Your health, and the health of your audience, is being jeopardized by nursing shortages. RealityRN.com, launching October 10, is the first and only website whose goal is to combat the shortage and decrease patient mortality rates in hospitals by focusing on new nurses and keeping new nurses in the profession. Nurses are available now for interviews.
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) September 20, 2007 -- Your health is being jeopardized by nursing shortages. RealityRN.com, launching October 10, is the first and only website whose goal is to combat the shortage and decrease patient mortality rates in hospitals by focusing on new nurses and helping to keep them in the profession. The federal government is projecting a shortage of one million nurses and 24,000 doctors in the U.S. by 2020. According to a 2006 report by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, Illinois will face a shortage of 21,000 registered nurses by 2010. Two-thirds of these vacancies will be in the Chicago area. Numerous studies have shown the effects of short staffing on patient care. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that for each additional medical-surgical patient in a registered nurse's care, the risk of death increases by 7 percent. In hospitals with 8 patients per nurse, patients have a 31 percent greater risk of dying than those in hospitals with 4 patients per nurse. One reason for this is that new nurses are leaving the profession at an alarming rate. Stats show that almost half of new nurses leave the profession within 2 years of graduation. A solution needs to be found STAT.
RealityRN.com hosts a conversation for new nurses looking to find practical help to fill in the gap between what they learned in nursing school and what they are experiencing the first couple of years into their job, for example:
•What do you do when a doctor makes a mistake?
•How do you keep your energy up, combat depression and stay positive during back-to-back 12-hour shifts?
•Is a male nurse treated differently than a female nurse?
RealityRN raises these issues, and many others, that nurses face in a variety of ways, including provocative and practical articles from experts and experienced nurses, cartoons, blogs and message boards.
"RealityRN is where new nurses can talk frankly about the real issues that cause them to leave the profession," says Dave Goetz, co-founder and president of RealityRN. "With few exceptions, most web sites for nurses are either association sites with technical and/or continuing-ed information or advertising sites thinly disguised as nursing sites. RealityRN is not an information site. It's a community that is built on great content and authentic conversation."
Reality RN has a wide range of respected experts in the nursing field, including a Senior Advisory Board, who contribute to articles and blog on the site. "Reality Unscripted", a blog by Jana Goetz, RN, BSN, Managing Editor of RealityRN, and nurse for over 25 years, writes openly and honestly about the sense of calling that many nurses feel about their profession. "We want to connect nurses back to the reason they went into the profession in the first place," says Jana. "Our ultimate mission is to keep nurses in the profession."
Melody, a site user, posted this comment : "I am a 2-month-old licensed practical nurse about to pursue my AS-RN degree. And this website has been a great confidence booster. I am going to send it to all of my classmates. The reality of nursing has hit me hard. Every area that your website has covered is exactly what I am going through. I love my job, it has high challenges. Thank you for all the advice ..."
Reality RN, a privately held company, is located in Wheaton, IL. Reality RN is the premier site for new nurses. It's an online community for those who want to participate in a real conversation about the nursing profession. See www.RealityRN.com
If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Andrea Martin at 630-222-0908 or e-mail at [email protected]
CONTACT:
Andrea Martin
p:630.222.0908
f: 630.690.3746
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