Is their really a nursing shortage?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Yes , I cant help it, I have to admit it. After looking and seeing what is happening in the Nursing field, I have to say that this so called Nursing shortage is Man made. It is intentionally created. But for what reason? Of course money.

This nursing shortage has its benefits. Hospitals benefit by having one person do a job that two people at least should do. With a nursing shortage, nurses become in demand. And with demand there will be a high starting salary. Some nurses getting out of college with a 2 year degree can start making as much as 70k in nyc.

Now that benefits us in that we are getting a high salary, Yay. But it has its disadvantages. All nurses already know that disadvantage which is overworking. But another disadvantage is the patients dont get the needed care that they really need. Which would prevent so many complications, such as bed sores , med errors , death, etc.

Now why do i say this nursing shortage is man made? In a time of need, common sense will tell you to produce more. But It seems that that is not the intentions of the nursing world. Every minute the nursing world is finding ways to make it harder for someone to become a ENTRY LEVEL nurse.

Heres some examples.

1) Okay now the Nclex passing rate is raised. What was wrong with the last passing rate? Did people who passed with the last passing rate lack something? So now we need a new passing rate? But of course with a new passing rate, that will cut out some people from passing the boards. oy vey

2) Now in NYS , if you are in a RN program, you cannot sit to take the LPN test. And the reasons they gave of course was BS. More ways to reduce the Nursing rate.

3) Theres a "nursing shortage" , and the people heard the call, they came to help, But the more people come, the more harder they make it to get into a program, and the more harder they make it to graduate from a program. There is no difference between a 70 average and 75 average student. and a 74 average person is the same as a 75 average. Lets be real, You learn more in one year as a new nurse, than all the time spent in clinicals. And theres so many wonderful CE programs to build our knowledge base.

What is being done to fill this nursing shortage. Nothing really. The pay will be great for the ones that make it. But the work is going to get harder. And the risk will increase for the patients, who is suppose to be our number one concern.

But lets think realisticly if the nursing shortage would be solved in a few years from now, If the Nursing World would spit out nurses as the demand calls for. What would happen? If there is no demand then guess what goes down. The Money of course. Im not complaining , im just stating whats obvious. But then when u think about it, patient care is the most important thing. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yes , I cant help it, I have to admit it. After looking and seeing what is happening in the Nursing field, I have to say that this so called Nursing shortage is Man made. It is intentionally created. But for what reason? Of course money.

This nursing shortage has its benefits. Hospitals benefit by having one person do a job that two people at least should do. With a nursing shortage, nurses become in demand. And with demand there will be a high starting salary. Some nurses getting out of college with a 2 year degree can start making as much as 70k in nyc.

Now that benefits us in that we are getting a high salary, Yay. But it has its disadvantages. All nurses already know that disadvantage which is overworking. But another disadvantage is the patients dont get the needed care that they really need. Which would prevent so many complications, such as bed sores , med errors , death, etc.

Now why do i say this nursing shortage is man made? In a time of need, common sense will tell you to produce more. But It seems that that is not the intentions of the nursing world. Every minute the nursing world is finding ways to make it harder for someone to become a ENTRY LEVEL nurse.

Heres some examples.

1) Okay now the Nclex passing rate is raised. What was wrong with the last passing rate? Did people who passed with the last passing rate lack something? So now we need a new passing rate? But of course with a new passing rate, that will cut out some people from passing the boards. oy vey

2) Now in NYS , if you are in a RN program, you cannot sit to take the LPN test. And the reasons they gave of course was BS. More ways to reduce the Nursing rate.

3) Theres a "nursing shortage" , and the people heard the call, they came to help, But the more people come, the more harder they make it to get into a program, and the more harder they make it to graduate from a program. There is no difference between a 70 average and 75 average student. and a 74 average person is the same as a 75 average. Lets be real, You learn more in one year as a new nurse, than all the time spent in clinicals. And theres so many wonderful CE programs to build our knowledge base.

What is being done to fill this nursing shortage. Nothing really. The pay will be great for the ones that make it. But the work is going to get harder. And the risk will increase for the patients, who is suppose to be our number one concern.

