U.S. healthcare system pinched by nursing shortage

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090308/hl_nm/us_usa_nurses



"The U.S. healthcare system is pinched by a persistent nursing shortage that threatens the quality of patient care even as tens of thousands of people are turned away from nursing schools, according to experts.
The shortage has drawn the attention of President Barack Obama. During a White House meeting on Thursday to promote his promised healthcare system overhaul, Obama expressed alarm over the notion that the United States might have to import trained foreign nurses because so many U.S. nursing jobs are unfilled."

"The shortage is expected to worsen in coming years as the 78 million people in the post-World War Two baby boom generation begin to hit retirement age. "

"Separately, Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Nita Lowey, both Democrats, have introduced a measure to increase federal grants to help nursing colleges."


hmm...How could we find people in this country to fill these positions? Again just going in circles...just pass the DREAM Act already.

Yep, that's true... except the nursing shortage is huge and we don't know how many Dreamers are currently studying nursing. There is probably a good number of dreamers that graduated from nursing school or are studying one currently, but that's still not enough to meet the shortage...

but nonetheless, it's another incentive to have dreamers join the work force. Problem is that there's already a competition for jobs right now in this terrible economy, and we are just more competition.

Competition is good, it promotes excellence and innovation. No competition creates complacency.

I watched this meeting live, and Obama did mention that the nursing problem could be relieved with increased immigration.

This link is where the briefing was held, it was a live feed though.

http://www.healthreform.gov/video/room1.html

No wonder there is a nursing shortage, considering they make it nearly impossible for foreign nurses to come here and work legally.

trust me... u want to keep it that way. Foreign nurses have a bad rep in hospitals, due to the lack of communication their standard of care and safety isn't always the best. You have to keep a high standard and make sure they are fluent in English.

I disagree.

I find that foreign nurses are far more skilled; the education they receive in their countries is superior. I feel like this country can benefit greatly from having more foreign nurses. Of course, they have to speak perfect English.

education they receive is superior? That depends which country... let's not diss my education here. America has one of the best health care (in terms of standard) in the world, that means being a nurse here requires that type of standard of knowledge and training. How do you find that foreign nurses are more skilled, do you work in a hospital?