No Nursing Shortage At The Present Time

Despite rampant claims of a critical nursing shortage, many cities and states in the US are actually suffering from the opposite problem: a surplus of nurses. The intended purpose of this article is to challenge the widespread belief that a current nursing shortage exists. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

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Specializes in Trauma.
I emailed this woman:

Kim,

You should really interview new nursing grads, not people advertising for their schools...

There is NO Nursing Shortage! Only a shortage of experienced nurses willing to work.

When I graduated in 09', over half my class was without jobs. Only three years prior, when entering our BSN program, nursing students were having to decided between multiple job offers before even graduating.

Since the economic downturn in 08' things continue to get worse. New Grad Programs have nearly all been shut down. There are very few "New Grad" positions. Hundreds of thousands of new grad nurses are without jobs, many for over a year. They begin to loose their skills they learned in school, and as the next graduating class appears they have even more competition.

The only new grads getting jobs are the absolute "cream of the crop" and even many of those aren't getting jobs. I have an RN new grad working in my department as a Nurses Aid because she still can not get a job, and her resume is remarkable: graduated with honors, worked a summer in Haiti during nursing school giving nursing care, extra nursing courses, and the list goes on.

I encourage you to looks deeper on this and not rely in sources that are making money off of false advertising.

(My Name) RN-C, BSN, PHN

Fantastic email!!

It is a shame that "journalists" no longer investigate the stories they put their name on. They just pull crap off the internet and pretend like it is hard news. They have the publish now, investigate later if someone challenges me work ethic.

dbassi

21 Posts

Excellent posts! I am a new graduate (Dec '11), BSN, and the qualifications that many graduates have. I have applied to many jobs; hospitals, nursing homes, hospice, evening and night shift...

One of these places, a hospice company, answered to my application, inviting me to take an "on-line test" . With some expectation I hit as much material on hospice I had. When the time came to take the test...they were all logic questions, like...if john is the cousin of Martha and... or estimations on productivity, or... I do not have any idea what they wanted. Of course I was never contacted again.

I was also selected for an interview in a hospital after:

1- submit my CV

2- After passing this first filter, I had to submit letter of recommendations and my unofficial transcript

3- After theses were successful, I had to take two very real on-line, timed tests: Med-Surg, and Pharmacology

4- The i was invited to a panel interview, that it seemed to be not satisfactory since I was not selected.

I am about to quit. People have been very supportive, and appreciative, but I cannot work indefinitely as a "job seeker". I have fortunately a nice job since nursing is my second career, but I cannot forget many students that put a lot of effort and still they are looking.

DizzyLizzyNurse

1,024 Posts

Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.

Yes please educate those journalists who can't be bothered to do some research or interview some real live nurses/new grads.

The only reason I got my job was because I was lucky enough to have interviewed for another hospital in the system I work for previously as an LPN. I didn't get the job because I didn't have hospital experience and someone else did. However the recruiter remembered me because she liked me at my interview from 5 years before and remember my name (long, unusual last name). She just happened to have moved to the facility I was trying to get a job at. People I knew who were already in the system as Nurses's Aides couldn't help me get a job. Who knows? I might still be looking for work as an RN if I didn't have that connection? People I graduated with almost 2 years ago are still looking for work. Some have given up.

Lesson of the story? Always be kind to people; you never know when you are gonna run into them again! ;)

HeartsOpenWide, RN

1 Article; 2,889 Posts

Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.
Aloha,Thank you for your feedback. I interviewed many people, several of whom were not included in the story and were not affiliated with nursing schools, and they all had the same thoughts and concerns. I did point out that the shortage is not as severe as it was several years ago, but the focus was on the projected shortage in the future and what colleges were attempting to do to fill that need. I will definitely keep your feedback for future stories. I do enjoy hearing from everyone, so thank you for taking the time to write. Thanks,Kim EatonThe Tuscaloosa News, higher education [email protected]

DizzyLizzyNurse

1,024 Posts

Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.

Maybe I should write her back -

There will be a future shortage when all the new grads who couldn't get jobs go do something else and finally the word gets spread around. Then no one will want to go to school and the programs will close or reduce their size. Then they won't have enough nurses.