But lets think realisticly if the nursing shortage would be solved in a few years from now, If the Nursing World would spit out nurses as the demand calls for. What would happen? If there is no demand then guess what goes down. The Money of course. Im not complaining , im just stating whats obvious. But then when u think about it, patient care is the most important thing. :)

My school requires 80% to pass, and for our med/surg it is divided into 8 week sections and they decided we needed 80% average on our tests, not overall. So some very good students who were just below on their tests but did well on papers, clinicals, and quizzes are out. These are people who would make excellent nurses. It is a shame. I think it has to do with the school wanting to have an extremely high NCLEX pass rate they can boast about so only really good test takers are allowed to continue.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The profession has already made several changes that make it "easier" to get a nursing degree. That is why the ADN was created, to ease a shortage. Nurses need to know more now than ever before due to technological advances and advances in medicine in general. I think it would be a huge mistake to ever lower the bar in nursing education by doing the things you suggest (lowering pass rates, standards, ect). This might create more nurses (assuming we have the instructors to educate them) but it would hurt our profession and our patients. The long term answer IMO is to RAISE the bar and expect nurses to be even more professional and knowledgeable. This will most likely attract more smart and ambitious individuals into our profession.

As for the man made aspect of the nursing shortage, this may be part of the problem but there are many contributing factors to the crisis which have been much discussed on this board.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

*******sigh********* I agree.

32 yrs ago I was a Nursing Assistant in a large hospital.

I didn't go to nursing school til I was 49yr old.

What a change and a shock when I went back into the hospital!

Nurses always worked hard, I knew that...but what happened to the phlebotomists, orderlies to lift and transfer, nursing assistants, and on and on...

I know they are still there. But not nearly enough.

I agree that someone is lining their pockets.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yes , I cant help it, I have to admit it. After looking and seeing what is happening in the Nursing field, I have to say that this so called Nursing shortage is Man made. It is intentionally created. But for what reason? Of course money.

This nursing shortage has its benefits. Hospitals benefit by having one person do a job that two people at least should do. With a nursing shortage, nurses become in demand. And with demand there will be a high starting salary. Some nurses getting out of college with a 2 year degree can start making as much as 70k in nyc.

Now that benefits us in that we are getting a high salary, Yay. But it has its disadvantages. All nurses already know that disadvantage which is overworking. But another disadvantage is the patients dont get the needed care that they really need. Which would prevent so many complications, such as bed sores , med errors , death, etc.

Now why do i say this nursing shortage is man made? In a time of need, common sense will tell you to produce more. But It seems that that is not the intentions of the nursing world. Every minute the nursing world is finding ways to make it harder for someone to become a ENTRY LEVEL nurse.

Heres some examples.

1) Okay now the Nclex passing rate is raised. What was wrong with the last passing rate? Did people who passed with the last passing rate lack something? So now we need a new passing rate? But of course with a new passing rate, that will cut out some people from passing the boards. oy vey

2) Now in NYS , if you are in a RN program, you cannot sit to take the LPN test. And the reasons they gave of course was BS. More ways to reduce the Nursing rate.

3) Theres a "nursing shortage" , and the people heard the call, they came to help, But the more people come, the more harder they make it to get into a program, and the more harder they make it to graduate from a program. There is no difference between a 70 average and 75 average student. and a 74 average person is the same as a 75 average. Lets be real, You learn more in one year as a new nurse, than all the time spent in clinicals. And theres so many wonderful CE programs to build our knowledge base.

What is being done to fill this nursing shortage. Nothing really. The pay will be great for the ones that make it. But the work is going to get harder. And the risk will increase for the patients, who is suppose to be our number one concern.

But lets think realisticly if the nursing shortage would be solved in a few years from now, If the Nursing World would spit out nurses as the demand calls for. What would happen? If there is no demand then guess what goes down. The Money of course. Im not complaining , im just stating whats obvious. But then when u think about it, patient care is the most important thing. :)

I beg to differ with you. There is not, and never has been a "nursing shortage". There is only a shortage of nurses who wish to continue to work at bedside nursing. There are 500,000 licensed nurses who are not working in nursing, (me being one of them), and at the last count, only about 100, 000+ open, unfilled nursing positions. There is no effort being made to RETAIN THE GRADUATED, LICENSED NURSES THAT THIS COUNTRY ALREADY HAS. There IS a concerted effort, on the part of hospitals, to make nursing unatractive at the bedside level, to the point that new graduate nurses are leaving bedside nursing within 4-6 years. And then the next group of "wet behind the ears", newbys, graduate and take their place.

And then there is the push to allow more foreign nurses into this country, that will also being down wages for American nurses. Nursing wages have been flat for 25 years, and there is no end is sight. If there was really a nursing shortage, wages would be sky high now. But they are not.

