Bad Economy Breeds a New Era of Discontent Among Nurses

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Nurses are taking to the picket lines, again. On Sept 22, an estimated 23,000 nurses in California struck at Kaiser Permanente facilities and also at Sutter Health hospitals and Children’s Hospital Oakland. The one-day strike was organized by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) to protest what they say are unfair rollbacks to nurses’ health coverage and retirement benefits, and was also intended as a show of support for striking coworkers.

But it’s not just U.S. nurses who are engaging in job actions—for example, in the United Kingdom, the 400,000 member Royal College of Nursing is contemplating the first strike in its nearly 100-year history and is soliciting the views of its members as to what action should be taken. The issue is nurses’ pensions and job cuts—according to Nursing Standard, “almost 10,000 NHS [National Health Service] posts in England alone have been earmarked for cuts.”

The poor economy is putting pressure on hospitals and health systems everywhere to reduce costs. One way to do this, of course, is to make cuts in what is traditionally the biggest expense in running the hospital—nursing. While this is a quick fix to the bottom line, it’s also one that doesn’t solve the problem. In fact, evidence shows that inadequate nurse staffing is linked to poor outcomes, which ultimately cost more in the long term—for the patients, for the health care system, and for nurses, who […]

New Nurse Keeps Grandma’s Gutsy Resolve, Varied Career in Sights

By Cara Gewolb, BSN. Cara lives in New York City and in January completed an accelerated 15-month BSN program at New York University College of Nursing for those with previous bachelor’s degrees. This longer-than-usual post was passed along to us by Barbara Glickstein, a producer and host of Healthstyles radio show, where Cara recently talked about her grandmother’s career as a public health nurse. We post it today in honor of Nurses’ Week—and also in honor of all the nurses who have recently graduated and are looking for work in a tight market.

My grandmother Frances Reichman Lubin had been the only nurse in her family until I received a BSN in January. As a new nurse I’m a bit unsure of myself, but I’m looking for work and excited to enter my profession. While I’m interested in becoming an ER or ICU nurse, my grandmother’s diverse career reminds me to stay open to opportunity. Her career extended from the 1940s to 1970s and encompassed stints as an army nurse, public health nurse, ICU nurse, teacher, and administrator, as well as time off to raise children and further her nursing education. I keep her example as a funny, gutsy woman who always kept her sense of purpose in my sights as I go forward. She […]

2016-11-21T13:17:45-05:00May 12th, 2010|career, narratives, Nursing|5 Comments
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