Could Obamacare cause a shortage in nursing again

Nurses Activism

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I would really like to know how you believe Obama care will affect the medical field and be honest. I would expect that it would create more jobs but the work would be very tiring. There would be no 3/12 but 4/12 or 3/15 with rooming/bedding at hospital.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I'm surprised more nurses aren't contemplating this knowing that their jobs could be on line.

Just because we're not eager to jump into the fray of hypotheticals doesn't mean we're not thinking about it. There's no point worrying about what's going to happen until we have more information. Right now, it's all speculation and hysteria.

Specializes in ICU.

There are open positions now that are not being filled. Staffing ratios will be pushed to the absolute limits in order to save more money.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I hope it causes another nursing shortage; maybe more nurses will be able to find (or keep) hospital jobs.

With more people insured there will definitely be a need for more nurses; however Hospitals are no longer places of healthcare and well being but places of business that must turn a profit in order for share holders to be happy. Healthy patients are no longer the goal of most hospitals now they just want happy clients. It will be a minute. I believe it will only take one major lawsuit against a hospital on negligence to be won by a former patient to kick the smart owners into gear.

SN: There needs to be a cesation of hospitals trying to find the cheapest labor possible.

I have a Magic 8 Ball app on my iPhone (really) and I rely on it often. ;)

It says, "Ask again later."

Good enough for me.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

OP, I truly believe that once you have gone to nursing school, graduated, passed the NCLEX, and practiced for a while, you will more easily understand the answers given here.

Specializes in Registered Nurse.

I hope for this too, but my gut tells me this is not likely to happen. The old days when a nurse walked into the human resources departments and they rolled out the red carpet and asked you where you wanted to work and offered nurses a sign on bonus are gone, and not likely to return. :unsure: Patients were admitted a day prior to surgeries for testing. If a patient was ill, off to the hospital he would go where the testing and nursing care would begin and the mystery illness diagnosed and treated. This would require admission for several days.

Healthcare has changed. Much of the testing and diagnosing is done outside the hospitals. Only the acutely ill are hospitalized and often discharged quickly. Jobs for technical assistants to work with nurses in cardiac cath. and endoscopy are more common with the nurses being in charge of several assistants and coordinating care. I don't see a return to more nursing hands on care which is what it would take for the nursing demand to increase. I yearn for the good old days, but I don't see them returning.

I am already seeing a difference in my area regarding Obama care. Several hospitals have gotten rid of all prn nursing positions because they will be required to offer them insurance when Obama care kicks in. in these instances, nurses are offered full or part time positions or to resign.

Obviously, we can't know the full impact of Obamacare until it is fully implemented for some period of time. What we do know is that there are presently more new RN's joining the workforce than there are nursing positions for them (in most parts of the the US at least). We also know that enrollment in nursing school has increased quite dramatically in the last 10 years and continues to increase, though not at the same pace as previously. Finally, we know that nurses, and indeed most workers, are delaying their retirement, mostly due to financial considerations.

If nursing school enrollment continues to increase, or even remains static, unless the pace of retirement quickens or demand for nurses goes up, there will continue to be a labor surplus of RNs. This should result in considerable downward wage pressure, a very favorable situation for health care companies and an unfavorable one for nurses. It is hard to tell for sure, but I think we are seeing signs of this - although most of the evidence is admittedly anecdotal at this point.

My guess is that Obamacare will result in a modest increase demand for nursing services, which does not automatically mean an increase in demand for RNs. Some of the demand will be taken up by increasing the scope of practice for UAPs (there is some anecdotal evidence that this is already occurring well in advance of full implementation of the ACA) and some will be taken up by increases in RN productivity. In my opinion, few states are likely to follow California's lead in mandating patient/nurse ratios, so I would not expect to see RN jobs increase by regulation. So my prediction would be for only a relatively small increase in demand for RN labor, one that is likely to be well short of the steadily increasing RN supply.

Not a pretty picture and frankly, I hope that I'm wrong. All the signs are there though, and I strongly suspect that the rosy predictions of good employment times ahead for nurses are nothing more than wishful thinking.

Nursing needs to take this opportunity, to finally UNITE AS A PROFESSION!!

The days of splintered entry practice issues needs to end. UNITE for a single entry into practice as a BSN. GRANDFATHER IN ALL ADNS, AND WHAT EVER DIPLOMA NURSES ARE LEFT AND LETS MOVE ON!!

We cannot waste anymore time with this disuniting us. Hospitals love the infighting this issue has caused. THAT is why it has not been resolved. The PTB want us fighting each other not them.

We need to unite over the issue of staffing ratios, once and for all. JUST SAY NO TO MORE PATIENTS THAN YOU CAN REASONABLY HANDLE IN MED SURGE. 4-5 MAX! Improved staffing ratios will increase the need for the surplus nursing staff that is now being produced. JUST SAY NO! This is job security!

Let management earn their paycheck by figuring out how to ASSIGN PATIENTS WHO DO NOT HAVE A NURSE, NOT HOW TO PUSH MORE PATIENTS ONTO ALREADY OVERWORKED NURSING STAFF. MAKE THEM TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THE PROBLEMS THAT THEY CAUSE!! Not the other way around.

Make it your business to encourage the nursing staff to unionize for their own good.

Nurses, you have a golden opportunity to change nursing for good, in your lifetime. Don't squander it, by infighting. You are playing into their hands by doing this.

Involve the public. Stand in front of the hospital, hand out leaflets, that state how staffing with too few nurses, negatively impacts patient outcomes. Nothing that management does in their offices, impacts patient outcomes. Make it happen on your watch.

If we once again squander this golden opportunity, it may never come about again. The ball is in our court. WE have the chance to impact the nursing profession for the better. Those of you who say that they are too concerned about patients to unionize, that is nothing but a MARTYR MARY cop out. Put on your big girl (or big boy), panties, and stand up for what you know needs to be done. ALL eyes are on health care right now. Lets do it right, and make Florence proud!

JMHO and my NY $0.02

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

RNmomm...that's Julie London, right? Didn't she just die lately?

My diploma nurse friend runs our hospital. It's folly to believe that a BSN should be the only degree allowed. That would be nothing but protectionism for an already overpriced "degree."

Look at chiropractors. What a laugh they are. They can't be as invasive as an RN but they're called, "doctors."

You don't need a degree to be a nurse.

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