The Smart People Are Working on Worsening the Nursing Shortage

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a huge and worsening nursing shortage in the United States. Once upon a time, nursing was the female equivalent of what the military was to young men. Bright and ambitious women with few resources could become nurses and have a future. However, several factors have aligned to steadily hack away at the number of nurses practicing in the United States. As the population ages, more patients enter the healthcare system. But nurses are aging out, too — the average age of a nurse right now is 51, and they’re retiring every day.

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The coup de grâce that elevated the nursing shortage to a crisis was the COVID-19 pandemic. While many people were little affected by the latest coronavirus, elderly people were hit hard. They flooded hospitals, which responded by enacting often absurd protocols to keep the bug from spreading and firing staff who refused the novel vaccine being crammed down a panicked public’s throat. The remaining nursing staff predictably burned out fast and left the profession.

Traditionally, bright young women would be training up to take advantage of the ample openings. But they’re not. In fact, even nursing schools are having trouble finding enough staff to train candidates.

Why aren’t young women studying nursing anymore? One chief culprit is feminism.

You see, feminists have worked for generations to inculcate into young women’s brains the idea that everything distinctively feminine is inferior, second-class, and looked down upon. Naturally, women have become reflexively defensive of their career choices. Roles that are filled predominately by women are eschewed by enlightened young ladies. Why become a mere nurse when you can be (should be!) a doctor, an environmental engineer, or a sustainability expert? Why should men have all the high-status science-y jobs?

But because the laws of nature refuse to follow modern sensibilities, nursing remains an overwhelmingly female profession — even as fewer women choose to become nurses. What is to be done? Why, elevate the social and intellectual status of nursing, of course! And never mind that you are raising the bar too high for tens of thousands of women and girls (and men and boys, for that matter) who might otherwise become nurses.

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For decades, there have been several paths to becoming a nurse:

  • Candidates may earn a four-year Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) to become a registered nurse (RN). Such RNs are commonly referred to as BSNs.
  • Candidates may earn a two or three-year Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN). These RNs are commonly referred to as ADNs.
  • Finally, candidates with a high school degree may enroll in vocational training to become a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), also called a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN).

“If you’re looking to start working as a nurse fast without spending a ton of money, becoming an LPN could be the perfect path for you,” advises nurse.org. LPNs are “responsible for providing patients with essential care. This includes helping them to eat, dress, bathe, etc. They assist Registered Nurses (RNs) and Doctors in keeping detailed records, maintaining clear communication between the entire care team and working with patients and their families to understand procedures and how to care for sick relatives.”

As you can imagine, LPNs (and even ADNs) are the lifeblood of the nursing profession. They are traditionally the nurses who staff long-term care facilities, nursing homes, psych wards — anywhere the duties mainly include taking vitals, handing out meds, and occasionally even wiping butts.

And traditionally, becoming an LPN is “a great stepping stone to furthering your education and enjoying a pay increase by becoming an RN or Nurse Practitioner (NP).”

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Uh oh. We can’t have that! The hoi polloi mustn’t be able to corrupt the heady heights of the elite BSNs with their practical mindset and common sense.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) is much the same as its national counterparts in any number of professions and associations, like the AMA, ABA, APA, or even BSA national headquarters. That is, it has been marched through by Big Left and is now focused on propagating Leftist doctrine within its sphere of influence. The ANA’s most recent five-year meeting and update of Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice occurred in 2020, at the height of COVID Mania and George Floyd hysteria. The fourth edition of this guiding document “was issued in May 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and as society began awakening to the corrosive effects of systemic racism,” notes the ANA in its American Nurse Journal.

So while it’s possible to learn plenty of skills to begin a nursing career in a shorter course of study, only a four-year degree at an overpriced woke university allows ample opportunity for Leftist brainwashing as part of the degree. And to aid in the effort to weed out insufficiently woke nurses, prestigious hospitals and healthcare systems are starting to insist on this level of “education” in their employees.

For example, the duties of a primary care clinic nurse who handles well-care visits typically include taking vitals, checking blood-sugar (a finger prick), collecting urine, and giving shots. Ten years ago, this position would have been filled exclusively by an ADN.

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But check out the requirements for this primary care clinic nurse position at prestigious Boston Children’s Hospital (emphasis added):

To qualify, you must have:

  • BSN degree.
  • 1 year pediatric nursing experience. (3 years strongly preferred)
  • Spanish speaking preferred.
  • Ability to be flexible, motivated and work in a changing environment.

This is ludicrous. You or I could perform those duties within a day if someone showed us how to do it. But it’s also extremely effective at screening out the plucky commoners who marshaled their meager resources and earned their LPN or ADN.

Related: Just in Time for 2024: WHO Chief Warns of Looming Disease ‘Deadlier’ Than COVID

Boston Children’s was once known exclusively as a ground-breaking, life-saving global leader in cutting-edge pediatric medicine. Parents the world over brought their critically ill children there to be saved. But it has gone down the dark path of woke medicine, opening a massive pediatric gender clinic and incorporating idiotic dogma into the sacred art of healing. Unsurprisingly, people interested in actually being good nurses are repelled, and current employees are demoralized, as seen in this workplace review:

Don’t expect the nursing shortage to improve any time soon, and good luck to all the Boomers who will be in need of skilled care before abject systemic failure forces corrective change.

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