Answers from 100 nurses needed: Which state has the most nursing shortage?

[John123]

Everyday, Newspaper talk about nursing shortage. But some nurses in the certain areas can't even get a job quickly or under paid. I wonder where is the shortage at? I want get a good summary to help those nurses who are have troubles to land a job. Thank you John:redbeathe

My answer:

I know Tucson Arizona needs nurses really bad. You can get a job on the day you go out.

[Xbox Live Addict]

Louisiana, from what I've read, has the worst nursing shortage. My home state, Oklahoma, is among the worst too. Part of this has to do with the pitiful wages nurses can look forward to in these states.

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

AARP had a map in one of their recent mail outs, it showed active nurse licenses to number of residents in each state and Puerto Rico. I think I saved it when I moved from my last assignment. I do remember that Florida, California and Texas had a higher number of residents to nurses than some of the north eastern states I work in.

[NurseCard, ADN]

I'm not sure if there is technically a "shortage" here, but it certainly is not difficult to find a job in Kentucky. Not at all.

[mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP]

SW Missouri, NW Arkansas doesn't appear to have a shortage of hospitals, they are everywhere. There are lots of nursing schools in this area as well that churn out nurses at a pretty decent rate.

However, with that being said, you can pretty much walk into any facility in this area and get a job that day if you so desired.

Might have something to do with the outrageous cost of living here and incredibly low wages.

[John123]

My brief summary from above feedbacks: Southern states Arizona, California(Southern)Texas,Florida,Kentucky,Louisiana,Oklahoma,

Northern States like: Idaho, Minnesota, Boston have no or mild shortages. And Parts of Arkansas and Missouri.

Thank you all for the participation. Let's continue replying.

:redbeathe

Answers need to be more specific. Within each state, situation may become different. Example:Southern Cali has shortage while Northen Cali doesn't.

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

south florida. there is a huge snowbird population in the winter months, and a huge elderly population too. i know the hospital i used to work at down there actually has roll away privacy curtains for patients living on stretchers in the hallway not only in the ER but on the floors too! er is at 5-7 pts per nurse, the icu nurses are up to 4 vents a peice, pcu is at 8-9 pts and med surg is at 9-10 pts per nurse.

[TX_ICU_RN]

I live in the DFW area of Texas and we have a severe nursing shortage. I have been out of the nursing field for over four years and got a job offer 12 days after submitting my application online. The amazing thing is that it is in adult ICU and all of my previous experience is in pedi. I had 4 interviews lined up within a week of my applications going out and continued to get interview offers for a couple of weeks after I took a position. I finally called the HR departments at the hospitals I had applied at that were still calling my and asked them to take my application out of their files. Apparently, telling them I did not want to interview because I had already taken a job did not take my file out automatically.

[angel337, MSN, RN]

not too hard to find a job in illinois, especially chicago. however in chicago, the hospitals with the good reputations are very hard to get in to.

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

Tennessee keeps churning out nurses like there is no tomorrow, so there isn't really a shortage around these parts. If you go to the bigger cities like Nashville, though, you can usually find a job fairly easily doing something.

.

The Nashville paper is "full" of nursing ads. All of the major hospitals are running ads for nurses, specifically RN's. All of the nursing agencies are looking for LPN's or RN's. If I wanted to I could go out and get several jobs in one day. Whether it would be a job I would really want is a different story but they are definately plentiful.

There are less jobs the further you get from a big city because nurses are not willing to drive into the city and so they accept less pay for staying close to home. I know I do. Especially now with the price of gas I'd say there's no difference between my pay and a job in Nashville 25 miles away.

[John123]

I noticed some areas have shortages just because nurses are underpaid. Example: Midwest states and southern cali.

[S.N. Visit, BSN, RN]

Iowa has a huge shortage, most likely due to being the lowest paid nurses nationally.

[RedSox33RN]

I was unable to find FT work in ANY area as a new RN in NH or MA, just lots of per-diem work. However, NC seems to have a pretty good shortage of RNs. We use a lot of travelers - more than the hospital wants to.