Future Shortage in Bedside Nurses

Nurses Safety

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I have been an RN for 22 years. In recent years, we all know that the trend has been for acute inpatient facilities to try to hire BSN nurses as much as possible. However, another trend that I am seeing, both here on these forums and in the places where I have worked, is that most of the young BSN nurses have no desire to do bedside nursing any longer than they have to. All I seem to hear is that they all want to either move into a management position or go back to school to become an NP or CRNA. Even the ones who haven't voiced those goals have expressed a great contempt for bedside Med/Surg nursing and want to work in specialty areas such as OB. The thought process seems to be that they didn't go to school for four years "just to" care for sick people at the bedside. If this continues, it seems that there is going to be a great shortage of bedside nurses in the near future as more and more of the "old school" nurses retire.

Does anyone else see this where you work? What happens to the army when everyone wants to be a general and no one wants to be a foot soldier? I'm just curious. I have over 100 undergrad college credits that I could apply towards a BSN, but at this point in my career, I just want to finish out my years as a nurse taking care of people who need help. Never had any desire to climb the ladder whatsoever. Are any of you new grads in the same boat, where you would be contented to do bedside nursing for the foreseeable future, or is being a bedside nurse becoming passe'?

Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

ADN here, 60K/year income range, I work ICU and have no desire to go back to school. However, I do sort of feel like I am in a race against time to get my house paid off before my body quits on me. I like bedside better than I like the idea of taking organic chemistry.

Specializes in retired LTC.

I believe there's soon to be a glut of MSN nurses out there, but not enough positions to be filled at the level of higher practice that they all wish to achieve. So a lot of unhappy and disappointed Master's nurses will then be in need of some type of employment.

And then you'll hear their complaint that they 'have to settle and go back to the bedside' while they keep searching. (Much like a lot of current grads bemoan that they 'have to settle and apply to LTC'.) But guess what? All those bedside positions are being filled by newly created positions for UAPs and other specialty staff (as discussed in the current post on AN now about 'de-skilling' in nursing).

Then what??? A rush to doctoral programs?

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I graduated with a diploma/AS in 2011 but had a previous unrelated college degree. I've been in med-surg since I graduated and I have no plans of changing that any time in the near future. I may want to go into a specialty (but still direct patient care) like endoscopy in the future, but would still want to work med-surg per diem. I'm working on my BSN and will finish in 6 months, but I have no desire to go into management. I am only getting the BSN because it will give me more options of what facilities will hire me as a bedside nurse or for a specialty in addition to med-surg.

I don't mean to hijack the thread but I am curious.........

What do you mean....diploma/ASN? I have seen this like this recently, a diploma grad has not gone to college and an ASN grad has an Associate degree which is still a college degree.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I believe there's soon to be a glut of MSN nurses out there, but not enough positions to be filled at the level of higher practice that they all wish to achieve. So a lot of unhappy and disappointed Master's nurses will then be in need of some type of employment.

And then you'll hear their complaint that they 'have to settle and go back to the bedside' while they keep searching. (Much like a lot of current grads bemoan that they 'have to settle and apply to LTC'.) But guess what? All those bedside positions are being filled by newly created positions for UAPs and other specialty staff (as discussed in the current post on AN now about 'de-skilling' in nursing).

Then what??? A rush to doctoral programs?

Yup.......:bugeyes:

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
That's what I've noticed too, that everyone seems to be going back to school for their MSN. I can't think of a single nurse with their MSN who works on the floor either. I mean, yes, floor nursing is stressful, grueling work a lot of the time, but someone has to do it, and with the baby boomers just now getting into their sixties and seventies, the need is going to be greater than ever as they continue to age and have the normal health problems that go along with it.

I didn't mean to imply that all BSN nurses want to move on, and I'm glad that you are happy being a floor nurse. It's just that the majority of new, young nurses that I know seem to have no intention whatsoever to make a career of doing bedside care, and it makes me wonder what this, combined with the ever increasing stipulations of Medicare will mean for the future of nursing care. Presumably, wages would go up due to an increased need, but with lower compensation and more expensive regulations, can wages go up enough to meet the need?

They all want that $100,000 a year paycheck but when the market gets saturated the salaries will drop.

Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

If bedside nurses had to take organic chemistry there wouldn't be any bedside nurses. You don't need organic chem for BSN. If working conditions were better, BSN's would stay at the bedside. All these new grads who want to go for advanced degrees don't know enough to see the unexpected coming up to slap them in the face. Young dreams have a habit of getting put on the back burner when it comes to raising kids, borrowing money, etc.

Specializes in Oncology.

Until the work conditions and nurse/patient ratios improve, nurses will continue to leave bedside nursing.

As I observe all the new nurses coming into my hospital I don't see a lot of them staying at the bedside. A lot of student nurses are planning bsn only as stepping stone for another specialty such as np. It is sad to say that after I retire and need health care a lot of the nurses who would be caring for me would only be there, not for the love of it, but because they hadn't yet moved on.

Specializes in geriatrics.

If working conditions improve, more nurses would continue bedside nursing. I enjoy bedside nursing and direct patient care. What I don't enjoy is overtime, missing breaks, and a general lack of staff, which is unsafe. Unless things improve, I don't see myself staying at the bedside. Many nurses leave the bedside for these exact reasons. We didn't create the system.

Specializes in Rehab, critical care.

Yes, there are some non-ideal things about working at the bedside, but I do enjoy working in critical care. What I don't find enjoyable is how drained I feel on my days off from lack of sleep, and this is due to working night shift. I have tried everything, and no matter how exhausted I am, I cannot sleep at night on my days off and oftentimes can't sleep for more than 3-4 hours at a time, only to wake up tired, but not tired enough to sleep. Have tried every kind of sleep schedule. Only been doing this for 2 years, and my sleep has only become more haphazard the longer I have been working. I do have a solution to this problem, which is to remove just 1 shift per pay period, which would make a world of difference, but can't afford to do that quite yet.

I think many people stay at the bedside because the pay is better than in non-acute nursing areas (without an advanced degree), not because they desire to be there (from what I have heard people saying). I used to think I wanted to be a family NP, but since I already have a previous non-nursing bachelor's degree, I probably won't go back to school for a while, though I'm sure that I will go back to school at some point. If nursing were my first degree, though, and didn't plan on starting a family in the near future (I'm in my upper 20's) I'd be filling out NP school apps without hesitation.

Specializes in Informatics, Orthopaedics.

I want to be a nurse so that I can make a difference in people's lives...I cannot do that behind a desk.

besides, I am changing careers because I sat behind a desk for 23+ years. no way in beelzebub I want to do that again.

I like bed-side nursing and I am also interested in what NP's do. Now if only I could combine my RN responsibilities with NP responsibilities--that would be the perfect career for me. I've daydreamed about opening up a wellness clinic where basic care is provided, along with education for the patient and their families that promotes wellness continuum.

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