SHORTAGE SIGNALS SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS
Ruta Jordans · AJN American Journal of Nursing · 2001
"State of the Nursing Shortage" (News, December) misses an important part of the picture. Certainly, part of the problem is that there are only 14 million workers for 19 million jobs.1 But caring people have always become nurses. The real problem is that we feel helpless to change the system in a way that would allow us to provide good care. It's easy to see why caring people would abandon the profession-our patients are considered cured when their insurance denies further care; they're afraid to go to the nearest hospital in an emergency because it isn't covered by their insurance plans; and finances (or is it profits?) have become the main consideration in regard to health care decisions. The nurse staffing crisis is only one symptom of a sick health care system. Until health disparities are eliminated through the implementation of a reasonable health care system, caring nurses will continue to be frustrated, leave the profession, and discourage others from entering it. Ruta Jordans, MS, RN, C Hampstead, NH