Wrong. My son, from Meridian, got his nursing education in MS and started nursing in NOLA. His current girlfriend from Hattiesburg did the same thing: USM for nursing school and started as a nurse in NOLA. That is where they met. Now, they're travel nursing to see where they want to live and both say they never plan to come back to MS. And my son was very much a homebody growing up. The main reasons they don't want to live here is because the pay is significantly less and most of the cities and towns lack the better schools and community infrastructure like nicer stores, restaurants, etc. that you find in other states.
MSU starting nursing program in Meridian
- Thread starter Duke Humphrey
- Start date
Interesting thread- both the actual announcement and the tangential discussions.
The part about pay is really fascinating because it seems like whatever is done to address pay, many will complain about the resulting impacts.
If nurses are paid more(and orderlies too), then who is paid less to offset that increased cost? Does the hospital employ fewer people, do doctors get their pay reduced, or are the increased costs passed on to patients?
- If the result is fewer people employed, that creates obvious issues for staffing, prompt safety service, etc.
- If the result is doctors get their pay reduced, that clearly wont go over well with them and I am sure we would see an impact in service and availability as a result.
- If the result is increased bills for patients to pay, then I am confident most everyone who is a patient will complain since they will have to pay more out of pocket and also perhaps higher premiums.
I hear people say/post that Admin staffing is too bloated and thats where cuts can be made. Perhaps, I really dont know as I am not in the field. In general though, I have found that with less oversight comes less safety in many fields.
Everyone wants better medical care, everyone wants better service, everyone wants lower costs. I am not sure how those can all co-exist in the current system.
I am confident that a less regulated system will turn out worse for society as a whole, but am otherwise very unsure.
The part about pay is really fascinating because it seems like whatever is done to address pay, many will complain about the resulting impacts.
If nurses are paid more(and orderlies too), then who is paid less to offset that increased cost? Does the hospital employ fewer people, do doctors get their pay reduced, or are the increased costs passed on to patients?
- If the result is fewer people employed, that creates obvious issues for staffing, prompt safety service, etc.
- If the result is doctors get their pay reduced, that clearly wont go over well with them and I am sure we would see an impact in service and availability as a result.
- If the result is increased bills for patients to pay, then I am confident most everyone who is a patient will complain since they will have to pay more out of pocket and also perhaps higher premiums.
I hear people say/post that Admin staffing is too bloated and thats where cuts can be made. Perhaps, I really dont know as I am not in the field. In general though, I have found that with less oversight comes less safety in many fields.
Everyone wants better medical care, everyone wants better service, everyone wants lower costs. I am not sure how those can all co-exist in the current system.
I am confident that a less regulated system will turn out worse for society as a whole, but am otherwise very unsure.
That sounds like a function of them wanting to leave, rather than a lack of a job.
Of course pay is less in MS, as there is less COL. That's not unique to nursing, I would imagine that matches basically every job in every field there is. When you say "significantly", I'd be interested in how much? And are they doing some type of weird deal that can only be found in certain hospitals? I'd expect that nurses get paid more out at MD Anderson in Houston or something. But I know plenty of nurses in areas like Birmingham that don't make squat.
The main question is here is how is nursing specifically that much different than any other field (MS vs. other states)?
People are leaving to live in areas that they view as more desirable for whatever reason. Nursing is probably less of a problem than most degrees, because you don't have a lot more opportunities out of state like you might in business, finance, accounting, law, etc.
But I'm sure we still lose some that just want a different experience. Had a family friend's daughter leave the coast to go to Nashville basically because she views the coast as not having enough young single people. Which I guess is true compared to Nashville, although I think she's going to be disappointed to find out her place in the dating pool isn't going to improve by being in a big city and while there may be more guys, they're not going to be in much of a hurry to settle down because of the supply of single women. But we're always going to lose some of those. Would be nice to not give them a state-subsidized professional degree on the way out the door though.
There's a tremendous shortage. It's not remotely debatable.
One thing to keep in mind about USM is the health care footprint in Hattiesburg, which is sizeable.
Forrest General has 545 beds which is top 5 in the state. Hattiesburg Clinic, Merit Health, and all of the specialized health care in and around the Pine Belt is significant.
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Then why aren't the hospitals being forced to simply......pay more? Capitalism and what not?
Seems like there would be a shortage everywhere. I'm having trouble buying that this is a uniquely Mississippi problem.
I have several family members in medicine including an ER nurse sister who just retired to key west and works at the hospital there when she's bored to make a little extra spending money. None of them worked in MS although my brother went to UMMC, he immediately moved to Huntsville and has a practice there.
I'll be 50 before I get through nursing school and have no plans to work in MS except to get enough experience to become a travel nurse (2 years from what I can tell). Going to buy an RV and work my way around the country. I'm sure I'll get tired of it after 10 or 15 years which hopefully coincides with me retiring.
