Re: Two years in a row, more americans in poverty

i apologize if i've misled anyone in thinking i'm a registered nurse (perhaps there's a future for me in the white house after all...) - i am actually an emergency medical technician and a certified nurse's assistant, currently a nursing STUDENT. although neither one of us here may ever know the other's true identity, giving us the freedom to pretend we're something we're not without running the risk of being discovered, i wouldn't "fake" being a nurse. again, my apologies. lord knows i would've had a job easily a long time ago, unless there was a history of disciplinary actions against me. but anyway, thanks for the advice :). i have worked with some philippino nurses in the past - some are great, some are not so great, just like anywhere else you go. i have also worked with CNA's from the former soviet union who came to the U.S. after their country fell apart, seeking a job as nurses, and finding nothing because of the language barrier. they have the education and many years of hands-on training but end up wiping butts for less than $10/hr, which is still more than they were making "back home". i believe the nursing shortage is serious enough that we should seek to incorporate these (mostly) women into the system. we need them. i honestly can't think of hearing about a single nurse who couldn't get a job unless he/she had a pending charge against them. this is a serious crisis and we all need to set our differences aside and work together on it. what i have seen, and this scares me, is nursing programs, in their panic to turn out as many nurses as possible, shorten the length of their programs, cutting out vital courses which are considered "weed-out" classes (like pathophysiology and organic chemistry) due to their difficulty, and lowering their entrance standards. class sizes have gone from 25-30 student per teacher to 50-60 and more per teacher. you've gone to college, so you know what the implications are. the sheer size of the class makes it easier to cheat, students are sliding by, and those who really care and want to learn and do the right thing, well, there's just no time for them to get the extra attention and have their questions answered. now, THAT'S where the crisis lies, in my humble opinion as a student-nurse. Tweet