On the nursing shortage

We have known this crisis coming for the past several years but failed to address it. And so it is now in full bloom.

Having practiced medicine for 33 years, I can sympathize with the nurses’ plight. They are overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated. Is it any wonder that few get attracted to the profession? Is it any wonder more and more of the nurses filling up the gaps come from abroad?

In my home country of the Philippines, of the 10,000 who took the latest nursing board examinations, 4,000 of them are physicians. The reason is obvious: It is easier for these physicians to come here as nurses because of the nursing shortage as certified by the Department of Labor.
Besides, these physicians would earn much more money working here as nurses rather than as practitioners back home. (It is no wonder thousands of applicants took the qualifying examinations for the 250 slots open to freshmen nursing students in the university where I took my M.D. degree.)

Casting that aside, I believe we need to spend more money than is authorized by Congress to recruit more nursing students here, including plans to expand current nursing programs and reopen the 3-year RN programs in community hospitals that were so successful before. More licensed practical nursing programs also need to be looked into.

With the expected increase in the elderly population heralded by the aging boomer generation by 2010, the need for nurses becomes even more critical. I applaud the 60 Plus Association for its efforts in addressing this problem and we all need to support them strongly.