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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2002)
• i ■*; 2________ WEdNEsdAy, H ie CI ac I camas P rint M ay 29, 2002 Is nursing shortage caused by RNs? Editor-in-Chief Maggie Jirasek Design Editor: Salena De La Cruz A&E Editor: Daisy Bain Sports Editor: Elena Boryska Opinion Editor: Erinn Leiten Feature Editor: Elisabeth Meyer News Editor: Frank Jordan BÖB LADV Contributing Writer While health care faces a crit ical nursing shortage, LPNs face an additional battlefront within the ranks of Nursing. As unfortunate as this may seem, it is a reality we cannot ignore any longer and expect to survive as LPNs. Here is the sit uation. Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) are educated through a variety of methods including; traditional schooling at colleges and universities tak ing approximately one to three years to complete; military train ing and experience taking approximately 1 to 2.5 years to complete; vocational schooling taking two years to complete, and in some cases, nurses aides have been trained in teaching hospitals and have been allowed to be licensed. The commonality between all of these methods is the standard State Board Licensing exam. Everyone must take and pass the board exam in order to be licensed. LPNs have a variety of skills and experience. The more expe rience, generally speaking, the more skill they possess. LPNs have been working in various capacities; in intensive care units (ICUs); medical/surgical floors; long term care facilities (LTC); and specialty units, ie., dialysis, pheresis, IV teams, etc. This allows LPNs to provide some staffing flexibility for hospitals and medical centers as well as LTC facilities. The problem LPNs are facing, however, comes from Registered Nurse (RN) administrators and managers who see the LPN as a threat to RN job security. As a consequence, managers who are fully capable and trained to func tion as ICU nurses, specialty care nurses and med/surg nurses are being told that “The position now requires an RN, because LPNs don’t have the training.” Many of these LPNs have worked and functioned capably with the highest degree of professional ism and yet are being tossed aside because RNs are feeling the need to secure the job market for themselves (justifying the need for RNs and creating a nursing shortage). This adver sarial environment is made worse by State Boards that allow this unfair labor practice to per sist. Most state boards of nursing turn their “administrative heads” and refused to deal with the issue. They allow facilities (which in this day and age means RN administrators and RN man agers) to narrow the “scope of practice” for LPNs. This is prac ticed widely in hospitals and medical centers and is done with out justification^ except to say, “we don’t allow LPNs to do this kind of work anymore”. In an ideal world, nurses- LPNs and RNs- would collabo rate to ensure a safe and pro ductive healthcare delivery sys tem for the benefit of the Honoring virtue on Memorial Day Business Manager: Aaron Patelzick (x2578) Staff Writers: Nick Barron Jesse Gurzynski Shadra Beesley Andy Price Jennifer Kane J.J. Pearson Megan Cobb Isaiah Creel Secretary: Joanne Gale Adviser: Patty Mamula Goals: The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner. The opinions expressed in The Clackamas Print do not necessarily reflecMhose of the student body, college administration, its faculty, or The Clackamas Print. Products and services advertised in The Clackamas Print are not necessarily endorsed by anyone associat ed with The Clackamas Print. The Clackamas Print is a weekly publicatio- nand is distributed every Wednesday except during Finals Week. The Clackamas Print Copyright 2002^ Advertising: z The advertising rate is $4.75 per col umn inch 19600 S. M o I a II a A ve . O reqon Chy, O reqon 97045 (505) 657-6958 X25O9 cccpRi nt @ c ! ac I< am as . cc . or . us hrrpV/dEpTS.clAckAMAS.CC.OR.US/pRiNT ANDREW BERNSTEIN Guest Writer Memorial Day is a solemn and sad occasion honoring the American soldiers who gave their lives in war. But it is also a hal lowed day—because the values those men fought to defend form the essence of our country: freedom and the rights of the individual. The United States has never fought a war of conquest. The Revolutionary War was waged to gain freedom from the tyranny of King George. The Civil War was fought to end slavery in this country. The Americans defend ed liberty in World War Two against the murderous collec tivism of the Nazis. Even the Spanish-American War was fought against the brutal colo nialism of the Spanish Empire, with the eventual result of Spain’s former possessions gain ing greater freedom. The greatest soldiers of American history knew that free dom was sacred; no price paid on its behalf was a sacrifice. George Washington, as commander of the Continental Army, led the way. Despite his years of strug gle, and the hardships endured, Washington refused pay for his service. He used his own fortune to help finance the war effort, and, when the Revolution was won, took no money