Retraining Displaced Workers As Nurses

[TheCommuter]

When the economy started to slump after the financial meltdown in the U.S. several years ago, masses of displaced workers suddenly began to view nursing as a safe haven.

The nursing profession has been a magnet for many unemployed people heading back to school (Robertson, 2011). During the past few years, people from various backgrounds have been flocking to the healthcare field due to the perception of job security, career mobility, and steady income.

Government money has paid part or all of the bill for those displaced workers to retrain (Schultz, 2010). And now that they have retrained, many are still seeking employment because something unexpected took place as the economy tanked.

Shortages that had been evident for almost a decade were all but wiped out as retired nurses returned to the workforce (Robertson, 2011). Also, nurses who once planned to retire had decided to keep working to replenish retirement accounts that lost money during the recession.

Is retraining displaced workers to become nurses a good idea? Even though this can be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no,' the question is not as concrete as it may appear. I will start by saying that many displaced workers would surely turn out to be amazing nurses due to their work ethic, life experience, maturity, unique personalities, and eagerness to learn. In addition, it greatly helps the situation if the dislocated worker has a true interest in healthcare and a passion for helping others.

However, a mass effort to retrain unemployed people and track them into one specific career pathway cannot always be beneficial, especially if many of these individuals didn't really have the inclination or personal desire to become nurses in the first place. In fact, too many people who are currently enrolled in nursing programs divulge that they dislike many aspects of nursing, but the idea of a middle-class income at the end of the pipeline was too irresistible to pass up.

Do other professions actively encourage displaced workers to become members of their ranks? There's a dearth of qualified employees in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) professions here in the U.S., but the leaders of these fields are not looking at unemployed people as the quick and easy solution to their labor shortages. This country is badly in need of family practice doctors, but I suspect the American Medical Association would frown upon using dislocated workers to fill more slots in medical school.

The displaced worker who has the desire to become a nurse should follow his or her dream and take the necessary steps. However, the people who are jumping on the nursing bandwagon for the supposed security and 'big bucks' might become sorely disappointed.

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[Mulan]

I would have gone to whoever/whatever agency was in charge, even to the media if necessary.

If you're not willing to do something about it, don't complain about it.

[dee78]

Some things are not worth the time and effort to fight about it, that doesn't mean that you can't disagree or voice concern about the situation. Constantly tattling on people would be a very negative way to live.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

So, OK some of you guys don't live in a big metro area like Chicago or are a little inexperienced in the ways of the world. Hey look. Most of our Government does not follow the "rules". This info is clearly gonna be a big shock to some.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Ok, Mulan. You are either a 1) very easy-going person where nothing makes you raise an eyebrow or 2) a very, very busy person ridding the world of all the issues that concern you.

Ok, back on topic. My previous posts were responses to others that took us off track. Sorry about that.

Do other professions actively encourage displaced workers to become members of their ranks? There's a dearth of qualified employees in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) professions here in the U.S., but the leaders of these fields are not looking at unemployed people as the quick and easy solution to their labor shortages. This country is badly in need of family practice doctors, but I suspect the American Medical Association would frown upon using dislocated workers to fill more slots in medical school.

What you seem to be saying here is that nursing is viewed by the government and others as a job that anyone can do, so that's why it's chosen as one of the go-to careers for job retraining. Those late night commercials for technical schools list HVAC and medical transcriptionist right next to nursing as "YOUR NEW CAREER!!!" confirm that.

The amount of responsibility and the seriousness of what we do as nurses refutes that, but the idea persists.

[OCNRN63, RN]

I hear you! I graduated this may from a Community College that is admittedly "old school" we started with 88 people in fundementals and 18 of us graduated! Everyone who graduated is seriously hungry to be a nurse. So far every single one of us has passed the nclex in 75 questions.

What kills me and what i think is seriously hurting the industry are the private schools, basically 'pay to play'. They aren't in the business of making great nurses they are in the business of making money. In clinicals we ran circles around the students from prestigious private schools. and we get the bum rep from going to a CC.