Hospitals need to put there "recruitment dollars" into nurses salaries and benefits, not bring in more new grads, and foreign nurses.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have to agree. Our nursing program was rigorous, a friend of mine had taken several semesters twice and they flunked her for two points right before graduation. Was it harsh? Yes. Was she a great nurse? Yes. But she had high anxiety and had a lot of personal issues which led to her fluctuating grades on tests. Although I'm sorry she is not a nurse today, I think these standards are in place for a reason.

I agree with whatever standards nursing schools want to place, after all nursing programs are expensive things to run and there is a lot of competition for spots. I too would like to see a high standard for RNs, including the necessity for a BSN degree, either upon entry or at some point afterwards. I would also like to see a maximum you can take the NCLEX. I mean, we're not talking about the bar exam that takes reams of written paper and days to complete, we're talking about a computerized test that takes an hour or two.

The profession has already made several changes that make it "easier" to get a nursing degree. That is why the ADN was created, to ease a shortage. Nurses need to know more now than ever before due to technological advances and advances in medicine in general. I think it would be a huge mistake to ever lower the bar in nursing education by doing the things you suggest (lowering pass rates, standards, ect).
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.

... But the more people come, the more harder they make it to get into a program, and the more harder they make it to graduate from a program. There is no difference between a 70 average and 75 average student. and a 74 average person is the same as a 75 average. Lets be real, You learn more in one year as a new nurse, than all the time spent in clinicals. And theres so many wonderful CE programs to build our knowledge base.

...:)

Hello,

I agree with your statement that you learn much in your first year, (yet, I have not even been there yet but, it makes sense). However if we are not prepared or able then the first year will not really make a difference, will it?

My school requires an 86% for successful promotion and retention in it. It is stressful yet, I am for it. Anything less, since it is a graduate program, would be insufficient.

Gen-who is about 50/50 at that 86 and above it

p.s. edit for my run on sentances...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I beg to differ with you. There is not, and never has been a "nursing shortage". There is only a shortage of nurses who wish to continue to work at bedside nursing. There are 500, 000 lecensed nurses who are not working in nursing, (me being one of them), and at the last count, only about 100, 000 open, unfilled nursing positions. There is no effort being made to RETAIN THE GRADUATED, LICENSED NURSES THAT THIS COUNTRY ALREADY HAS. There is a concerted effort, on the part of hospitals, to make nursing unatractive at the bedsie level, to the point that new graduate nurses are leaving bedside nursing within 406 years. And then the next group of "wet behind the ears", newbys, graduate and take their place.

And then there is the push to allow more foreign nurses into this country, will also being down wages for American nurses. Nursing wages have been flat for 25 years, and there is no end is sight. If there was really a nursing shortage, wages would be sky high now. But they are not.

Hospitals need to put there "recruitment dollars" into nurses salaries and benefits, not bring in more new grads, and foreign nurses.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Linda - I agree! There is also a push at some places to get the older, higher paid nurses OUT by whatever means. Which also takes a lot of experience and knowledge with it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have to agree with the original post -- there's a lot of talk about the nursing shortage, but the action is more concerned with raising salaries by limiting supply. Here in CA most nursing schools have not increased the number of students they'll take, no matter how dire the shortage predictions are. They claim there's no money, although they just created a new job, are moving into a new facility, etc. The person who started this thread is an honest person who has the ability to face reality without resorting to maladaptive denial. I love it -- thank you!

On the micro level, I'm not complaining. My wife is a nurse, and I'm just about to graduate. So I'm glad that the market is not flooded with nurses (yet).

Requiring a BA for entry level nursing is crazy. I guess knowing how to say, "Here's your medication" in French or being able to discuss Hegel and Marx will lead to better patient outcomes -- NOT.

Nursing is dirt cheap and the price has been stable, which may indicate there is not much nursing malpractice going on out there (according to my textbook). When I attended a Board of RNs meeting recently, I heard stories about nurses who accepted positions they weren't qualified for, ran people over with their cars, or were stealing drugs from their hospitals. I'm not sure having a BA degree would do much to solve those problems.

Limit supply too much and look what happens -- legislation to ease the importing of foreign nurses. But whatever. Maybe we should really protect the public and make a master's degree mandatory? :specs:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yes , I cant help it, I have to admit it. After looking and seeing what is happening in the Nursing field, I have to say that this so called Nursing shortage is Man made. It is intentionally created. But for what reason? Of course money.