Im sure this program is to help the shortage in MS but I'll leave the travel nurse part off my application. If they want to pay for my school I'll consider staying in MS.
So true.
Many of my family members including myself see specialists in the Pine Belt region.
I’ve said several times before that Hattiesburg is the best university & retirement town in the state and that if I stay in-state when I retire that it’s my Number One choice to live.
A very good question. I'm not sure of the answer, but I suspect that the drivers and restraints of the nursing market are more complicated than "throwing money" at it (e.g. "paying more").
My sense is that a high demand market has been impacted by the pandemic. Add in hospital systems (including gyrations of mergers and acquisitions) and reimbursable expenses from insurers -- there are probably a lot of contributors to these challenges.
Ultimately, though, it is the consumer and the taxpayer (read: you and I) that get hit with the bill.
Dumb question — No one has mentioned this that I’m aware of so maybe *it* doesn’t apply.
But how much does Tater Tot’s refusal to consider Medicaid Expansion fuel this situation?
#lockthethreadmods
Yes they left because they wanted to leave for the reasons I stated above. Both had job offers in MS. To me, that makes it worse, that our children don't want to stay and raise a family here. Our generation has done a ****** job making MS an attractive place to live even to our own children.
Then why aren't the hospitals being forced to simply......pay more? Capitalism and what not?
They're throwing more work on the people they've got. It's why more are leaving every day. Hospitals also can't afford to add them in a number of areas. Money/funding is a struggle in MS.
I don't really know. Pure capitalism can't efficiently work when EMTALA requires hospitals to treat every person that presents in the ER. Have you been to an ER lately? Go the UMC ER at a weird hour. I feel sorry for ER staffs; it's a freaking zoo with people in beds lining the halls. It's really bizarre - and I'm talking about post-covid.
Market principles break down in the current medical economy in a number of ways. As it should if a culture wants to provide some base level of care for all of its citizens.
I thought of that too, but also figured it was a dumb question.
Understand. I probably wouldn't be here either had I not gotten a great job.....a job that I could not get in the multiple states I had been living before. It's hard being a halfass idealist but I don't want to be a hypocrite either.
If all this is true about nursing, then those are the areas that we really must improve - areas where we punch below the average, even considering our status as #50. Another one is having a decent (not great, just decent, or really just not sucktastic) urban core - which is another reason I keep saying we MUST confront this Jackson issue. Another is our state parks. Another is all this tort law BS.
Great thing is that it seems much of this is FINALLY getting addressed. It won't help us, but hopefully the next generation.
All you whiny 17ers that are scared of Meridian are little bitches and speak from what you have been told instead of personal experience. I'm downtown at night all the damn time and am never concerned. Sometimes with friends and sometimes with children.
Keep your *** out of areas you shouldnt go to just like other cities and you're fine
Keep your *** out of areas you shouldnt go to just like other cities and you're fine
I wouldn't call it that but Meridian certainly has its problems now. Crime has been an increasing problem ever since Katrina blew in a bunch of NOLA refugees. And, unfortunately, many families with an economic choice have left Meridian public schools and are now in private or county schools. Downtown has seen some significant investment and upgrades and I agree with the OP that I am completely comfortable walking around downtown, day or night. But the truth is, Meridian is a reflection of America: a hollowed out middle class because so much of the industrial capacity that paid middle class wages long ago was exported to overseas. Meridian and the rural US is a lot different than it was in the 1960s and 1970s when I was growing up.
Same here. I stay out of the bad areas as I would in any other city. Never had a problem and never felt I was living in a **** hole.
Meridian has a good foundation to be a good town. Its my hometown and I'm unfortunately moving back soon. I left because there isn't a good foundation of tech jobs to support anyone who wants to pursue that aspect (I work remotely now)
Meridian's crime problem stems from a decades-long corrupt local government, and that recently came to a boiling point with the local police. I have a friend who is an officer in Meridian and he told me they were extremely short staffed, so much so you'd normally only have 4 patrol cars active during the day in the whole city.
The staffing shortage was so bad that at one point in 2022 they were down to just 20 officers.
Thankfully though it seems they are making good investments in improving everything, and if your concern is raising a family and owning property, the areas outside of Meridian aren't bad for that.
I haven't lived in Meridian in about 6 years, and when I return now it really does seem like an improvement from when I left, even though it may have seemed like a long road to get to where they are now.
I was pushed an article that names the best places to retire in Mississippi.
Meridian was near the top.
www.worldatlas.com
Pretty sure some AI not wrote the article, but it's still funny to see the description contrast so starkly with this thread.
Meridian was near the top.
The 8 Best Small Towns To Retire In Mississippi
www.worldatlas.com
Pretty sure some AI not wrote the article, but it's still funny to see the description contrast so starkly with this thread.
