Last fall, I interviewed nurses from around the country about the nursing shortage that was affecting everything from the cost of healthcare to patient well-being. I never found a home for it, and I ended up putting it on Substack. (Yeah, I thought I would give Substack a shot. If you're interested, I'll send you a link.)
The nursing shortage is real. In some cases, the lack of skilled providers has been deadly for some patients. The good news is that the Mayo Clinic is trying to solve this problem. The bad news is that it is trying to solve the problem in the most woke, progressive, and shrill way possible. How do you say that you do not want any straight white people applying without actually saying you do not want any straight white people applying? Here's how:
UNBELIEVABLE: Top healthcare company Mayo Clinic is discriminating against straight white people in their "inclusive" hiring practices.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 20, 2024
Even criminals are being prioritized to be hired as nurses.
How does this ensure patients will receive the best medical care possible?… pic.twitter.com/xUvYoT6pmO
Let me state for the record that I have known many non-white and even gay healthcare workers who were not only skilled but compassionate and a credit to the profession. This includes doctors and nurses, so this is not an issue of race or orientation. That being said, with this statement, the Mayo Clinic appears racist, possibly sexist, and even heterophobic in a transparent effort to check all of the right boxes to meet the demands of the societal overlords. But then, the Left and its appendant remora are more skilled at projection than Kal-El. This, of course, is assuming that Kal-El is a real person and that projection is one of his superpowers.
When push comes to shove, no one cares if their doctor, nurse, LPN, or CNA is black, Hispanic, Asian, gay, straight, or whatever, provided that person is skilled, dedicated, and compassionate. Race and sex do not determine professionalism. Unless, of course, you have some points to score with the powers that be.
Licensed practical nurses are nurses, and their scope of practice is only slightly more limited than that of an RN. An LPN can perform assessments, pass medication, and collaborate with the care team. The presence or absence of the characteristics listed in the X post above has nothing to do with someone's ability to provide effective care. One's refugee status, skin color, gender, age, or disability should not be the primary criteria. And for that matter, trying to rehabilitate "justice-impacted individuals" should not be the mission of the industry. Providing quality healthcare should be the mission of the industry.
Another problem with fill-in-the-blanks hiring is that there is the risk of employing people with no aptitude for or interest in the field. I spoke with a nurse who said that the concept of nurses drawing on experience, knowledge, training, and God-given intelligence is falling by the wayside. Instead, there is a generation of nurses coming up who follow, as she put it, "cookbook nursing." This is nursing by an algorithm or a flow chart. If the patient presents with conditions A, B, or C, go immediately and mindlessly to the next section as directed by the instructions. The nurse said that the problem with such an approach is that the human body does not work that way, and neither does healthcare. To quote Dr. Pulaski from Start Trek: The Next Generation, medicine should be practiced with the head, the heart, and the hands.
The people who support efforts such as this are certain that their incomes and healthcare are secure. You do not have that security. And they don't care.
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