The Nursing Shortage

Nurses General Nursing

Published

So, I still hear the term "nursing shortage" here and elsewhere.

I would love to hear from people about whether there is a nursing shortage in their region and where that region is.

In my area of North Texas we have no nursing shortage that I can see.

What is your experience?

I laugh when I see the term "nursing shortage" I usually tend to think it is BS except for a few places like Nebraska and the Texas border that are less desirable. I feel it is used to manipulate people and funding.

Am I wrong? What are your thoughts?

There is no shortage in Oregon. I have said it before, I can't swing a dead cat around without hitting another nurse.

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Posted today on MSNBC.com

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.
That's the situation in my area -- plenty of nursing bodies, but we need people with experience who can provide leadership and/or provide highly specialized, sophisticated care.

We also need people who will commit to staying more than1-2 years. It's not worth the 6 months of training it takes to educate a new nurse to competence if they don't stay at least 2-3 years.

Same here ( Intermountain west - rural). Lots of new nurses moving here to get their 1-2 years acute care experience. I don't blame them at all when they find something better and move on. I don't think the hospital cares- they seem to find mostly single people who can tolerate getting called in/off frequently. Wages are low enough ($21) and you don't need as much orientation in the critical access facilities.

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Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.

no shortage south east texas

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

Well in my city (south Texas) they can't keep nurses because I live in a small, rural country town & the closes cities are an hour away. So I don't know if it would constitute a "shortage" but when I look for RN jobs there are plenty

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No shortage in chicago or north west indiana either

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

There is definitely a need for nurses in my area, and especially in my department. However, that doesn't mean the powers that be are willing to give up enough of this year's profits to staff adequately and safely. So, yeah, the number of nurses far outweighs the positions, but there are indeed not enough nurses on the frontline.

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