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The debate in Washington continues to rage with regards to President Obama's Proposal for Healthcare Reform. Although the sides remain divided, there is a strong push toward accepting the proposal now without further debate. Clearly this is a hot button issue that affects every American, but the impact of healthcare reform is substantial for the healthcare professional.

President Obama's plan deals heavily with the idea that middle-income earners who would normally not qualify for health care should receive benefits they can afford. He proposes a middle class tax cut that will allow those who could not afford health care premiums to obtain care. His proposal will also assist those who have small businesses, as it is often small businesses owners who forgo even the most basic of health care. In a country like the United States, those without health care often become seriously ill or even die because they cannot afford the cost of a doctor's visit.

Based on President Obama's plan, once these individuals have access to good health care, the medical community will need to be staffed adequately to provide that care. The Act will add more primary care providers across the Country, focusing on those areas where assistance is underprovided right now.

A specific focus of the Healthcare Reform Plan is on the current and projected Nursing Shortage. A huge problem for the United States, the medical community is bracing for a nursing shortage as the baby boomers begin their retirement. The current intake into US based nursing programs is not meeting the demand in medical care facilities. The Act will increase the amount of nurses in the United States, and assist in nurse retention by eliminating financial barriers that are preventing both registered nurses and nurse faculty from achieving their goals. In addition, the Act puts into place grants for nursing schools to both improve and retain nurses. Student loans will be increased, as will a nurse's eligibility for scholarships and loan repayments if they choose to become faculty.

President Obama's plan goes beyond the increased support of nurses in the United States. At the most basic level, the Act will assist students in public school programs to prepare for careers in health and medical. According to the plan, if health professionals support health sciences in the schools, it is far more likely that these students will enroll in post secondary medical programs such as nursing.

The President's Healthcare Reform Proposal is said to put the individual in the driver's seat as far as their health care options. As President Obama recently stated, "We have debated health care in Washington for more than a year. When's the right time? If not now, when? If not us, who?" Although there are challenges to passing such an Act, the issues of providing medical care to all who need it as well as the added benefit of combating the growing nursing shortage will far outweigh any detriments that may arise to changing the system.

Labels: Government, Health Insurance, Healthcare, Nurse Internship, Nursing Career, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Scholarships, Nursing School, Obama, Universal Healthcare

The debate in Washington continues to rage with regards to President Obama's Proposal for Healthcare Reform. Although the sides remain divided, there is a strong push toward accepting the proposal now without further debate. Clearly this is a hot button issue that affects every American, but the impact of healthcare reform is substantial for the healthcare professional.

President Obama's plan deals heavily with the idea that middle-income earners who would normally not qualify for health care should receive benefits they can afford. He proposes a middle class tax cut that will allow those who could not afford health care premiums to obtain care. His proposal will also assist those who have small businesses, as it is often small businesses owners who forgo even the most basic of health care. In a country like the United States, those without health care often become seriously ill or even die because they cannot afford the cost of a doctor's visit.

Based on President Obama's plan, once these individuals have access to good health care, the medical community will need to be staffed adequately to provide that care. The Act will add more primary care providers across the Country, focusing on those areas where assistance is underprovided right now.

A specific focus of the Healthcare Reform Plan is on the current and projected Nursing Shortage. A huge problem for the United States, the medical community is bracing for a nursing shortage as the baby boomers begin their retirement. The current intake into US based nursing programs is not meeting the demand in medical care facilities. The Act will increase the amount of nurses in the United States, and assist in nurse retention by eliminating financial barriers that are preventing both registered nurses and nurse educators from achieving their goals. In addition, the Act puts into place grants for nursing schools to both improve and retain nurses. Student loans will be increased, as will a nurse's eligibility for scholarships and loan repayments if they choose to become faculty.

President Obama's plan goes beyond the increased support of nurses in the United States. At the most basic level, the Act will assist students in public school programs to prepare for careers in health and medical. According to the plan, if health professionals support health sciences in the schools, it is far more likely that these students will enroll in post secondary medical programs such as nursing.

The President's Healthcare Reform Proposal is said to put the individual in the driver's seat as far as their health care options. As President Obama recently stated, "We have debated health care in Washington for more than a year. When's the right time? If not now, when? If not us, who?" Although there are challenges to passing such an Act, the issues of providing medical care to all who need it as well as the added benefit of combating the growing nursing shortage will far outweigh any detriments that may arise to changing the system.

Labels: Health Insurance, Healthcare, Nurse Educator, Nursing Career, Obama, Public Option, Universal Healthcare

The one thing that most people count on when entering a hospital is that there are going to be nurses to take care of them. Yes, we do see a doctor when we are there, but doctors come and go intermittently. Nurses are the people we rely on. They check us into the hospital, take our vitals, and ensure we are comfortable while we are there. Imagine walking into a hospital and discovering that there are only 2 nurses for an entire floor. This is a reality that the nursing community is preparing for, as the predicted nursing shortage is looming whether the USA is prepared or not.

