Editor’s Corner, August 2007
August has been a hot month so far and we’ve been busy here at Nurse Recruiter. While most people hit the beaches we continued to connect more nurses with top-draw employers all across the country and continued with our Free Vacation For Two Giveaway which ends on August 31. Sign up with one of our sponsors this month and enjoy two days under the sun with company. Your hotel bill and airplane tickets are on the house.
Please visit /promos/escape_for_two_20070601.php for details.
This month we’ve also launched our MySpace web site at www.myspace.com/nursejobboard. You’re welcomed to drop by every day to join our ever-expanding circle of new pals and read our NR blog. If you’re also on MySpace don’t hesitate to say hi! We like to hear from our friends and respond promptly.
This newsletter again brings you some of the most interesting developments in the nursing world plus two featured articles – what some of our universities are doing to close the "nurse gap" and another article on two distinguished stars of the nursing universe.
Stay cool in the days ahead and let us know if we can help you with any of your career questions and future planning.
Best regards,
Editor
Advertisement
NR Headline News for the August 2007 Newsletter
New Survey – Travel Nurses Prefer Travel Assignments over Permanent Positions
A great majority of travel nurses seem to be very happy with their assignments and are doing well, according to a new study of 1,200 travel nurses by AMN Healthcare.
98% of the travel nurses surveyed said they were either "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their jobs and they were accepted or tolerated by the "nurse managers, physicians, patients, and members of the permanent nursing staff" at where they worked.
95% said travel nursing has helped them take on new challenges and grow professionally.
93% said travel nurse assignments have helped them to upgrade their lifestyles.
Again, 93% said they learned "important life lessons" thanks to travel nursing.
86% said they were now good friends with the people they met while on assignment as a "traveler."
66% said they loved the places they travel to so much that they were thinking to move there permanently.
Overall, 52% of the nurses surveyed said they find traveling more satisfactory than having a permanent position at a single healthcare facility.
More Men are Drawn to a Travel Nurse Career
Nursing has long been a female-dominated profession. But that picture is changing with more men responding to generous incentives and calls to consider nursing a viable career alternative.
Back in 1980, about 2.7% of all nurses were males. The total figure is up to 2.9 million nurses now and the percentage of male nurses also went up to 6%, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Some states are adopting special slogans to encourage more men join the ranks of nursing. Michigan Center for Nursing has come up with the slogan "It's a Guy thing." Oklahoma Nurses Association adopted "Nursing... a real career for real men." And here is a more provocative one from Oregon Center for Nursing: "Are you man enough to be a nurse?"
The new emphasis to recruit more male nurses seems to paying off. In 2006, 15% of the 50,000 nursing students were males.
Among the reasons why more men are choosing nursing as a career are excellent pay, a chance to travel to exciting locations, flexible schedules, new opportunities for professional development, free housing or subsidized rent, and free medical coverage.
28-year-old Wisconsin male travel nurse Eric D. is quoted in a press story as saying "at first it was about the money. But now travel nursing fits in perfectly with our goal to raise children." We hope more men will follow in the footsteps of Eric to compensate for the shortage of 150,000 nurses in America today.
NROTC Scholarships – Another Way to Finance Your Nursing Degree
There are many ways prospective nurses can finance their training. The United States Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) scholarships is one such alternative.
This competitive scholarship awarded to American high school students provides for the award winner’s college education. The student in return pledges to serve in the Navy and Marines as a commissioned officer after graduation. Nursing is one of the college degrees supported by NROTC.
The 4-Year College Scholarship pays for full tuition and books, all uniforms, and also provides a monthly stipend that typically ranges between $250 (for Freshmen) and $400 dollars (for Seniors). The program has a 2-Year Scholarship program as well which covers the final two years of college.
Here is the inspiring story of Madeline Gillette, the daughter of a multi-generation Navy family, who received such a scholarship together with her sister Natalie and who wants to become a nurse on her way to eventually serving a doctor: Zwire.com
Get more information today about this great opportunity to get a free nursing education and change your life for the better while serving those in need:
HEADLINE: 10,000 Filipino Nurses Expected to Compete for US Jobs
Some 10,000 Filipino nurses are expected to apply for U.S. nursing jobs within the next year once the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) becomes available next month in Manila, for the first time in Philippines. Within the last six months 9,944 Filipino nurses have already taken the exam abroad to apply for jobs in America.
All nurses must pass the NCLEX to be eligible for U.S. jobs. Once NCLEX becomes available in Manila, Pilipino applications for American nursing jobs are expected to rise steadily.
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines spokesperson Alex Aguilar said the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. (NCSBN) allowed the administration of the NCLEX in Manila.
The development is expected to help mitigate the severe nurse shortagesß all across the USA. The shortage stands at 150,000 nurses this year and is expected to jump by five folds by 2020, according to federal estimates.
