage is just beginning and there doesn’t appear to be a quick fix in the near future. Much of the nursing workforce is coming up on retirement time, which is only going to compound the lack of skilled nurses to deal with the oncoming baby-boomers.

The definition of entrepreneur is a person who organizes, operates and assumes the risk for a business adventure. Nurses have always considered their services only marketable as an employee of someone else. It is time nurses take charge of their profession and market their own services to health care institutions.

Nurses are the perfect business owners. They have the communication skills and the ability as assess, implement and organize a plan. These are the same criteria that any business owner uses. We as nurses use this system everyday of our nursing careers. An Independent Nurse Contractor is one who contracts with a healthcare facility for nursing services

Nursing software for the PDA has helped streamline many tasks for the nurse. With so much nursing software available for the PDA, doctors, patients and even the student nurse can benefit greatly because of instant access to information vital to many areas of nursing.

Some nursing software PDA programs and their benefits are listed below.

Frye’s 3000 Nursing Bullets for NCLEX-RN™ covers all of the clinical areas found on the NCLEX-RN including fundamentals, maternal-neonatal nursing, pediatric nursing, medical-surgical nursing, and psychiatric and mental health nursing. This unique preparation tool helps students prepare for the exam by presenting key facts in random order. Students can study for the exam any time, any place, using this nursing software for the pocket pc.
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According to a study conducted by the National League of Nursing (NLN), in the years 2002-03 there has been an increase in nursing program admissions, enrollements and graduations. Actual Graduations have increased by 6%, however it is still up to these nurses to pass the state board exam. So even though there is an increase in nusing graduations that doesn’t necessarily mean that these nurses are enough to help alliviate this nursing shortage.

I have definitely seen an increase in the number of hospital scholarships offered to colleges to increase enrollement promising nursing students a job right when they have fufilled their nursing program. I think this is great to see that there is an effort being made not only by nursing schools but hospitals also. Hopefully this effort continues so that we are able to see more nurses invade the nursing work force and help us out of this nursing shortage.

Health care reform is on the back burner indefinitely. By the time you read this, we will have been in Iraq for 2 months. The top priorities now are the safety of our troops and our homeland. In the nation’s capital, we’ve been encouraged to set up safe zones with sealed windows, keep supplies of bottled water on hand, and have escape routes mapped out. Yet amid our anxiety over a possible terrorist backlash for invading Iraq, our preoccupation with preparedness for a potential biological or chemical disaster, and our concern for the welfare of our troops, I want to call attention to another national security crisis that lurks in the wards of American hospitals: the deepening shortage of registered nurses (RNs).
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So you’re interested in becoming a nurse. Does the “nursing shortage” make you feel like you need to be a part of the “gold rush,” because you have read and heard about all of the wonderful sign-on bonuses? Perhaps you are getting ready to graduate from high school and always wanted to be a nurse. Or you want to go into nursing because a relative is in the profession or your family has a tradition of graduating nurses. Or you’ve worked in another career field and want a change. Whatever your reasons, reading books and articles exclusively won’t prepare you for the real world of professional nursing.
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