Double Whammy Nursing Shortage???

DoeRN · Sep 1, 2013

Blasphemy I tell you! I hope people do their research first unlike the author of this article who clearly didn't.

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twinmommy+2, ADN, BSN, MSN · Sep 1, 2013

Perhaps a few of our newer grads on allnurses should comment on their site regarding this issue?

elprup, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2013

I think we all need to voice our concerns. There are over 700,000 Allnurses members. Just think of what we could change if we all stood together. :)

twinmommy+2, ADN, BSN, MSN · Sep 1, 2013

I'm telling you its about time we do just that!

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2013

I can't think of any other profession where lives are in our hands and we'e not getting our breaks and we're working off the clock and we're working off the clock to catch up on our documentation, and it's considered "okay". It's crazy.

Now off to read the OP.

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2013

Okay. Its true that there is a shortage of nursing instructors. Teaching nursing does not pay well. But the idea that we are short of bedside nurses is a complete and total myth. We have plenty of bedside nurses. The problem is that we cannot decide if we are professionals or blue collar workers. Which is it?

all4neuro · Sep 1, 2013

Columbus, Ohio has an over abundance of RN's. We had several new nursing programs start up. I don't see it lasting. The babyboomers are starting to retire, or cut back hours. Time will tell.

MedChica · Sep 1, 2013

'Double whammy': Nursing shortage starts in the classroom - NBC News.com
Interesting article, not sure where they got their information though...

I thought there was a shortage 'of sorts'? my research and my local/state job market has brought me to two conclusions:

1. it's more of a retention issue vs a supply issue

2. rather than address long-standing issues that would keep nurses in the field, new grads r throw at the problem. solves nothing. there's still a 'shortage' (obscured by a poor economy) and the newbs cant gain a foothold bc experienced nurses are preferred, skeleton crews save resources and there r just plain too many of them. a total lose-lose.

I do believe that the situation is real. unemployment figures for nurses are among the lowest in the country. like 3%? I just think that the shortage is more 'manufactured' than anything else. no one actually wants to fix the problem. they'd rather rake some advantage of it -- the misinterpretation of the situation to the general public is purposeful. telling half truths, like this guy with his 'we don't have enough nursing instructors' mess...as if that's the basis for the entire problem -- for their own end.

I'm a new nurse (with a job), btw.

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Sep 2, 2013

'Double whammy': Nursing shortage starts in the classroom - NBC News.com
Interesting article, not sure where they got their information though...

Horse hockey!!! I worked side by side with a Masters level nurse on a med-surg floor while I was waiting to take the NCLEX-RN in 2010. When I asked her why was she there as a floor nurse, she said the local university had cut their teaching hours so much so that she had to return to the floor to make up for the financial loss to help support her family.

Clynn21 · Sep 2, 2013

Perhaps a few of our newer grads on allnurses should comment on their site regarding this issue?

I am a new grad (beginning of may), passed nclex on the 6th of June and was offered my current tele position the same day. I was lucky to have worked as a nurse intern/PCA on the very same unit for a year prior. I worked as a monitor tech while I waited for my orientation to start. I graduated from a community college that graduates roughly 300 a year (3 graduations from 3 campuses in south Florida). There are at least 10 other nursing programs in the tri county area. Not all are accredited which people don't realize the implications of going to a non accredited school. My school was VERY hard to graduate from my class started with 110 people and I think less than 10 graduated on time. EVen I had to retake a class. Most of my instructors were BSN/MSN, but the teachers/clinical instructors who were experienced nurses were my source of info. I can read a book by myself. But it's the demonstrations and the stories that stick out in my mind everyday. Many of my classmates have found jobs, and others are still looking. The problem I see (and am currently witnessing first hand in my facility) is budget. It comes down to money as reasoning for why it can be so hard to get jobs. It takes money to train new grads...right now hospitals are struggling to stay afloat and not have to fire people. We just had 35 jobs cut (Lpn's, dietary, nurse educator, admin), so nurse to patient ratios are going up. This is where the experience hospitals are looking for matters. Hospitals have less money to train and are constantly trying to balance patient safety, ratios, and budget. Only myself and 2 other new grads got hired on tele (the first new grads hired in over a year, and probably the last for a while). I don't believe there is a nursing shortage at all. I think with insurance reimbursement now relying more and more on value based purchasing, hospitals are looking for the full package in a nurse. They want experience, and they want nurses that will help deliver patient satisfaction. Unfortunately that is what things have come to. I was incredibly lucky but then again I worked very hard to obtain this opportunity, I made connections and made myself known to my fellow staff and admin. My advice to new grads is to understand that the hospitals know you are a novice level nurse. But aside from being a novice, what else sets you apart? For me that was my waitressing and customer service experience. Of course I want to be known as a nurse, but those years I spent being in the hospitality industry gave me a lot of experience communicating and dealing with people. You have to make yourself known to HR, to the nurse managers, and directors. Find a way! Jobs don't just fall in your lap, if you want to be hired as a new graduate you have to show the people in charge of the hiring that you are different from the hundreds of other applicants. Making connections begins with your clinical experience. I have 2 friends who got hired in units that witnessed them as baby nursing students. I'm happy to say I am halfway through my orientation to the floor and learning a ton! Attitude and a willingness to be humble and learn from everyone can take you very far.