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© St. Petersburg Times, published August 17, 2001
Editor: As a vested staff nurse at Regional Medical Center at Bayonet Point, an HCA/Columbia hospital, I was interested in a recent news article about Pasco-Hernando Community College teaming with a hospital to attract more nursing students. The stated goal of this alliance is to increase the number of local nursing students in hopes of easing the nursing shortage. Admittedly, the idea of funding the education of nursing students is a noble one.
In the past, the profession of nursing has been a good career choice, especially for women. Careers in business, finance and technology have expanded horizons for women and left the more traditional field of nursing lacking in appeal. Odd shifts, long hours, unsafe working environments, lack of respect by doctors and administration, and low pay in comparison to other options further the so-called critical nursing shortage.
The median age of nurses is 47. Most of us around that age became nurses for multiple reasons, often feeling it was a calling. Taking care of others, seeing to their well-being, fixing people may have been the initial goal. For those of us supporting our families, often the sole bread-winner, this goal becomes secondary to survival.
Two years ago the hospital capped our annual raises at 2.5 percent. This doesn't even approach the increase in cost of living. Last year the hospital gave a 4 percent raise to all "essential personnel" -- those RNs and techs working in the most profitable areas of the hospital. Within three months of this raise, our benefits package was provided and the changes made in our insurance options promptly ate up any increase in pay we may (or in some cases not) have received.
Just last year, our nurses were voted "best nursing staff" in the Tampa Bay area by Florida Medical Business annual health care awards. This translates into the best care for the least money (or highest profit margin). Don't forget, this is a business.
According to Reuters July 23, "HCA, the largest U.S. hospital chain, second-quarter profits rose 21 percent driven by increased admissions and improved reimbursements by the government and health insurers." CEO and president Jack Bovender Jr. states "My concern is to find enough skilled nurses." And yet, their analysts caution that "the one thing we need to watch are labor costs." This contradiction is at the core of our critical nursing shortage.
Currently, the hospital is financing 16 nursing students who will graduate within two years. As of this writing, the hospital has postings for more than 50 RN positions, which is more than 15 percent of staff nurse positions. As long as the corporate goal is to increase the stockholder profits and do this by limiting labor costs, it will be difficult to recruit or keep a quality nursing staff.
As of July 30, there are more than 4,400 licensed RNs in Pasco County and more than 1,800 in Hernando County. Some of these nurses have chosen other career options over bedside nurse. Others choose to commute for better pay and benefits. Still others work for temporary staffing agencies and travel companies. Often these agencies and travel nurses work in the local hospitals with contracts or limited commitments (for better hourly wages and bonuses than the full-time staff nurse). Supposedly, the hospital gets a "tax-break" for the use of these temporary employees.
The time has come for the thinking nurse to take better care of him/herself by demanding the respect, wages, benefits, and safe working environments we deserve. As staff nurses, we know what we are capable of and what we need to accomplish the best possible patient care. Our future as nurses should be in our hands, not the hands of a corporation whose goal is lining the investors' pockets.
Power and control are attractive features in recruiting young people and in keeping experienced staff. Is there really a critical nursing shortage or have area hospitals simply abused their local resources for too long by low wages, marginal benefits, and gross lack of respect? Isn't it time nurses joined together and made the changes we deserve? I think that if we do we will soon find an end to the critical nursing shortage.
-- Roxanne Harke, Spring Hill
Re: Issues divide connecting neighborhoods, Aug. 9.
Editor: Just read your article on community controversy. Boy does it sound familiar. Speeding cars, school buses, child safety -- what are you doing in my neighborhood?
Guess what? We have children also. We live in Ellington Place, the community that both Longleaf and Ellington Estates speed through on their way to State Road 54. Especially the immature young lady in the red Pontiac that flies through with her middle finger proudly displayed to all.
We have had to put up signs on our lawn to tell people to please curb their dogs as many of our new neighbors from Ellington Estates walk their dogs here and leave their calling cards.
Their children play around the retention pond after their parents removed our no trespassing signs. They drive their motorized scooter at 30 mph on our streets with no brakes, no insurance, no common sense nor respect for the adults here who ask them to slow down.
They park their cars, with for sale signs, on our front entrance. They don't ask permission and they won't help pay for the upkeep, maintenance and taxes. They even were so bold as to claim that it is their entrance, as their builder said that they were Phase II of Ellington Place. Wrong.
We have endured the same problems from them for the past several years as they do now. We asked the police to monitor the 20 mph signs, and the stop signs that most of these people haven't seen yet. We called the DOT and asked for speed tables and a stop sign to slow these people down.
We got the stop sign. Theirs was removed. We now have to stop three times within 100 yards before getting to wait five minutes to get onto SR 54. They can now drive right on through.
-- Larry Pike, New Port Richey
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