Despite High Demand For Nurses, Colleges Aren't Keeping Up

[TheMoonisMyLantern]

I'm curious for everyone's thoughts on this article. The nursing shortage or surplus depending on your region has been discussed many times here but I think this article would be more accurate if it said there's a shortage of experienced nurses willing to tolerate the poor working conditions of the bedside. I can't think of a single peer of mine that doesn't have the goal of either going to a non-clinical position, or becoming a nurse practitioner. I think the pandemic is driving even more people from the bedside making working conditions even worse for those that remain. What's happening in your region? Is it feast or famine? What do you feel this article gets right/wrong? 

Despite High Demand For Nurses, Colleges Aren't Keeping Up

[JKL33]

4 hours ago, londonflo said:

Please don't pull the 'specialty card' to infer one area is harder than another. For entry level positions, any new graduate is faced with a multidimensional job and there are orientations in place to assist everyone to achieve a safe level of practice, whether it is taking care of one neonate or a team of 6 acutely ill adults. 

 

JKL33 - 

I respect you and your knowledge but you are so negative about everything in a nursing job.  I just don't share that trait (or so I believe). I just could not continue to work in a field I saw so many faults in. I am retired, yes, but I put in 45 years and worked under many of the problems you state.  Sometimes you just need to reframe your experience so you have a better feeling. I cannot imagine going home at night being so negative.

No worries. I'm working very hard on plan B. My plan B has already taken me into other worlds where I nearly walk around with my mouth gaping all day because the environment is so utterly different from corporate healthcare that it seems like a fantasy world.

This isn't negativity for the sake of being negative in my mind. There are some things that I see in a very black and white way and I don't like what I see. Nursing was not this way when I began, it doesn't need to be this way, and I will no longer tolerate it the way it is (referring to acute care and corporate healthcare specifically).

I'm not close to retirement at all. I've had numerous coworkers who were excellent nurses leave our jobs in the past 5-10 years and every single one said the same thing I'm saying right now: Not doing nursing this way. No. You want to time my activities and make it seem like excellence is determined by how fast I can do human caring interactions? No. You want to strip things bare bones and make it look like my fault that I can't do everything perfectly? No. I'm out.

The only thing I will admit is hanging around longer than I should have. Because it took me some time to admit that the insanity was really happening, and then more time to realize that nobody cared what I thought.

I will not "reframe my experiences." I think what is going on is disgusting.

 

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

1 hour ago, londonflo said:

The schools I am knowledgeable about had many applicants in the pipeline and did not have a decrease in enrollment. Can you tell me your resource for these statements? Was it in a specific geographical area?

It's another NPR article FWIW:

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/17/925831720/losing-a-generation-fall-college-enrollment-plummets-for-first-year-students

[londonflo]

1 hour ago, juan de la cruz said:

It's another NPR article FWIW:

I have to apologize. I misread your comments and thought you were saying the nursing program enrollment was decreasing in community colleges due to the pandemic. I know see you were referring to enrollment in general. Our CC enrollment has been decreasing since it's highest point after the 2008 crash. Factors such as the declining high school graduate numbers have been anticipated for some years. The nursing programs have stayed strong but I have read about the discontinuation of liberal arts majors at many small colleges. We had a local small college close in my area that was being supported by it's enrollment in the nursing major for years. Within days of the closure announcement, the whole nursing program including the curriculum and equipment was sold to another small liberal arts and sciences college in the same 'college' town. The students and faculty were retained so it was a win-win solution. This program graduates about 12 BSN graduates annually and has excellent NCLEX pass rates (usually 100%).

[londonflo]

1 hour ago, JKL33 said:

No worries. I'm working very hard on plan B. My plan B has already taken me into other worlds where I nearly walk around with my mouth gaping all day because the environment is so utterly different from corporate healthcare that it seems like a fantasy world.

I guess my interest in antiques has helped me disassociate myself from many  nursing stressors. I have been told by my Dean, students and husband that I am usually cheerful, in a good mood and positive. I wasn't always that way but lost my mother at an early age, had no support from my father and went around with a chip on my shoulder. Nursing helped me become financially independent and enlarged my world. So there is that. 

 

1 hour ago, JKL33 said:

This isn't negativity for the sake of being negative in my mind. There are some things that I see in a very black and white way and I don't like what I see.

I truly hope things get better for you. This has been such a tough year. I can't wait for my vaccination and to experience the world outside my home. I did tell my husband I am very grateful to be locked down with someone who is very compatible. What a nightmare it must be for someone stuck in a house in a bad marriage.

[JKL33]

4 minutes ago, londonflo said:

I truly hope things get better for you. This has been such a tough year. I can't wait for my vaccination and to experience the world outside my home. I did tell my husband I am very grateful to be locked down with someone who is very compatible. What a nightmare it must be for someone stuck in a house in a bad marriage.

I also have much for which I am very thankful; namely a lovely and loving family and way more than I could ask for. I'm not indiscriminately "cheerful," it's true that no one would ever mistake me for that. But I'm grateful for a lot of things and try to live in a grateful manner. I'm just not grateful for the MBA-run healthcare scene. ?