Discuss a health care issue that has an implication for the nursing profession?

Which one of the many thousands of issues would you LIKE to discuss?

Off the top of my head, I'd say the biggest issue here in Canada is the chronic shortage in nurses. The government insists that the nursing profession has topped out and no more nurses are required. In the meantime, we have patients in hospitals who have to wait for hours to get a nurse to do the simplest things, like replace empty I.V. bags or to give them their regular medications.

Forget entirely the quality care such as sponge baths and care for bed sores. All of this type of care has to be undertaken by the patients families, or not be done at all. The most neglected patients are often the most helpless...the elderly who have been dumped onto the chronic care wards by overwhelmed families, who wait for years to get into a bed at a geriatric facility.

The federal government has to acknowledge that the situation exists at this unacceptable level, and step in to return more of the tax dollars to the provinces so it can be funnelled into elderly care.

Rising numbers of aging baby boomers will overwhelm the health care system over the next few years. It is predicted that medical technology will keep them alive longer (90s...maybe even into their 100s), but that does not necessarily mean they will be healthy.