I suppose it’s the thought that counts. I mean, not every nurse is willing to climb Mt. Everest to bring attention to the nursing shortage. But then, why should they, when there are easier, better, and far more effective ways of both bringing attention to the problem and the solution. But this particular nurse thinks that climbing a mountain (which he undoubtedly wants to do anyway) and collecting money for his efforts, is somehow going to make an impact on the nursing profession.

Sorry Charlie, but no dice.

From South Carolina’s http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/living/health/16699081.htmState.com

Patrick Hickey is set to follow in the boot steps of Mount Everest pioneer George Leigh Mallory. But unlike Mallory, he isn’t climbing the mountain “because it’s there.” He’s doing it to let people know about the nation’s nursing shortage and to raise money to train new nurses.

Hickey aims to raise $29,035 — a dollar for each foot of altitude of Mount Everest. The money will go to the Summit Scholarship, for students who want to enter USC’s College of Nursing.

“I hope this scholarship will encourage them to join the nursing program,” said Hickey, an assistant professor at the school.

Isn’t that noble of him? There’s nothing wrong with funding a scholarship, but the current nursing shortage has nothing at all to do with scholarships. If he wants to do something for nursing, then why not use the money to lobby the state government for real changes–like banning mandatory overtime? Passing a minimum nurse/patient ratio? Or donate the money to the state nurses’ association to be used for unionizing efforts.

But that would be too controversial. Like many academians, Patrick seems to have his head in the sand.

Each year, colleges around the country turn away many qualified applicants because of money and teaching staff shortages. So as veteran nurses retire, there are few new nurses to take their place. At the same time, the need for nursing care continues to grow as the population ages.

The usual perfunctory quotes about nursing. Isn’t it amazing how nearly all newspaper articles say the identical thing, and dance around the real issues? From reading this, you’d think that the nursing shortage were merely a problem of schools being unable to educate the vast numbers of people who want to be nurses, and that the only reason nurses leave their jobs is because of retirement. Never mind the high attrition rate from nursing schools, or from the profession for reasons other than retirement.

The article goes on to say that Patrick will be talking with high school students about his career choice, and that he’s already tried to indoctrinate boy scouts.

“I hope more guys will see what I’m doing and what a great career nursing is,” he said.

Now if I was one of those students, sitting in a classroom and being for forced to listen to this, I would be wondering why Patrick was here in the first place. If nursing is such a great career, then why is there such a shortage? Why the need for bells, whistles, climbing Mt. Everest, idiotic television commercials, and even more idiotic websites like Discovernursing.com? Why have there been chronic nursing shortages for the past 50 years? If nursing is so wonderful, then how on earth could a shortage ever happened? We don’t hear about lawyer shortages, or shortages of fashion models or actors, or even shortages of accountants.

Oh, and by the way Patrick, Mallory died on Mt. Everest. I don’t think you want to follow too closely in his footsteps.