Passing NCLEX with 75 questions does not mean someone is a better nurse than the person who passed it with 80 questions, etc. You either pass or you fail.

[OCNRN63, RN]

i would have gone to whoever/whatever agency was in charge, even to the media if necessary.

if you're not willing to do something about it, don't complain about it.

perhaps she decided that was a hill she didn't want to die on. seriously, if i complained to the person in charge every time something bothered me, i wouldn't even be able to get out of my house.

[Anne36, LPN]

I was never a "displaced worker" but a homemaker for many years before I started the pre-reqs for my nursing degree. I actually did plan to use a similar program that was widely advertised here in Michigan to pay for my nursing school but all of that money dried up just as I finished my pre-req's (pre-reqs are not paid for by the program) back in the summer of 2010. Its 2012 now and this state is still in a recesssion with an unemployement rate this only kept down because of work that is supplied by part time, contract, or underemployment. A lot of people have left the state as well.

I wouldnt worry too much about jobs being taken by people who just want to earn a paycheck. One of my instructors talked to us about this trend because she had those types of students and was able to follow up with some of them after they graduated and got jobs. She said that they only last a couple of years before they quit and move on to something else or fall back on their previous degree.

[Anne36, LPN]

btw, I am in a catagory of people who cant get a red cent for school outside of loans. I have a lot of debt from school even though I had no income or any jobs skills. My husband doesnt even make enough to cover basic bills but too much for me to qualify for any type of pell grants. Scholorships were a waste of my time filling out the paperwork. I had straight A's in school and it never made any difference.

[chriskelly]

It doesn't appear that those re-employment services were much of a threat to today's registered nurses or taxpayers. The autoworker story was published five years ago...before the national economic meltdown but while auto manufacturing jobs were already being outsourced to China, India, Mexico and Brazil. The article describes two accelerated BSN programs "for people with an existing four-year science-related degree" ("blue-collar" workers?). The lucky few who accessed the limited opportunity (e.g., just 48 students at MSU) paid for all or most of their tuition out of their retirement buyout funds. The three-year training program probably allowed an ADN degree.

Workers who don't qualify for real skills-training programs like a registered nursing degree can access assistance through the Workforce Investment Act, which provides counseling in resume-writing and access to computers for job searches.

Are there readers here who also feel indignant or have reservations about the unemployed Americans now accessing the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program? 99,000 participants, up to $17,676 assistance, 100% taxpayer dollars.

By the way, Anne, Michigan Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm's "No Worker Left Behind" training program didn't just dry up. Present Republican Governor Rick Snyder sat on it for two years to "study" it, and then he even defunded the report which was supposed to have come out this December. Nothing is happening by accident, so don't forget to vote in November! :)

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

I'm baffled by the posters who criticize those of us who became nurses "for the paycheck". Isn't compensation the reason 99.99999% of people choose the jobs they do. I chose to become a nurse because there is job security and the pay is decent. I'm satisfied with my job and I'm good at it. I don't care if you became a nurse because you have a "calling" or because your mom and grandma were nurses. That doesn't mean you're more "deserving" than me. Frankly, the nursing students who are naive with visions of Florence Nighengale are REALLY the ones who won't last long once they hit the real world.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I've read about doctors from foreign countries training to become RN's to come to America because it is apparently very hard to work as a doctor if you were trained in a foreign country. I read about Filipino doctors getting an RN degree in their country to emigrate to America and England. Also there was a program in Florida that trains foreign doctors as nurses to come and work in the hospitals there. I saw this on a news program last year!

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

Twenty years ago I was a displaced worker. Worked in a factory almost 18 years. When I returned to school it was a gift. I got another chance to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. The choice I screwed up when I was 18.

Honestly, I never had an overwhelming ambition to be a nurse, but when I had to make a career choice healthcare was what I picked. For a lot of different reasons. Not just financial security. Which by the way, is not all that secure.

There were almost 800 of us displaced at the same time. Alot of nurses from that 800 people. I guess the government decided it was a good investment to spend money to train us, as opposed to support us for the next 50 years.