from Congress to help with the much- needed rebuilding of his Mount Vernon estate. General Washington recognized that free dom from tyranny was its own reward. His stirring words to . Joseph Reed make clear his (and his compatriots) reasons for wag ing the Revolutionary War: “The spirit of freedom beat too high in us to submit to slavery.” Dpuglas MacArthur’—another great leader—as military com mander of occupied Japan, made it his highest priority to establish the post-war Japanese govern ment and economy on the princi ple of political/economic free dom. The relative liberty and pros perity of Japan’s newly semi-capi talist system owes much to MacArthur’s wisdom and efforts. Observing the fruits of his labor, "he stated before Congress that America’s former enemies had “from the ashes left in war’s wake, erected in Japan an edifice dedicated to the primacy of indi vidual liberty...freedom of eco nomic enterprise, and social jus tice.” General MacArthur recog nized that part of America’s real victory in the Pacific was Japan’s vastly increased freedom. Regular American soldiers have fought and died for freedom around the globe. South Korea today is free, not a part of North Korea’s murderous dictatorship, because U.S. soldiers helped defeat Communist aggression in the Korean War. Similarly, as long as American soldiers fought in Vietnam, the Communists were held at bay, unable to achieve their goal of conquest. Only after American politicians pulled all U.S. military personnel out of Vietnam in 1975 did the country fall, and the Communists, then unrestrained, enslaved the Vietnamese. To fully appreciate the virtue of our soldiers we must remem ber what freedom means. It means we can choose our own fields of study, our own careers, our own spouses, the size of our families and our places of resi- dence. It means we can speak out without fear regarding any issue—including governmental policy—choose our values, with out interference from the state. Freedom is based on the inalienable right of each individ ual to pursue his own goals and his own personal happiness. During America’s Revolutionary period, one New Hampshire state document summed up the think ing of our Founding Fathers regarding an individual’s rights, “among which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting property; and in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness.” This is the princi ple—and the spirit—that our soldiers defend. The meaning of Memorial Day is particularly pressing today when the United States is engaged in a war against fanatics who represent the extreme of intellectual, religious and politi cal suppression. Freedom is unknown and utterly alien in the countries that support terrorists. They feel threatened by our most cherished principles and institutions, ‘ and so they seek to destroy us. What protects us is our moral courage arid our military might. If President Bush has the moral conviction to permit our sol diers to fully wage war against our enemies, they will prevail, as they have so many times in the past. Once again, their blood and their lives, spilled and lostjn defense of freedom, will not have been given in vain. On Memorial Day we solemnly and properly honor those heroes who have fought and died in defense of America’s freedom. patient. If needed, a system of credits (certification) could be developed for the LPN to pro vide proof of training in'special- ty areas which would allow LPNs to continue to provide the excellent care they are capable of giving patients. Areas of cer tification could include; IVs- including PICC and central line blood products, EKGs, Assessments, Nursing Diagnoses, Care Plans, Etc., etc. • In my own experience as a LPN, I have performed all of these tasks expertly, only to have my scope of practice narrowed to the point where today I per form duties that a Nurses Aide could perform. It is still impor tant work, but is less satisfying; especially when I see RN per forming the job I once had with less expertise. The challeng facing LPNs includes the shortage of Nurses, but also the adversarial work environment created by this new breed of RNs. Letters to the Editor Thank you Print Dear Clackamas Print, Thank you for printing the let ters to the editor that were written in response to the "Pom Star" arti cle and displayed the opposing viewpoint of pornography. I, my friends, family members and church aquaintences appreciate that you listened to the voices of your readers. Please send my thanks to the rest of your crew at the CCC Print. God bless. Paul Southwick Student Kudos to the Print Dear Clacka*-mas Print, Fine job, staff! Congratulations on the second place in General Excellence award and the eight individual awards you gathered last Friday at the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association awards ceremony. The English department is very proud of all your hard work and accomplish ments. You provide a great service to the whole institution, and it is good to see your talents recog- nized. Thank you for all your hard work! You do us proud! Emily Orlando Chair, English Department