India already has centers administering NCLEX with 2,732 passing the test within the first six months of 2007. "India has multiple NCLEX test centers. This is why Indian nursing graduates find it easier to pass the test and enter the US nursing profession," Aguilar said. India is followed by South Korea (1,022 took the test); Canada, (414); and Cuba, (340).
400 nursing schools in Philippines currently have a total of 632,108 students compared to 486,233 last year. We should expect to see a lot more Pilipino nurses serving in U.S. hospitals in the years to come.
Suitcase – A Great Web Utility for Travel Nurses
Imagine you’re heading out for that great new job you’ve found through Nurse Recruiter.
And also imagine this is a totally new exciting location that you’d like to know more about and organize your itinerary accordingly. You’d like the make the most of it once you are there.
Then you might consider using SUITCASE, a web-based free utility that allows you to organize your trip information by adding items (things to do, which restaurants to eat at, which hotels to stay at, closest shopping mall to your new house, etc.) from all over the web.
Thanks to Suitcase you can now collect and organize trip information about the best hotels, restaurants, museums, articles, and transportation alternatives all in one web page.
And what’s more – you can then invite all your friends to contribute to your Suitcase. By pooling the collective wisdom of the people you know and trust you can make sure that your new job would be the best ever.
You can start packing your Suitcase at http://suitcase.concierge.com/
Sample Nursing Exam Questions
You want to test your knowledge as a nurse?
A sample question:
"Steven, an athletic 20-year old college student, suffered a fractured shoulder and sprained wrist in a fall at a ski resort. In developing Steven’s care plan following surgery, which of the following typical problems would you anticipate?..."
Read the multiple-choice answers and other questions at
Advertisement
Remarkable Nurses Observed Award of Valor that Came 89 Years Later
Nurses are really the proverbial "silent heroes" for all the crucial work they do to help those in need without usually getting any credit for it. To put others before themselves is an important part of their job description, no doubt. And that makes it all the more significant when they get recognized and honored for their behind-the-scenes struggle to keep the sick and wounded alive.
For nurse Linnie Leckrone of Salem, Ill., work meant tending to the wounded in France as the German shells fell overhead during some of the worst battles of World War I. It’s both to her credit and the U.S. Army’s that she was honored at long last with a Silver Star, 89 years after she won it and 18 years after her death in 1989 at the age of 96.
The medal was presented to her daughter Mrs. Mary Jane Bolles Reed, at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Bolles Reed said if her mother were still alive, her reaction would be a humble "Oh, I don't need a medal. I just did what I had to do."
Leckrone "helped to prove that nurses were essential and proved that nurses were worthy of military rank," said Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, chief of the Army Nurse Corps.
Her original Citation Star certificate praising her for "conspicuous gallantry in action" was signed by none other than Gen. John (Black Jack) Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force. In 1932, all Citation Star holders became eligible for Silver Star, one of the highest medals of valor awarded by the U.S. Army.
It is interesting to note that, as a testimony of the social conditions that reigned a century ago, Leckrone served with the "rank" of "Miss" since the Army back then did not know what to call these selfless angels working day and night to save precious lives. So officially "Miss" became Leckrone’s military rank.
Leckrone signed up with the Army Nurse Corps in 1916 and was sent over to France. In July 1918 she joined the Gas and Shock Team 134 in the battle of Chateau-Thierry northeast of Paris.
The fighting were fierce and men were dying like flies in chemical attacks. Still Leckrone considered herself lucky to be doing what she wanted to do. She considered it an honor and a privilege to attend the American servicemen at one of the bloodiest fronts of the war. "Our work was with the shock cases, the ones who lost so much blood. We lost more than half of them," she is quoted as saying.
Silver Star was awarded to only four women during World War II and all of them were nurses serving in Italy.
HEADER: Retired Nurse Rushes from One Disaster to Another to Help
Where there is a natural disaster, there is Pam Nolin of Massachusetts to help.
A retired licensed practical nurse, Nolin, 60, has built up a remarkable track record as an American Red Cross volunteer who does not hesitate to rush in to the aid of those suffering in the aftermath of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, August 2005, Hurricane Rita in Texas, September 2005, Merrimack Valley flooding, May 2006, Tornadoes in Alabama, March 2007, Merrimack Valley flooding, April 2007, and Flooding in Texas and Oklahoma, June/July 2007.
Nolin’s most recent work of mercy as an American Red Cross of Merrimack Valley was at the rain-ravaged north-central Texas and southwest Oklahoma.
"Every day I'm helping these people it feels like I'm accomplishing something," Nolin is quoted saying. "Even if I'm just there to sit and listen to someone."
"All I need is a few weeks to do my laundry and recoup, then I'm ready to go," Nolin added. "I've learned to have a backpack ready to go on short notice."
With selfless souls like Nolin, our troubled world still has a good fighting chance for better tomorrows.
U.S. Schools Invest and Innovate to Close the Nurse Gap
Educational institutions all across the United States are coming up with new initiatives to close the anticipated shortage of 1 million nurses by the year 2020, according to a new study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute.
