thoughts on nursing

I saw a young student tightly hugging a Fundamentals of Nursing text on my morning commute. I guessed her age at around 20 or 21 years of age. So young. I wondered if she had any real clue what she was getting herself into. Did she really know, anything about the journey on which she appeared poised to embark? I always feel a strong urge to ward all young prospects away from Nursing as a career, whenever I encounter them. Still, I refrain from doing so. Who am I, to rain on their parade? Perhaps, perhaps, they will forge through that hell, unaware as one needs to remain in order to survive.

I reflected on the fundamental weakness of health care as a profession ~ particularly Nursing, since that's the beast I know. The administrators of the health care system and the regulators of the profession exists as separate entities. The administrators of the system have the capacity to effect change on the regulators ~i.e. via legislation (the legislators still control the Act that governs the regulating body). However, the regulating body has negligible political influence on the administrating authority, and hence, little capacity to effect any real change in the system.

So ... we have an entity responsible for the administration of patient care. We have an administrator responsible for regulating the professions - the individuals who actually work to deliver the care. Who works to regulate the administrators of care ~ the architects of the health care system? Who works to ensure they have set things right ~ established the appropriate care priorities, allowed for sufficient resources in the field, established safe and effective practices? No one, as far as I can see. That's a problem.