•
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