Should nursing schools lower their standards due to the shortage of nurses?

[cuppycake1221]

I've heard of the bill, Nurse Education Expansion, and Development Act (still underway) that allows "Public Health Service Act to authorize capitation grants to increase the number of nursing faculty and students, and for other purposes."Do you think this bill should be enforced? Should nursing schools lower their standards to beat the shortage of nurses we're experiencing? Or do you think there is an alternative, say, like increasing the salary of nursing professors so we won't be short of them? How do we defeat the nursing shortage?! You think the bill, if it becomes law, will do any good?

[Eve6132]

Sure, we could do with incompetence in the nursing profession, no problemo.How about better standards, better pay? Send them to Canada. We can use them up here.

[SusanS0112]

That sounds mighty scary!

[May5990]

no, i don't think they should lower their standards. Im sorry, there are ppl in my class already making medication errors b/c they don't know how to do basic math, if they lower the standards more patients will die for no reason!

[MatthewM9588]

No, they should not lower their standards. How would you like some sub-par critical care nurse taking care of you, or your loved ones, in an ICU or an ER somewhere? What they could do is treat nurses better than they do, and increase the pay. Doctors make a killing each year, well before they pay malpractice that is, and they do hardly anything. I know that they possess a great quantity of knowledge and are essential to the hospital, but with slightly more, or virtually no more, training a nurse could do the job a physician does. Doctors also need to stop acting so high and mighty and give nurses the respect that they deserve. A lot of things need to change, but schools do not need to become more lenient on their standards.

[CarlaO]

While I think there should be grants in place to hire more faculty and increase pay for instructors, there is absolutely no way nursing programs should lower their standards. People lives are depending on the critical thinking skills of a well educated nurse. Nursing school is designed to give you these skill while weeding out the incompetent. Nursing school is rigorous and intense and that should never change. Even if a person has the heart and the determination to do the job doesn't mean that they should.

[trailhiker088058]

NO, as a health care worker you are dealing with other people health, lower standards was done to help minorities students.Minorities students need to work and study harder to meet the current standards, it should not be the other way around where standard are lowered to meet the students who can't cut it. My wife and daughter are nurses they worked hard and meet the standard....

[bud687822]

"Standards" are not the problem. Available student slots (especially for clinical training) and instructor shortages are the main bottlenecks.

[KIMB4064]

Yikes!! No, there needs to be other incentives to get intelligent, well qualified people into the field. Lowering the standard would mean lowering the patients level of care...that is not acceptable. We really need to be going in the other direction, up, raising the standard and improving care.