American Nursing Profession

The nursing profession is in decline. Inadequate numbers of nurses and aides are overworked and underpaid. Caregivers cannot provide good care despite the best intentions. Something has to be done or abuse and neglect will continue.

Compassionate caregivers now choose another profession besides nursing after hearing horror stories from family and friends. Substance abuse, mental health problems and suicide rates have all gone up.

Nursing home industry is the worse for the profession. Unsafe staffing shortages, worsening benefits, abuse by patients, workplace harassment and lack of flexibility or work-home balance. Still nothing is done.

Patient safety is a major concern with untrained and unqualified staff. Management has unrealistic expectations of caregivers.

Imagine being bedridden in a nursing home. You urgently request help to the toilet. No matter how much you press the call button at your bedside, staff don’t arrive in time, or at all. How humiliating.

The minimum level of nursing care for nursing home residents should not be less than 4.1 hours of nursing care per resident per day. The recommended level on safe, quality care is actually 4.55 hours per resident per day.

Nursing care facilities added only 2,800 jobs in November 2022. The health care sector overall only saw payrolls increase by about 45,000 workers. Clearly not enough.