Nursing Wages Rise, Shortage Continues (The Morning News)

No, I can't go elsewhere, but thanks for the suggestion (I have a military husband who is TDY alot and 2 teen sons). I'm tied to what is offered currently at the base of station! Thanks though! I would love to return to my old school for the LPN to RN, but that is way out in the North Dakota and we are now stationed in Virginia. Bummer.

120 spots...that's not bad at all, in the only community college whichs offers ADN here in Hawaii, they only accept 60...imagine half of that made it to graduation...there are 10 big hospitals in our Island alone ( Oahu ), and there are only 3 colleges and universities who offers BSN...and yes, we are short of clinical instructors also...anybody in the government listening?

Statistics say 15% of the positions are filled by international nurses. Their arrival have been stopped now as there is no visa available for them. They have complted IELTS, RN etc. and finished all credential evaluation. I think inernational nurses are to be a part of the solution atleast for some years. I am curently at kuwait and denied consul interview due to non avilability of visas.

The nursing shortage started when the Pew Charitable Trust initiated a major research project over the state of nursing needs back in '89 (I think) At that time hospitals were emerging, HMO's were big, and staffing requirements due to agglomeration were predicted to be much lower.

Many schools throughout the country listened and reduced or shut down nursing programs. This IS the cause of today's shortage (research it and see). True other factors come into play but this was the initiator.

Now, I see many, many schools who have expanded in the past two years increasing nurse output by 150-300%. The predicted nurse shortage into 2012, I think is not looking at these huge output rise.

I suggest that in not too many years there will be more nurses than needed, but with an extreme shortage in certain areas such as CRNA's, NNPs, ANP's and Master's and PhD nurses. We'll just have to see.

I am a new RN in Oklahoma and I can't get a job because there is a lapse in the time from graduation to obtaining my license the lapse is do to Medical reasons. But here they would rather I take an refresher course that is quite expensive when you don't have a job as opposed to training me in there facilities.Which is what will happen if and when I am offered a job. And we wonder why there is a shortage. I don't anymore. We will always have a nursing shortage.

Maybe wages are up in NW AR (most of us would be taking a cut if we were to move there) but the last Nursing survey said they're down nationally.

It's no wonder anyway..around here (NH) most RN jobs are per diem. Who wants to stay as a nurse in that environment? The only reason that jobs like ED and acute care are available full-time (and not part-time or per diem)is that these places kill the nurses faster than new ones can acclimate to the position.... They kill them by overworking, trying to put them online faster than they are comfortable and by doing things like reversing rotation... Ya, I know, nurses who die of a Motor Vehicle Collision don't count..... (ex-ICU nurse here, former BP ~170/90 w/ meds; today 117/67 w/o meds (but as a Temp I have no Med Insurance) Do I sound cynical?

My point is I have transferred all my undergraduate university credits to an oline psychology Bachelors because I cannot afford to wait any longer to finish my bachelors degree! I started college in Fall 2000, was plugging along right on time set to graduate in a timely manor, and because there is limited space in these nursing programs I have been put back an extra 3 or 4 years. I am 35 and I do not want to keep waiting and reapplying every year! I have nothing left to take except a new major! If I don't get in this next time I am done applying for RN and I am still going to work on my BA in psyche this next year while I wait just in case! After so many years most universities expect a person to re-take certain classes if they get too old. I am not getting into that sitation!

I hear you. I finally gave up and went with a reputable online BS in Healthcare Administration degree, as I couldn't get into an LPN to RN course in a reasonable amount of time. I'm 49 ( and I don't know HOW that happened, I was 18 just a couple of months ago) and am so tired of waiting and getting bumped again. I've finally resigned myself to the fact that I'll probably never get into an bridge program. And that's with perfect classroom and clinical attendance as well as being an honor student in my LPN program. I've got a 3.85 gpa for the BS program and am really at a loss at to what more I have to do/prove that I am willing and capable of doing ward! great job and am willing to go into debt to do it. Oh, well, onward and upward!

FOR ALL OF YOU THAT LIKE TO BUCK THE SYSTEM.

Waaaaaay back in 1983, I was enrolled in an LPN program in the backwoods of NC. I looked around and decided that LPN was not for me. Go to school for 18 months and make about 1.50 an hour more than an aide? Nope, not worth it!

My answer? (Back then) Reagents Extended Degree Program of USNY. Got my ADN, started working within a month of my clinical exam as a GN, went back in 1988 (Reagent's again) for my BSN then got my MSN from University of SC (online) in 1999 just for the heck of it. (I'll NEVER be a manager again...unless someone wants to spot me money for bail..grin..I think). You CAN do it.

Reagents is now Excelsior University. They still have about the same criteria of accepting old and new credits, the clinical is STILL one of the most stressful times I've had (including my military service) and there are a couple of states (California and NY? come to mind) that won't accept a license based on a Excelsior degree. Their loss.

You CAN make it work.......if you have the drive, determination and the guts to go through it. By the way, I was driven...I did it in 8 months for the ADN and could have done it in 5 but I had to wait for a clinical exam slot to open. In the meantime, I worked as an orderly, made furniture in a factory and pumped gas.

IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH, YOU CAN DO IT!!!! Well, DO YOU????

The Wolf

If there's a problem, you have three choices..and only three:
You can IGNORE it....and get bit on the .....
You can ACCEPT it....and live with the consequences
You can CHANGE it....and face yourself in the mirror, win or lose.

Don't WHINE. That's NOT an option.

I am so confused about different experiences regarding the whole process. When I graduated in 1997 with a BSN, I had to wait 2 years just to get in a Nursing Program in CA. But once I graduated, it was quick. They (hospitals) grabbed you as fast as we came, even without licenses. Now, the talk is still the same-nursing shortages- but my friends still have to wait 2 years or more just to get in a program- that is just crazy! Something has got to change, but what is the problem?