McLaughlin spends a lot of time on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle these days. After 16 years as a registered nurse, and 24 years in health care, he bailed out. It was an agonizing decision. And I only left because I could not do what I was hired to do, and that was mainly being a nurse. Today's health plans, from HMOs to PPOs, force hospitals to cut costs.
Nurses bear much of that burden, taking on more duties and more patients.
McLaughlin believes that he saw patient care taking a back seat to greed. The heck with the patient. But patients keep coming, and experienced nurses keep bolting, and no one is taking their place. The number of nurses graduating from Florida universities has dropped by 50 percent, even though salaries have gone up considerably, jumping by 11 percent. Meanwhile, emergency room visits are up 20 percent since 1990.