Heart, Mind & Strength links to an article about some people blaming the television show ER for the nursing shortage. I heard this on NPR on the way home from work and laughed out loud. The nursing shortage has been a problem in this country for years now and it is real serious. I saw how great nurses are when my dad had cancer-it was the nurses who were there in the home with the patient day after day. Nursing is a very noble profession and although I think it is a bit silly to blame ER for a situation that existed before the show was on the air, I hope that this group's campaign will raise awareness. With the baby boomers getting older the health care industry is going to become even larger and the problems in the field must be dealt with now. I would hope that government, universities and private industries could create scholarships and programs to encourage more people to become nurses. I think the fact that it is an industry traditionally dominated by women is keeping many men from considering the field. And the fact that nurses are overworked and underappreciated keeps the turnover rate high. Hopefully the field will see nurses paid better and treated better so their ranks grow.