There are many factors that have caused alarm within the nursing profession and have resulted in the prediction of a massive shortage of nurses by the year 2020. Nursing enrollment in Universities is not growing fast enough, and there is a severe shortage of faculty to teach those already enrolled. As learning institutions require an adequate nursing degree teaching staff to be in place prior to accepting students for enrollment, there has been a lower acceptance rate for those applying.

Nursing has maintained it's popularity as a career since the 1950's, but there has a been a decline over the years from the height of the baby boomers entrance into the profession. As these individuals grow older and move into retirement, there are fewer younger nurses to fill their shoes. Without a steady influx of students into the schools, the numbers of nurses leaving the profession cannot balance out with the number of students entering. As well, the nurses who are currently working in the profession have a high rate of burnout, which results in them leaving earlier than retirement ages.

The bottom line is that a lower nurse to patient ratio means that more people will be inadequately cared for and perhaps even die in emergency situations. The main strategies that are being put into place focus on education. The recently introduced NEED Act for example, will access Capital Grants to expand nursing school faulty and enrollment. Nursing schools are seeking partnerships with private sector companies in order to boost funds to create enrollment and offset the costs of running the programs. On a statewide level, Governments are looking for private sector funds to match the amount that the state can invest in nursing programs. A Nursing Education Capacity Summit took place in February of 2009, and health leaders from 47 states came together to rewrite policy on nursing education, retaining faculty, and curriculum.

It is truly frightening to think of what could possibly happen within our health care system if the current policy makers and educational institutions cannot come up with ways to combat the rising nursing shortage. Nurses are the backbone of our health care system, and without an adequate number of them in hospitals, care homes, and public health units, our growing population will suffer.

Labels: Healthcare, Nurse Educator, Nursing Career, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Shortage, Recruit Nurses

Nursing school graduates face a sparse job market in California despite projections for a massive nursing shortage in the state.

Before the recession brand new nurses could find jobs wherever they wanted in California even in tough job markets like the Bay area.

Back in 2004 state labor affairs officials estimated that California would need at least 9,000 new nurses a year.

But over the past 18 months thousands of graduating nurses have found it almost impossible to land a job.

Many hospitals have set hiring freezes and closed down clinical services. In addition, a lot of nurses that were expected to retire have not chosen to do so. Many have decided that because of the recession they were no longer in a financial position to retire, or perhaps their spouse lost a job and they needed to remain employed.

So a lot of reasons are related to the economy is why we have this temporary lift is what we still believe is a long term shortage of nurses.

Most economists agree that as soon as the economy turns around nurses will again begin retiring and there will be jobs for all of this year's 10,000+ graduates and many more.

In the meantime though, professionals in the healthcare field are taking action to keep trained nurses in California by either encouraging continuing education with an RN to MSN degree or by offering hands-on clinical training so they can compete with experienced nurses for roles that do open up.

Deloras Jones, president and executive director of the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care worries that this economic blip could threaten statewide efforts to build a stable long term nursing workforce. "We're concerned about nurses leaving, going to other states definitely or worse, leaving nursing altogether and going into some other field. The longer they're away from school they are at greater risk of losing what they have learned and that's why it would make it more difficult for them to be employed."

Relief for New RN's looking for work
Even where there are jobs available, hospitals would rather hire an experienced nurse over a new graduate.

New RN's can't expect to immediately graduate and go onto the floor and handle very complex medical patients. There needs to be an opportunity for those nurses to be mentored by experienced nurses and give them time to really get their clinical expertise up to a level that many hospitals need.

Graduates must also learn to be open to job opportunities outside of their first choice markets and might consider getting jobs out of state.

To help nurses wade through the recession, the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care is sponsoring community based programs that give new grads an opportunity to work in the field and pick up some of the skills they would normally get in an entry level nursing job. One of those new programs is a partnership between Kaiser Permanente in Northern California and Samuel Merritt University in Oakland.

Graduating students who pass their RN exams are placed with nurse precepts and Kaiser hospitals. This program is offering them a structured clinical practice environment which includes classes and also time in a clinical setting so they can gain a deeper understanding of the healthcare environment in which nurses work.
The free 15 week program is the first of its kind in the nation. It expects to turn out 250 trainees this year and the CINH hopes to get funding to train another 1300 nurses.

Now is the time for continuing education
Some nursing schools are encouraging graduates to ride out the recession by continuing their education. UC-San Francisco School of Nursing as a 1-year RN program, but many students are opting to stay on.

