Gotta give drugs...

Post #105,444 by gdaustin 6/9/03 6:37:54 PM 6/9/03 6:38:51 PM Reply	Gotta give drugs... That's the nice thing about nursing. You can reclassify some job responsibilities into "non-nurse" jobs, but there are legal requirements that only nurses may dispense drugs in a hospital. Only nurses can hang IV bags with drugs in them (which are about 1/2 the IV bags these days). There are other medical procedures that nurses do that are simply too gross to describe here, still require a nurse. Surgery rooms still require nurses. And besides, nurses are the "stepping stone" into hospital administration or a low level doctor job, like Nurse Practitioner. Many insurance plans are even using nurses in telephone screen operations to assist/advise patients, review insurance filings, review applications for insurance, etc. The point is that they want someone familiar enough with medicine and medical procedures to be able to put up a decent argument on a refusal, but they can't afford to pay a doctor to do it. Nurse is great career. Lots of cool things you can do with it. And, while they may import nurses from other countries, chances are very good that your job will not be exported to India, 'cause the patient is HERE. As costs pressures mount in the healthcare industry, mainly from employers, I think that nurses will rapid replace family doctors and even PA and nurse practitioners as the "front line" medical interfaces. Laws will be relaxed, because employers will be passing costs along to patients, and patients will not be able to afford to "go to the doctor" anymore. Edited by gdaustin June 9, 2003, 06:38:51 PM EDT Gotta give drugs... That's the nice thing about nursing. You can reclassify some job responsibilities into "non-nurse" jobs, but there are legal requirements that only nurses may dispense drugs in a hospital. Only nurses can hang IV bags with drugs in them (which are about 1/2 they IV bags these days). There are other medical procedures that nurses do that are simply too gross to describe here, still require a nurse. Surgery rooms still require nurses. And besides, nurses are the "stepping stone" into hospital administration or a low level doctor job, like Nurse Practitioner. Many insurance plans are even using nurses in telephone screen operations to assist/advise patients, review insurance filings, review applications for insurance, etc. The point is that they want someone familiar enough with medicine and medical procedures to be able to put up a decent argument on a refusal, but they can't afford to pay a doctor to do it. Nurse is great career. Lots of cool things you can do with it. And, while they may import nurses from other countries, chances are very good that your job will not be exported to India, 'cause the patient is HERE. As costs pressures mount in the healthcare industry, mainly from employers, I think that nurses will rapid replace family doctors and even PA and nurse practitioners as the "front line" medical interfaces. Laws will be relaxed, because employers will be passing costs along to patients, and patients will not be able to afford to "go to the doctor" anymore. Collapse All History
Post #105,491 by hnick 6/10/03 7:34:44 AM Reply	Cyclic behavior Careers in nursing are cyclic, at least around the Cleveland area. We have 2 major hospital systems which are involved in the \ufffdHighlander syndrome\ufffd (in the end there can be only one\ufffd.) They do the major corporation routine of cutting costs by staffing a wing with 2 RNs, a couple LPNs, and a couple aides. They might bump up the head count during the day to accommodate the doctors and to make a slightly better impression on visitors. Mostly for the doctors\ufffd if you are in a position to complain, you shouldn\ufffdt be there. The nurses get to the point where they won\ufffdt take the abuse and quit en mass, causing a shortage. The hospitals then compete to hire the available nurses offering better wages, hours, and staffing. Nursing becomes a good looking career and the colleges crank them out in quantity again. In a while, the hospital administration notes that with as many nurses around, they can become more efficient in their operation by reducing staff and cutting costs\ufffd I spent about 6 years in the medical dodge at the end of the 70\ufffds. I dropped out to go to engineering school (Bio-medical Engineering) and on graduation, couldn\ufffdt bring myself to stay in the environment. I haven\ufffdt been back since, but I still have a number of friends who are still in the racket. It appears that the cycles are continuing. My .02 Hugh _{who is still scared silly to be in hospital on the wrong side of the ID badge...}
Post #105,500 by drewk 6/10/03 9:31:09 AM Reply	You'd be surprised (or maybe not) You can reclassify some job responsibilities into "non-nurse" jobs, but there are legal requirements that only nurses may dispense drugs in a hospital. How does the law define "dispense"? I used to work at a drug store. Only the pharmacist was allowed to assemble the prescriptions, but he then gave them to me to give to the customer. Can a nurse "dispense" the drugs to a nurses aide who then "delivers" it to the patient? Wouldn't surprise me if some places are trying this out until someone takes it to court. Surgery rooms still require nurses. But not as many as they used to. There have been cases documented where representatives from medical equipment suppliers were in the operating room running a new tool, demonstrating its function. None of the hospital staff though to ask if the representative (read that: salesperson) was a doctor. They weren't. In short, I don't trust hospitals not to stretch every definition until a court orders them to stop. BTW I can verify what Hugh said about the local conditions. My mother-in-law is a retired chief curgical nurse. Part of the reason she retired when she did is that the full-time staff kept getting longer hours and more call, while hired guns were brought in at twice the price to fill in the gaps. Within two months of her retirement, the headhunters were calling trying to get her to go back to her old hospital as a contractor. === Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
Post #105,521 by hnick 6/10/03 12:15:44 PM Reply	Re: You'd be surprised (or maybe not) Can a nurse "dispense" the drugs to a nurses aide who then "delivers" it to the patient? Wouldn't surprise me if some places are trying this out until someone takes it to court. They don't have to take it to court. It's standard practice now. The floor RN is responsible for checking out the meds, and gives it to LPNs to deliver. I think that RNs are still supposed to start IVs but LPNs can inject into the installed line. I spent about 4 years total in working in the operating room as an OR tech. This is the equivalent of a scrub nurse and equipment handler. No formal training. They just required a RN in the room to sign off on the paperwork. I also spent a couple years effectively running an electro-physiology lab for ophthalmology. It was easier to teach me the anatomy and physiology than it was to teach a nurse the electronics. I did the setup, tests, and initial analysis. I just needed a doctor to sign off on the results. I am SO glad to be out of that environment.
Post #105,550 by drewk 6/10/03 2:00:00 PM Reply	See what happens when I try to imagine a worst-case? === Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.

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