Connecticut Nursing Shortage

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First of all, I have to confess that I am NOT a nurse. I'm a freelance reporter/writer. I write frequently for Nursing Spectrum, NurseWeek and Minority Nurse magazines.

I've been asked to write a story on the Connecticut nursing shortage and why it is worse than in any other New England state. I've left messages with the Connecticut Nurses' Association, Connecticut League for Nursing, and the Connecticut Hospital Association.

Are there any other sources you can recommend? Do you have any insights as to why the nursing shortage is worse in Connecticut than in other New England states?

Thanks.

Scott

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First of all, I have to confess that I am NOT a nurse. I'm a freelance reporter/writer. I write frequently for Nursing Spectrum, NurseWeek and Minority Nurse magazines.

I've been asked to write a story on the Connecticut nursing shortage and why it is worse than in any other New England state. I've left messages with the Connecticut Nurses' Association, Connecticut League for Nursing, and the Connecticut Hospital Association.

Are there any other sources you can recommend? Do you have any insights as to why the nursing shortage is worse in Connecticut than in other New England states?

Thanks.

Scott

I would say the shortage is due to several factors, low salary for professors, which cause high turnover, high expectations from students because of life and death situation and low support for students from some schools.

I think if you can call some area schools, you probably can ask the chairperson.

Hope I was able to help.

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high cost of living vs salary make it very hard to relocate into the state from surrounding states. Real estate costs are also prohibitive.

I live in NH and would love to relocate there but the $140,000 my 2 BR/2 bath/2 livingroom 1400 SF modern right by the lake townhouse would sell for wouldn't even get me a shoebox down there. Add the added taxes and my standard of living would drop considerably just to step foot in the state even if there was an increase in salary.

Something like that in the areas of CT I want to live in start at abot $300,000 and can go way up from there. If I am going to make it happen I will be renting a friends basement down there.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.
high cost of living vs salary make it very hard to relocate into the state from surrounding states. Real estate costs are also prohibitive.

I live in NH and would love to relocate there but the $140,000 my 2 BR/2 bath/2 livingroom 1400 SF modern right by the lake townhouse would sell for wouldn't even get me a shoebox down there. Add the added taxes and my standard of living would drop considerably just to step foot in the state even if there was an increase in salary.

Something like that in the areas of CT I want to live in start at abot $300,000 and can go way up from there. If I am going to make it happen I will be renting a friends basement down there.

Agreed! The pay stinks compared to the cost of living. I myself, got a job out to another state with a much lower cost of living and more benefits.

Interview a few floor nurses and you'll really get some insight.

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I think there are several factors as to why there is such a nursing shortage in CT. We have an aging workforce approaching retirement, the average age of CT nurses is much higher than other states. Like others have mentioned, faculty positions are underpaid. Many universities require a doctorite/Phd, where these same nurses could work elsewhere making a considerably higher income. Many students who attend our 18 nursing school programs are out-of-state and typically won't work in CT after graduation. Also, nurses who work in bordering states, ie MA and NY make significantly more per hour than CT nurses do.

I know this reply is somewhat late, but given our economic times and with many hospitals on hiring freezes. It still doesn't resolve the nursing shortage issue we are facing both in CT and nation-wide.

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Is there really a shortage in CT?

There is such a surplus in so many other areas right now.

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I feel the crunch every day I go into work. On many occasions I have been told by my manager "run short." But with economic times, and hospital losses it seems that they are unwilling to create new positions. If anything they'll hire experienced per-diem or part-time RN's. Many of them are either retired nurses re-entering into the workforce or nurses approaching retirement who are working "just a few more years" to put aside a little extra reitrement.

At the moment, we are "getting by," but will we be able to manage with the years to come? The average age of CT's RN's are the oldest in the US. What's going to happen when they retire?

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My sister-in-law is a Nurse Practitioner in Waterbury and teaches at Yale. Thank goodness she loves her job and loves to teach because even there they pay very little. There are not enough MSRN in this state who want to teach for reasons listed above.

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Specializes in Psych, education.

Another factor is that CT is a pretty small state. Even if you live in CT, it is easy to travel into NY, MA, or RI to work.

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In my opinion CT has a shortage of experienced nurses, not new grad/inexperienced nurses. i fall into the inexperienced catagory.

It all comes down to the mighty dollar. gone are the days of yester year when nursing was what it use to be. Due to the economy places are not willing to fix the "nursing shortage" by hiring new grads/ inexperienced nurses and properly orientating them and allowing them to grow and actually stay at the the hospitals for years to come. Hospitals are willing to patch the problem by hiring expereinced RNs whose orientation is shirt and sweet, hiring nurses who left the field and are now returning, or not hiring at all and are over exhausting the staff they presently have. people who want /neecto retire can't due to their retirement funds being depleted and they are trying to gain it back.

I sometimes hear people refer to CT as a rich state. I have been in CT for a while and have yet to see these riches people talk of. not everyone lives in a big ffancy house, and even though some do, they can't afford it. houses look good on the outside but on the inside all that is there is a weight bench and a lamp because that is the only decor some can afford.

As stated by many there is a nursing shoartage of nursing intructors. At my nursing school I knew of a few who had other jobs.

with the way how the economy is, a person just can't move on to the next state. For any state you work in you have to be licensed and not all states license fee is the same. It would not be a good look for one to get a license in MA and then can't find a job there. We all know how aggrevating it is to fill out paperwork send it out and expect the DPH to do their part and send out the other paperwork that is needed to get a license in another state. There are so many factors to consider if going to look out of state. sometimes you can't stay in one state and commute, you have to mave. Plus some places only want a BSN. Don't even get me started on that . DON'T WE ALL SIT FOR THE NCLEX TO GET BECOME A RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I graduated in 2008 and was fired from a job for the first time ever, and it hurt that it was also my first RN job. I am not bitter, but the same day I was fired, was also the same day I started job hunting and i am still job hunting. had started to look for jobs after graduation once took my boards and knew that I passed them. Funny when I went on job interviews HR asked me "why did i wait so long to apply for a job?" My response was the question " what does your institution do if you hire a GN and they don't pass their boards?" HR response was depending of the institution was " You are fired or you get downgraded to a tech."

I remember in the news paper in the classifieds when healthcare jobs took up more than three pages, now it only takes up less than half of one page.

Contract places that hire staff for places require that you have at least 1yr hospital expereince to work for them. On the interent jobs are posted for experienced RNs.HOW IS ONE TO GET EXPERIENCE IF NO ONE IS HIRING?

I just want a med/surg unit to work on. ICUs ans ERs seem to need nurses. I'm sorry if a place is not willing to train a newgrad/ inexpereinced nurse with a 1yr residency program of hard core training for these areas then it is not for me. To me that just seems risky and is sendingme the vibe any warm body will due. Being in nursing school as a student is a whole different animal compared to being a RN.

CT can advertise that it has a nursing shortage. Too bad when I pay my bills I can't write on my checks " CT HAS A NURSING SHORTAGE, WILL SEND FUNDS ONCE GET NURSING JOB, SORRY!!"

Nursing is a second degree for me. If i were to apply for a job not within healthcare period my resume would only contain the following info : my name, US citizenship ,graduated from high school , and english is my primary language.

This is my:twocents:

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