BrandonLPN, LPN

3,358 Posts

Yes please educate those journalists who can't be bothered to do some research or interview some real live nurses/new grads.The only reason I got my job was because I was lucky enough to have interviewed for another hospital in the system I work for previously as an LPN. I didn't get the job because I didn't have hospital experience and someone else did. However the recruiter remembered me because she liked me at my interview from 5 years before and remember my name (long, unusual last name). She just happened to have moved to the facility I was trying to get a job at People I knew who were already in the system as Nurses's Aides couldn't help me get a job. Who knows? I might still be looking for work as an RN if I didn't have thatconnection? People I graduated with almost 2 years ago are still looking for work. Some have given up. Lesson of the story? Always be kind to people; you never know when you are gonna run into them again! ;)
Very true. Before I was a LPN, I was an aide on a hospital oncology floor. One of my patients there is a hiring manager at my current (LTC) job. This is a very coveted very high paying government facility. She remembered the good care I gave her as an aide in the hospital and she told me she gave me my job as a new grad over nurses (RN and LPN) with years of experience, BSNs, etc. Good connections can be more valuable than experience and education....

TheCommuter, BSN, RN

102 Articles; 27,612 Posts

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Good connections can be more valuable than experience and education....
I agree with this statement. Sometimes it's less about what you know, and more about who you know. Any job seeker in a competitive employment market will be better off if (s)he has a network of insiders who are willing to vouch for them and 'put in a good word' with a loud enough voice so the hiring managers, recruiters, and HR folks will listen.

AOx1

961 Posts

Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.
It will moderate, but with the push by the acedemics to perpetuate the lies and continue to collect tuitions, ignoring the saturated market to line their own pockets, but the face of nursing has been changed at least until after 2020.
I am a greedy academic. In fact, I am so eager to line my pockets that I completed my doctorate and now earn about the same as when I worked the floor full time. I enjoy my pursuit of money so much that I make it a point to work numerous unpaid hours to mentor nursing students, find them resources, remediate poor performance, and help them excel. Oh, but the rewards are so great! Each and every time I log on here, academics are blamed for: perpetuating the nursing shortage, lying, being evil/out to get students, being lazy, egomaniacal, out of touch, etc.

All of our graduating class had a job. There are still jobs in rural areas where we live, and some rural facilities still have tuition reimbursement. We are honest with our students and encourage them to be educated about the current state of nursing, cautioning them that in other areas of the country, they might not find work. I don't know the solution, but it isn't to attack or blame an entire segment of the nursing profession. Without the lying, pocket-lining academics, not of us would even have a license.

The economy is terrible. Many fields aren't hiring. Should we just close all colleges? As consumers of education, first start by doing your own research. Are jobs available in your area? Are you willing to work any shift, holidays, weekends, or any area if jobs are scarce? Let's just shut down all degree paths with a surplus of graduates! Sorry to those of you planning to become English, theater, communications, arts, education, or psychology majors, but you are no longer allowed to get degrees. No paternalism, there!

CrunchRN, ADN, RN

4,530 Posts

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

You make some very good points AOx1 and I believe you are right in general. However, they do need to decrease the number of schools pumping out new nurses and should start with the private for profit ones in my opinion. This over saturation will do nothing but leave people with huge debt and no job and drive down wages. Although it sounds like you are being frank with your students I know that many are not and continuing to shout about the nursing shortage.

AOx1

961 Posts

Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

CrunchRN, I would like to see fewer, higher-quality nursing programs. My students attend clinicals at a local hospital, and another school is on the floor at the same time. Their instructor is never there, and instead hangs out in the cafeteria. My students get to do so much more, because the staff knows that I am right there with my students. This whole thing saddens me, because I work 50+ hours a week as an educator, plus 4-6 shifts a month in my practice area, to make sure that the education I provide is current and relevant. I have given so much of myself to this profession. I am just weary of the nasty negativity constantly directed at academics. I am a nurse, I am a researcher, I am an educator. I treat every member of the healthcare team with respect, from the janitor to the CEO, and I don't value a CNA less than the CNO. It would just be nice to come here and not see constant attacks from fellow nurses. The site is called "allnurses," and nurse academics should also be welcome.I thank you for listening, CrunchRN. It means a lot to not be dismissed just because the opinion comes from a different nursing specialty.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN

4,530 Posts

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

You are right. I am guilty of painting all "faculty" with the same brush and i know plenty that are wonderful. It is just frustration with the way things are going and the results of that. However, in future, I will try to modify my statements not to include all faculty.

Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

I graduated with my BSN in '07 from a University in Virginia. You know what I did? I moved to Wyoming and took a job doing med/surg. Got two solid years under my belt then switched to psych and joined the Nurse Corps. Advice I would give new nurses...open your options. Look around the country..there are places with a lot of openings, but maybe not right where you are. Get your experience somewhere, then you make yourself so much more valuable. Places like Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska. If you want something you go get it. If you have kids and a family and can't move, well..that is a decision you made to have kids and a husband. We all make decisions.