[brian]

By 2020, the U.S. shortage is estimated to be 285,000 full-time nurses and reach 500,000 by 2025.

Inadequate nurse staffing in hospitals is associated with reductions in hospital bed capacity, delays in the timeliness of patient care, longer length of stay by patients, interruptions in care delivery processes and increased risk of adverse patient outcomes including mortality, the researchers said in a statement.


Full Story: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Health/...r_nurses/1560/

[oramar]

Well, we all have known this for a long time. Up until this point the shortage has actually been a shortage of people willing to work due to the crummy conditions and barely adequate pay. Very, very soon the demographic shortage will be upon us, will hit full force in next five to ten years. Estimates are that it will be bad but no one knows for sure how sever it will be.

[elkpark]

Once again, the article makes a bland statement about nurses leaving the field due to retirement and attrition, like they're talking about "normal" attrition and NOT that nurses, new grads and seasoned pros, are leaving the field in droves because of the lousy working conditions too many employers expect us to tolerate ...

[amjowens]

I'm a nursing student, and at most schools have a waiting list. I know of many students who have earned high grades, completed all course pre-requisites, yet the schools of nursing have no open seats.

From the former comments, it sounds like it's assumed that even if those students did successfully complete their nursing degrees, they'd likely choose other careers due to poor conditions in nursing. I'm not sure about this point of view (not yet actually a nurse to know this), but a lot of the students waiting are working as nurse aides, so it's not as though they're going into health care blindly.

[STalbott888]

I think this is a vicious cycle. I'm studying my brains out in preparation for a pre-entrance test. If I don't make a certain score, I can't get in. I was in nursing school before. I flunked second quarter after having had my 4th baby, and studying Pharm course WITH the nursing. I was only 1.5 points away from passing my final, which I needed a high B to pass. Do you think they would let a mere 1.5 points go? NO! They keep crying out that theres a nursing shortage, and yet they do everything they can to "Weed" people out. I used to see some pretty scandulous things going on in nursing school to get students out of there.
Poor babies!!! Why don't they make nursing school more accessible, quit putting so much emphasis on one's ability to take a test and focus more on how that student is with "hands on" nursing skills? Not so much on your ability to regurgitate some "fact" you will probably never use!!
Good Lord, get some common sense whoever is behind this worthless system!!

[amjowens]

While I feel really bad for the pre-nursing students who can't get in due to grades that are less than stellar, I do think it's generally a good thing for the nursing PROFESSION to keep standards high. For ex, med schools don't lower their standards just because they need to fill a class or pass on students just because they don't make the grades/have personal stress, etc. And I'm really glad to see fellow students who have the grades and qualities that would get them into med school CHOOSE nursing over medicine. My frustration is when these highly qualified students are with 3.5+ GPAs, great test scores, excellent personal qualities and experience, yet are being given possibly years of a waiting list. USUALLY, the same person with qualities that allows them to have these scores, etc, is the same person who will give it his/her all, think critically, and improve health care when actually with patients.

I just think it's a little ironic that there's a nursing shortage, yet these qualified and dedicated people (who would improve the image of nursing in the bigger pic) are turned away.

[jlsRN]

This can be viewed positively for nursing. It's time to strengthen our unions and contracts. It's when there is a glut of workers we lose bargaining clout. A shortage should put us in a position of strength.

Did you know that the silver lining that came from the European Black Plague that wiiped out much of the population was the break up of the feudal system? It was the shortage of workers that gave them the upper hand.

Lets view this as a golden opportunity for change!!!

[elkpark]

Originally Posted by jlsRN

This can be viewed positively for nursing. It's time to strengthen our unions and contracts. It's when there is a glut of workers we lose bargaining clout. A shortage should put us in a position of strength.

Did you know that the silver lining that came from the European Black Plague that wiiped out much of the population was the break up of the feudal system? It was the shortage of workers that gave them the upper hand.

Lets view this as a golden opportunity for change!!!

This is exactly why it's the business community (including all the hospital associations) that are always carrying on about the so-called "nursing shortage" (which many of us consider a pernicious myth) and how we need lots more schools cranking out ever larger numbers of minimally-prepared new grads. They much prefer that to having to address the negative working conditions that are driving so many seasoned, experiences nurses from the bedside. There is no "nursing shortage," there is only a shortage of nurses willing to put up with crummy working conditions. The US government's own figures show that there are hundreds of thousands of licensed RNs in the US right now who are not presently working as nurses -- more than enough to fill every current vacancy in the country ... There is also a maldistribution of nurses that is somewhat of a problem -- some particular areas of the country really do have shortages, while the more popular/desirable areas of the country are saturated with nurses and new grads can't find jobs, any jobs.

[STalbott888]

Most of the surgeons I work with, don't believe in a "nursing shortage" either.... For the mere facts you just stated.

[Mijourney]

Shortage of nursing or no, the fact remains that the health care system needs to be overhauled away from illness management into preventive health maintenance and chronic disease managment. Too much funding is going into research and development for illness management and treatment. Not enough emphasis is being placed on how to achieve and maintain optimal health.