Surplus of Nurses - should I think twice?

philpt · Sep 24, 2016

OP - I went back to school at 53 (in 2012) to become a physical therapist. I never regretted that decision, and I had several offers to pick from when I graduated. I also do business consulting & taxes on the side since I have a MBA. I think you should keep doing taxes (as a free-lancer) even if you become a RN as it's always better to have different streams of income.

Geslina, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2016

Haha, have to say I agree. Given a second chance, I'd have chosen another career. It's not that being a nurse is so bad, it's the daily staffing shortages, the constantly growing state documentation requirements, the lack of time to give patients any emotional or spiritual attention - i could go on and on.....I feeling like someone is standing over me at work with a whip, telling me to get it all done, get it all done faster, get it all done better, get it all done with less help, and God help you if you make a mistake....I've had lots of different jobs in my life, many of them stressful, but without a doubt, nursing is the MOST stressful. I swear, nursing will probably take 20 years off my life.

PG2018 · Sep 28, 2016

Hey, why not become a CRNA!

BAHAHA

Maple2016 · Sep 28, 2016

Hey, why not become a CRNA!
BAHAHA

thank you! are you serious? can any CRNA school consider me with my background?

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2016

thank you! are you serious? can any CRNA school consider me with my background?

Background would need to include a stellar GPA from your BSN coursework and ICU RN experience (CRNA programs in my area advise 3-5 years' experience to be competitive), plus recommendations and a successful interview. There are way more applicants than spots. I looked into it some years back but decided I wanted to stay at the bedside; but my unit loses several RNs to CRNA school each year so have heard about their application processes.

ComeTogether, LPN · Oct 4, 2016

I only advise people to go into nursing who truly have a passion for it and have some semblance of an idea as to what its like. Otherwise, its probably going to be like choosing to be an astronaut and winding up as the guy that waves the cones at the airplanes.

onigiri06 · Oct 4, 2016

My dear one of the best tools you can obtain from a good nursing education (or most post high school for that matter) is the ability to research and acquire critical thinking skills. As such it pays not only to read one study or article, but look at their research and also those who have and issued a critical review.
For what it is worth here is a start: 1 Things To Know About The Projected Nursing Surplus >> BluePipes Blog
In many markets at the moment there is already a surplus of nurses (New York City is one) by most accounts. Yet new grads are routinely hired, not enough to suit some, but never the less...
There are places in the USA that probably will always have a shortage of nurses, and this covers a pretty wide bit of territory. So for the article linked in OP to say there will be a blanket surplus of nurses by such and such a date simply cannot be true.
Reasons for becoming a professional nurse have remained pretty much constant since Florence Nightingale elevated/created the profession. Of course people have to eat, put a roof over their heads, pay bills, save and invest but you can provide for those needs in many other ways. Most of which do not require the enormous effort in time, educational and other resources that modern nursing programs seem to want.

With this issue of shortage and such, I do agree with DoGoodThenGo that articles can go either way, but what about other avenues for nurses other than the traditional hospital jobs? To my understanding, there are utilization management nurses or in the telehealth. Doesn't this create new opportunities as well and is an emerging area?

onigiri06 · Oct 4, 2016

I wholly agree with rnforforty, when I was assigned at medical-surgical ward, even at the age of 26 I felt like a senior citizen after a 12 hour shift that was more like 16 to 18 hours. With patient ratios of one nurse to anywhere from 9-13 patients.My legs would cramp and even the relatively expensive good shoes I bought couldn't protect my feet from pain and those compression stockings to help with circulation still did not prevent my many veins on my feet now..

Susie2310 · Oct 5, 2016

I think that if one is considering becoming a nurse in order to earn a living it is very important to actually want to do what nurses do, not just like the idea of nursing. The majority of RN's work in hospitals, providing hands on care to patients. I volunteered in the ER before nursing school, and while it was a good experience it in no way prepared me for med-surg clinicals (or for any of my clinical rotations).

In my experience the people who are happiest in nursing are the people who actually want to work as nurses - this seems like a ridiculous thing to say, especially on a nursing forum, but people go into nursing for all kinds of reasons; some people are not even interested in the kind of work nurses do yet they still become nurses. Often people learn they want to work as nurses by working as CNA's or techs in hospitals, long term care/sub-acute, or home health; the people I have seen take this route to nursing school have wanted to do the work nurses do and were not so shocked at the realities of the job (often harsh) that they lost the interest or motivation to work as a nurse after graduation. They weren't exploring nursing as a career; they were pursuing nursing with focus and determination as a career because they knew that was what they wanted to do.

Nursing school is a competitive, very stressful, expensive, time consuming, energy draining, physically demanding endeavor that makes large demands on one's family, and requires a solid support system. And that is just the beginning. After nursing school one is often competing with a surplus of highly qualified applicants for nursing jobs. Providing direct patient care is a physically demanding job with a high rate of injury, and a number of nurses lose their jobs or have to give up their jobs because of injuries incurred while providing patient care.

I strongly suggest people considering becoming nurses in order to support themselves/their families think very hard about why they are considering this path. Wanting to care for sick people is one thing; being able to do it is another, and consider whether nursing is a job they will be able to do on a long term basis. Many people become nurses, and then don't work as nurses, or choose other career paths.

Nursing has been a good choice for me, but more for personal reasons than career reasons, and there is a big difference.

MrNurse(x2), ADN · Oct 7, 2016

Feds must be expecting a poor economy for the next 8 years. Nursing is an excellent indicator of economy. Many nurses suspend their careers for family and only come back into the workforce to supplement their husband's income when the economy affects it. Should the economy prosper, nurses will go back to the housewife/ mother position and this forecast will be wrong.