We Want You

I get these things in the mail almost everyday. Hospitals are always looking for nurses and sending out flyers. Contrary to popular belief, there is not really a nursing shortage. What there is, is a shortage of hospitals that nurses are willing to work in, for good reason I might add.

Most hospitals offer sign in bonuses or even cars, such as Ford Mustang convertibles. This hospital offered a modest $2,000. $5,000 to $10,000 is closer to the norm. It's still not enough, though. But that's the topic for a different post.

What interested me here is the photo. Some of the nurses are wearing leis and carrying pom poms. Is that how the nurses at this hospital dress for work? They look like they're having more fun than the weary, depressed nurses I work with. I guess the flier nurses are trying to pretend that their hospital is a fun place to work. I do plead guilty to being cynical by nature, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think that they are lying. In fact I know that they're lying. I've been in that hospital as a student nurse and as a patient and I never saw a lei, pom pom or happy nurse.

I also never saw a monkey. Take a closer look at the photo.


See the monkey? Is this something new? Do they have monkeys swinging from the IV poles in their hospital? Or, are they saying that some of their coworkers are monkeys? If they're saying that a monkey could do this job, it's not true. A monkey wouldn't do this job.