Those restaurants are not here….I was pushed an article that names the best places to retire in Mississippi.
Meridian was near the top.
The 8 Best Small Towns To Retire In Mississippi
Pretty sure some AI not wrote the article, but it's still funny to see the description contrast so starkly with this thread.
I was pushed an article that names the best places to retire in Mississippi.
Meridian was near the top.
The 8 Best Small Towns To Retire In Mississippi
Pretty sure some AI not wrote the article, but it's still funny to see the description contrast so starkly with this thread.
Pretty sure you are right on the money about an AI bot writing it. I stopped reading when it mentioned that Corinth was nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. WTF?
When someone gets government data and doesn’t look at the geography.
Alcorn is an ARC county but nestled?
24 counties in Mississippi are part of Appalachia- Oktibbeha being one.
Wild, I know.
I wont get into this too much since its SPS and reality is tough for many to handle, but this came about because of racism, an effort for one group to have power, and money that was being given out. So now nearly 60 years later, 30% of counties in Mississippi are part of Appalachia.
The next two dominoes that I mentioned for the MSU-Meridian medical campus expansion were announced yesterday. These two programs are huge steps forward. And they are still not the end.
State College Board approves first doctoral program at MSU-Meridian
Contact: Sid SalterMERIDIAN, Miss.—Mississippi State University-Meridian received approval for its first doctoral program and an additional healthcare program at the Thursday [March 23] meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.The board approved both...
"MERIDIAN – Mississippi State University-Meridian received approval for its first doctoral program and an additional healthcare program at the March 23 meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.
The Board approved both the Doctor of Psychology and Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration programs, extending the university’s growing commitment to meeting critical healthcare needs of the region. "
There is a shortage everywhere. I serve on the board for a rural hospital. Pre-covid, transfers to other hospitals was an issue off and on. Now it's an issue all the time. Hospitals have beds but are short on staff, thus they cannot take patients. Recently an orthopedic patient needed a transfer for a procedure. The charge nurse spent 2 days and contacted 12 facilities from LA, TN, AL, GA, and NW FL trying to get them in. Finally a hospital in Nashville offered to take them. Couldn't fly the patient so a ground ambulance was the only option. Family decided to wait for an opening which took over a week. Sending the ground ambulance to Nashville, TN from south MS would have been astronomical in cost and kept the ambulance and crew out of service for 2 days. And the local hospital would have had to eat 3/4 of that cost.
Pre-covid a new BSN/RN coming out of school would have been hired at $18-23 and hour. Now it's more like $28 and up. Great for the nurse, but the reimbursement rate is the same as it was pre-covid. We saw nurses retire from exhaustion and stress. Those not at retirement just quit.
And the best news is this ain't over. It will take 3-5 years to begin to cover demand. You can believe what you want to. Free country and such. But it's real and the fact is there is a huge problem. I just hope you don't gt to experience it first-hand, parked on a gurney in an ER hallway.
My wife says this is the biggest issue—they don't have a large hospital nearby. Some place that the nursing school can pair with. That's more of a population problem. I bet if you had a larger pop. that would equal more patients somebody would exand/build something larger. I spent a large part of the last two years hospitalized. They brought several nursing students through to teach them patient care firsthand.
When we moved to Leander it was a small town just north of Austin. The population was 50,00 in 2017. In 2023 we now have over 80,000 in the city limits. Wouldn't you know it, they're breaking ground on a new hospital and medical complex just off the toll road that they are expanding through to Liberty Hill. Across the road that runs in front of the hospital they are building they're planning to put another medical facility for doctors offices and other medical care.
Tennessee's is 11 months I think. Also, TN hospitals will pay your tuition for a 2 year commitment to work in their hospital. That's very doable even if you want to move back to MS later.
George Thompson Pound
Glory be the mountains of Mississippi!***
Its genuinely a really wild story to learn about.
myth which was submitted when trying to include Mississippi in order to get some gov't cheese.
reality- what happened to the mountains?
I was told there are 74 students in the PA program. This is on purpose as demand Is much higher but the plan was to increase incrementally. Of those students only 5 live (perm) within driving distance and they represent 17 different states.
MSU Meridian is focusing on the types of programs that bring in students from other areas now, where in the past it was all local untraditional students (in business and education).
meridian has more work to do but downtown is alive and some nights flat out booming.
It’s good for the state and MSU.
I’m also hearing more apartment options are in the works for downtown meridian.
MSU Meridian is focusing on the types of programs that bring in students from other areas now, where in the past it was all local untraditional students (in business and education).
meridian has more work to do but downtown is alive and some nights flat out booming.
It’s good for the state and MSU.
I’m also hearing more apartment options are in the works for downtown meridian.
Sat next to a guy in the PA program from ATL. Undergrad in birmingham
He said hes enjoying the first few weeks and likes meridian and planned to stay in state. That **** works
