From: "Kelley Walker" <kelley at interpactinc.com>
> in fact, as i recall, at my mother's graduation from school for her B.N.,
> the head nurse spoke about the ways in which the nurse's association had
> been dealing with these very problems. the professionalization of nursing
> was a movement to raise their wages (it worked! but it reproduced the
> hierarchies _within_ nursing) and to pick up the slack. that is, since
> doctor's were failing to take the whole person into account when treating
> them, then it was the nurse's job-- and this was defined as part of the
> _profession_ of nursing.
As an example of the hierarchies within nursing Kelley writes about, The Association of State Boards of Nursing is lobbying for a law that would require RNs to have a Master's degree prior to registration. The snobbery of most "professional" nursing organizations is fairly well-entrenched, with most of the leadership being nurse administrators completely disconnected from the problems staff nurses face.
Also, as in other professions, unionized nurses make more money and have better benefits than non-union RNs, and, most importantly, they have the ability to address staffing, nurse-patient ratios, etc. in their contracts.
As it relates to patient deaths, most hospital's staff their departments with RNs pulled from other floors, and most hospital's mandate nurses to work beyond the end of their shift (or a nurse "volunteers" to avoid mandation).
Jeff