Said Dean Kathleen Dracup, "About half our graduates used to leave an work for a couple of years as a nurse just to get that experience and then come back for their masters, and now they’re all just going straight through. With the idea that by the time they get their masters which is a two to three year program, then they will be ready."

Labels: Nursing Career, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Scholarships, Nursing School, Nursing Shortage, Recruit Nurses

Thank you to nurse educators and to Johnson and Johnson for a tribute to Nurse Educators.


Finding qualified Nurse Educators that are willing to take a decrease in salary to teach becomes a challenge for many nursing schools. Nurses with education degrees can sometimes make 3 times the salary if they elect to work in a hospital over working in a classroom. These days, it is quite common for Nurse Educators to work fulltime in a hospital and take a nursing college faculty position as a part time endeavor.

Nursing schools that can be flexible with instructor schedules will likely have a better recruitment rate and secure more specialized instructors.

Take the time to shape 1 mind and you might inspire 1,000 more.

Right now, all over America, understanding is breaking through. Techniques are being perfected. Hearts touched. Lives saved. All because one nurse educator took the time to shape one mind.

In huge lecture halls and tiny hospital corridors, at the end of an exhausting shift. And in the seconds between life and death knowledge is being shared, offered, planted, driven into eager minds that will take it and run and pass it on.

Light new fires and inspire others. Do you have it in you to become a Nurse Educator, willing to share all you've seen, what you've learned, your proudest achievements and most painful moments. Do you have what it takes to fan a spark into a flame? To inspire a new generation?

Behind every nurse who touches a life, there's a nurse educator who first touched them. Behind every life saved, a lifetime of experience shared. And when you see that flicker of comprehension, or watch one of your students succeed, there is no greater feeling in the world.

Not everyone has what it takes to be a nurse educator. It is an elite group comprised on the best and the brightest. The ones who want to give back and have the skills to do it, the medical instincts and training. Academic achievement, perseverance and compassion.

If you're one of the lucky few who has these gifts and you have what it takes to pass on your knowledge and inspire you may touch hearts you have never seen. Save lives long after you're gone. Impact generations you'll never meet.

One nurse educator can shape a mind. Her's shapes another and another. One mind can inspire 1,000 more. Maybe it will be yours. Shape the minds that save lives. Be a Nurse Educator.

Explore theses accredited online nursing degree opportunities below and request free no obligation information from any that interest you.

We recommend getting information from several schools so you can compare the programs, costs, time commitments and financial aid options.

Labels: Career Profiles, In the Hospital, Nurse Educator, Nursing School, Nursing Shortage, Nursing Student, Online Nursing Degree

No matter what you think of healthcare reform and whether you back President Obama's plan, one thing is for certain: The introduction of a new healthcare bill has brought the entire US medical system to the forefront of the media in a way that it has never been before. In light of such a drastic change, the medical profession has found their voices and has stepped up to be heard. No one is more willing to accept change than US nurses, and there are many issues on the radar for RN's in the next year.

Until recently, there has never been change in Washington that so directly affected a profession as the new healthcare reform bill will affect nurses. Politics and the nursing profession will go hand and hand in 2010, as many realize that they can affect change for citizens in their communities. Nurses will begin speaking out to their members of Congress and participating in debates as the voice of experience.

In addition, the health care reform has brought to light the need for nurses to be ready to deal with the thousands of individuals who never previously had health care. Nurses will no longer be on the sidelines; they will play a broad leadership role in developing new types of health care and promoting prevention within local communities.

Even with the success of accredited online nursing programs to train nurses, staffing will be a major issue in 2010. As the economy continues to recover, the need for nurses will grow but the amount of actual registered nurses will decrease as many leave the profession once their own economic situation stabilizes. The US has been looming on the cusp of a Nursing Shortage for many years, and with the baby boomers preparing to retire, the focus will continue to remain on massive hiring. It will be difficult to keep up with the demand for new recruits.

The entire model of how nurses perform their job must change, and the focus will be on organizing specific tasks and attempting to reprioritize so that nurses are not torn between many different tasks at once. New students who have recently taken the RN career path will be the leaders in new and innovative change to both quality and safety in the profession.

For those entering educational institutions to pursue nursing, the current employment situation is one of good prospects. Most students are able to secure employment immediately, although some have predicted that the application process will drop slightly as finding a job becomes more difficult. The desire for more academic faculty in Universities is a growing concern, as an influx of students requiring teachers will become a prominent concern.

The economic crisis and health care reform has caused true concern and the desire for change within the nursing profession in 2010. As more nurses stand up and make their voices heard with regard to the politics of health care, they are positioning the profession and the country on the path to a strong future.

Labels: Healthcare, Nursing Shortage, Obama, Online Nursing Programs, Universal Healthcare