Nevada Program Energized with $710,000
One approach tries to get more highly trained nurses not only into the workforce but to teaching positions by investing more in new college degree programs.
Two Nevada universities, Univ. of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) and Univ. of Nevada at Reno (UNR) formed a partnership to train new graduate-level nurse educators. To that end, Nevada Health Resources and Services has awarded $710,000 to UNLV School of Nursing Professor Lori to graduate more nurses with Master’s degrees on their way to Ph.D’s. Sarah Keating, professor of nursing at UNR, will manage the program on Reno campus.
The three-year project aims to help master-student nurses take more doctoral-level courses and do graduate level research. Thus, UNLV, which is famous for its excellent hotel management and creative writing programs and NCAA champion basketball team, is also emerging as a destination of choice for nurses who would like attend the 3-year old Ph.D. program and eventually join the academia as nurse educators.
Struggling Programs
Not all nursing programs across the country are doing that well, though. Some associate degree programs provided by community colleges are suffering from low graduation and certification rates.
San Antonio Express-News, for example, recently criticized one such program in Texas for "outdated curriculum, high numbers of students failing the state licensing test and a lack of senior faculty members teaching in the evening program" and called its shortcoming "inexcusable."
The Texas Board of Nurse Examiners has suspended the acceptance of new students until the issues with that specific nursing degree program were resolved.
Chancellor Bruce Leslie has appointed a committee to establish standards so all similar programs at the various ACC campuses are equally rigorous. Programs unique to one campus will have their standards aligned with similar programs across the nation.
Students deserve the best education possible, and the new initiatives will help ensure that.
New Accreditation for MSN Program in Iowa
Among the college programs that are doing much better is Briar Cliff University’s (Iowa) Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program which was recently accredited for 5 years by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission. The first group of MSN students received their diplomas in May 2007. The second class of MSN students will be admitted in coming September.
The MSN program is offered on two different tracks: the family nurse practitioner and nurse educator tracks.
The students finishing the family nurse practitioner track are eligible to take the certification exam for FNPs after graduation. The nurse educator track prepares the graduate-level students for an academic university career.
These two master level programs are further bolstered by two post-master’s level certificate programs as well. Call (712) 279-1662 for more information on the program.
Univ. of Oklahoma Reaches Out to Students in California
Another attempt to address the nurse shortage crisis took the form of some state universities launching accelerated degree programs for students in other states.
For example, University of Oklahoma (OU) announced an interesting nursing program through which California students can get an OU bachelor’s degree without ever leaving California.
The OU College of Nursing was honored in 2006 as a "Center of Excellence in Nursing Education" by the National League for Nursing. Oklahoma is bracing itself for a shortage of 3,000 registered nurses by the year 2012.
The initiative which is also approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing allows California students attend a 14-month accelerated online program. They complete the necessary clinical work at Sharp Healthcare hospitals in San Diego County where a maximum of eight students study under the supervision of one professor.
One important program prerequisite is for the students to already hold a bachelor’s degree in another field. Since such students have already taken all the basic undergraduate courses, they can earn their nursing degrees much more quickly than those who do not have a bachelor’s in another field.
Currently 30 Californians are enrolled in the OU program but the initiative is expected the pick up steam given the strong demand for new nurses. The annual median salary for a nurse is $52,330 and the top ten percent earn more than $74,000 a year, according to the official figures of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Online Programs to the Rescue
In this day and age of Internet it is of course not surprising that more and more nurses are turning to online programs to get the training they need and an increasing number of institutions are stepping up to the plate to deliver precisely that. The law of supply and demand is at work overtime.
Part of the educational gap arises from the fact that 55% of the "Baby Boom" generation of nurses are getting ready to retire between 2011 and 2020. That means the current shortage of 118,000 registered nurses will climb steadily, according to the official figures of the American Hospital Association.
The existing brick-and-mortar classroom capacity in the United States is not sufficient to compensate for the rapid retirement of a whole generation of nurses. Thus the demand for more educational programs is as strong as ever. American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported that last year 43,000 qualified applicants to nursing school were turned away for lack of capacity.
Since "nature abhors a vacuum," online organizations entered this new market with a wide variety of course offerings. ELearners.com, for example, is offering over "300 accredited online health and medical degrees, including 50 online nursing degrees ranging from an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing to a Nursing Ph.D.," according to their press release. Such nursing specialties as nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives require at least a Master’s degree. (DISCLAIMER: Nurse Recruiter does not have any relationship with ELearners nor does it officially endorse the online company.)
"Traditional colleges have to turn away applicants because of faculty, classroom and budget constraints, however online programs don't have the same demands and are able to accept more students," Andrew Gansler, CEO of eLearners is quoted saying. "Although most online programs aren't for entry-level nurses, we can open up seats in nursing colleges by offering online resources to those looking to further their medical education."
The future of such online programs look bright and many others are expected to crop up within the next ten years.
