Re: Nurse-to-patient staffing minimums are a reform victory

[Rakesh Bhandari <rakeshb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Concerning the California governor's announcement discussed
> here recently:
>
> The nurse-to-patient staffing minimums won by the California
> Nurses Association constitute a reform victory for patients and
> nurses. They give bedside nurses a tool to fight terrible
> situations of overwork and impossible-to-meet responsibility.
>
> CNA points out that lots of nursing labor is available. Nurses
> have been running away from acute care hospitals because of the
> horrible working conditions. A year or so ago, Victoria,
> Australia adopted staffing minimums and quickly expanded the
> number of nurses in hospitals by 13%. Also, a high percentage of
> nurses work part-time, and as working conditions improve, some of
> them will add a few hours per week.
>
> I agree with the comments by Phillips and Walker that the U.S.
> should put more resources into nursing education rather than rely
> on Canada, England, the Philippines, etc. to do it.

Charlie--

Perhaps the Phillipino govt trains nurses for export to the US?  What
would be the immediate effect of less remittance and hard currency be
on the Phillipines (wasn't it after all the unusually high level of
remittances that allowed the Phillipines to weather the Asia
Financial Panic better than its neighbors) and what would be the
effect on those Phillipina nurses themselves if job opportunities in
the land of their former colonial masters were to vanish? Should
Phillipinas only be allowed into to the first world as domestics (see
work of Rachel Parrenas) who since they are not in intense job
competition with autochthonous workers may not inspire actually rabid
ethnocentrism?

Rakesh