Another Hospital in the Nurse Search Status

A registered nurse friend of mine was telling me today about Houston Healthcare being in need of nurses due to the rising admission rate they have been experiencing.

I found this to be an interesting case as most of the nurse shortage in the U.S. happen in smaller cities. Atlanta for example has a very competitive nurse market and there is no shortage there.

Emory University hospital turns down nursing applications on a weekly basis and Piedmont hospital has such a large nursing database that they only need to make a couple of phone calls to get a nurse.

Getting back to the point, Houston Healthcare started out with 30 RN and 5 LPN positions available in June and have so far only been able to fill 11 of the RN positions but have been able to fill all of the LPN positions.

Looking at the current economy, you would assume that the jobs would have been filled by now but it is not the case. Of course, if the hospital in question is not using a nurse placement agency with a good list of registered nurses then the process would be slower.

If they are using such an agency and still not able to fill these position then it is something we should all worry about.

Nurse Strike in Minnesota - Update

Today, the Minneapolis nurses are voting to see whether they will go on a longer strike. Its a sad thing that they feel forced to make such a vote because a compromise cannot be reached with the Minneapolis hospitals.

I am sure that all of the nurses feel torn inside as they have all devoted their life to provide the best patient care possible.

According to the Star Tribune, the hospitals in a statement said, "There is no benefit to a strike and we saw that on June 10," said Maureen Schriner, a spokeswoman for the hospitals. "We need to have contract negotiations that recognize the reality of the health care environment."

True as it may be, there is always a way for both parties to come to an agreement. Yes, the economy may be difficult at the moment but that excuse is always used by companies. If they look deep and hard enough in the budget and in the books, they can find a way to meet the nurses halfway. Do the executives and so on really need to have an budget for travel expenses and remodelling their offices?

Perhaps its time for both groups to look at the hospital budget and see how this can all be worked out by seeing how money can be diverted or share into hiring more nurses. Perhaps the hopsital could also see on how they can create more money thru fund raisers and such.

The point is that yes, it is possible to make come up with a compromise if both parties are willing. I'm sure that if hospitals involved like, the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, agreed to add 200 or so more nurses to the staff and with the promise to add more nurses once the economy reaches a certain point, the nurses would agree to it.

Nurse strike

Whenever a strike takes place in the healthcare industry, its never a good thing. They are several reasons for nurses to strike from higher wages to better working conditions. This time its about patient safety.

If you have seen the news recently, you will have noticed that over 12,000 nurses in Minnesota went on strike on June 10, 2010. This strike however was not about a pay increase but about the patients.

In simple words, even though the nurses did ask for a 3% pay increase, which according to them was used as a bargaining tool for the real demands, in a nutshell, the nurses are asking for more nurses to take care of the patients.

For the moment, talks have resumed between the nurses and the hospitals.

The striking nurses in Minnesota are doing what was bound to happen sooner or later. A hospital is expensive to run but nevertheless, its still a company that is set out to make money( not counting the state owned ones of course).

There is nothing wrong with making a profit but when it jeopardizes the care of patients, that is when a problem occurs, especially if the share owners, board of directors and upper level management are still making millions of dollars in bonuses.

Language Skills as Marketing Tool for Yourself

There is curently a nurse shortage in Japan according to an article by the Seattle Time where Naoto Kan who is going to be stepping as Japan's Prime Minister shortly has had many meetings with advisors to deal with the issue of "beefing up the nursing industry as Japan's population continues to age".



This is another example of how the nursing shortage crisis is not just limited to a few countries(like the U.S) but also becoming a global issue.

American registered nurses and nursing students should consider learning another language to become more marketable.



When I am reffering to learning another language, I'm not just talking about just taking a few Berlitz classes so you can communicate but taking advance courses that specifically deal with medical terms. Having this skill under your belt, a registered nurse could acquire a job in another country that pays more compettive salary or can ask for more money when she applies to a hospital.


If you plan on working in the United States, Spanish is a great language to know due to the large amount of migrant workers in certain parts of the country. Spanish, however, should not be considered the only option since in larger cities, they are many communities of immigrants like Chinese where many people have not yet learned the language.


It all depends on where you plan on living. For example, if you want to live in California, then learning Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese or Spanish would be a good choice. If you intend to live in Arizona or Texas, then Spanish would be the language of choice.

Another advantage of being a bilingual registered nurse is that it will give you that extra edge when applying for a nursing position as an employer would rather hire a bilingual nurse then one who is not.