This nursing shortage has its benefits. Hospitals benefit by having one person do a job that two people at least should do. With a nursing shortage, nurses become in demand. And with demand there will be a high starting salary. Some nurses getting out of college with a 2 year degree can start making as much as 70k in nyc.

Now that benefits us in that we are getting a high salary, Yay. But it has its disadvantages. All nurses already know that disadvantage which is overworking. But another disadvantage is the patients dont get the needed care that they really need. Which would prevent so many complications, such as bed sores , med errors , death, etc.

Now why do i say this nursing shortage is man made? In a time of need, common sense will tell you to produce more. But It seems that that is not the intentions of the nursing world. Every minute the nursing world is finding ways to make it harder for someone to become a ENTRY LEVEL nurse.

Heres some examples.

1) Okay now the Nclex passing rate is raised. What was wrong with the last passing rate? Did people who passed with the last passing rate lack something? So now we need a new passing rate? But of course with a new passing rate, that will cut out some people from passing the boards. oy vey

2) Now in NYS , if you are in a RN program, you cannot sit to take the LPN test. And the reasons they gave of course was BS. More ways to reduce the Nursing rate.

3) Theres a "nursing shortage" , and the people heard the call, they came to help, But the more people come, the more harder they make it to get into a program, and the more harder they make it to graduate from a program. There is no difference between a 70 average and 75 average student. and a 74 average person is the same as a 75 average. Lets be real, You learn more in one year as a new nurse, than all the time spent in clinicals. And theres so many wonderful CE programs to build our knowledge base.

What is being done to fill this nursing shortage. Nothing really. The pay will be great for the ones that make it. But the work is going to get harder. And the risk will increase for the patients, who is suppose to be our number one concern.

But lets think realisticly if the nursing shortage would be solved in a few years from now, If the Nursing World would spit out nurses as the demand calls for. What would happen? If there is no demand then guess what goes down. The Money of course. Im not complaining , im just stating whats obvious. But then when u think about it, patient care is the most important thing. :)

I totally aggree what you have said about current situation in nursing field of North America. no matter what contributing factors are there for nursing shortage, definitely, money is issue. highly educated nurses have been trained to take care of more patients at the same time and trained to do so in a "smart "way. They are considered ambitious. No matter how many highly educated nurses graduated from BScN program( as a matter of fact, some BScN is not run in a fair way at all, they left out good students who definitly would become good nurses, and kept those who are adept at boasting, cheating and manipulating relationship, this is how I see this program so far), there is always shortage. why? critical thinking about what you learned from sociology courses. If you are not able to manage your time in an efficient way, you are out, because you can not save money for capitalist.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I have to agree with the original post -- there's a lot of talk about the nursing shortage, but the action is more concerned with raising salaries by limiting supply. Here in CA most nursing schools have not increased the number of students they'll take, no matter how dire the shortage predictions are. They claim there's no money, although they just created a new job, are moving into a new facility, etc. The person who started this thread is an honest person who has the ability to face reality without resorting to maladaptive denial. I love it -- thank you!

On the micro level, I'm not complaining. My wife is a nurse, and I'm just about to graduate. So I'm glad that the market is not flooded with nurses (yet).

Requiring a BA for entry level nursing is crazy. I guess knowing how to say, "Here's your medication" in French or being able to discuss Hegel and Marx will lead to better patient outcomes -- NOT.

Nursing liability insurance is dirt cheap and the price has been stable, which may indicate there is not much nursing malpractice going on out there (according to my textbook). When I attended a Board of RNs meeting recently, I heard stories about nurses who accepted positions they weren't qualified for, ran people over with their cars, or were stealing drugs from their hospitals. I'm not sure having a BA degree would do much to solve those problems.

Limit supply too much and look what happens -- legislation to ease the importing of foreign nurses. But whatever. Maybe we should really protect the public and make a master's degree mandatory? :specs:

edited this post becuase i realized it could be offensive and that was not my intent.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.

At the present time there are but two letters that all prospective nursing students want........RN...And one test that allows one to practice as a RN irregardless of howyou obtain the right to test..... the NCLEX. Now until that changes we will be debating the ADN vs BSN thing until the cows come home.

It would be nice to have one point of entry into the profession but its not happening any time soon. In my area many nurse managers are only hiring BSN nurses.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment