Everyone seems to be turning to nursing. I remember way back when (5 years ago) when nursing was a calling. There were still other jobs a person could do and make a living--like heating and air conditioning. Now nursing is a lifeboat--a recesion-proof job that anyone and everyone is considering.
I see post after post in here of people who have no experience, no particular desire, and no particular aptitude for nursing inquiring about nursing as a job. They need something to pay the bills. I just went to a restaurant tonight, and two of our waiters are starting nursing school.
Let's face it, with the coming depression, nursing wages are attractive. So here's a prediction, please tell me if you agree or disagree:
Nursing boards will start requiring a 4-year degree to sit for the NCLEX.
The Nursing shortage is going to end in about 3 years; in five there will be a glut of nurses and getting a job will be about like getting a job as an NP is now.
Travel agencies will cease to exist and agency nursing will go the way of the way of the dinosaur.
Without unions, hospitals will force nurses to take about 14 patients a shift and will simply fire those who won't do it.
If the job market remains tight, yes, I think more people will look into nursing.
This probably is not unique to nursing. I imagine there are more people looking into stable careers like dental hygiene, radiology techs, that pay well.
As another poster said, the waiting lists and prereq's will drive the less determined away. Other unsuitable candidates will drop out along the way.
i really don't know. the baby boomers are old, and so they will need more more (more nurses). our population is expanding like rabbits. i think those that entry nursing just for the nursing right now, will eventual quit down the road and do something else. but for right now, it's a good stable job with above average income that can make the big mortgage payment.
I think I've definitely gotten a crash course in some parts of the "real world" of nursing reading through this thread. Whether or not you think people are in it for the wrong reasons, or if schools are churning out students, we all need to try and stick together if we are going to make things better for ourselves and our patients. Judging the rationale or path another nurse chooses will only serve to divide our nursing community in the end. You can call me naive if you want, but I think we can be better than that.
If the job market remains tight, yes, I think more people will look into nursing.
This probably is not unique to nursing. I imagine there are more people looking into stable careers like dental hygiene, radiology techs, that pay well.
As another poster said, the waiting lists and prereq's will drive the less determined away. Other unsuitable candidates will drop out along the way.
Another great point. Nursing isn't the only health career that is being considered in these tough times. I'm sure people would rather become dental hygenists or x-ray techs because many of them can't get past thinking of nursing duties as being 'poop cleaners'. So there is one reason to be thankful for that train of thought.
Wow! I did not mean to begin such a long discussion on nursing grads and those who enter it for the money. I agree, if nursing did not pay a decent wage, a lot less would enter the field--I think that's what got us into this nursing shortage predicament in the first place. However, what I do mean is that nursing isn't for everyone and that is borne out by studies of first year attrition rates and what I am seeing myself in teaching new employees and student nurses.
Nursing is a tough, tough job. It isn't banking or retail or any other job where you must deal with people in a pleasant manner. Retailers leave at 9 p.m., bankers at 5 p.m., nurses often begin at those hours (or later). The worst smells bankers or retailers get is the feta cheese salad left in the break room 'fridge too long.
There is nothing wrong with entering nursing for the money and I don't always believe it is a calling, but I do believe that many enter it with little understanding of what they are getting into and leave it when that reality sinks in.
I'm not saying that entering it for the money is wrong--a good percentage will stick with nursing because they will find it to be a rewarding and professional career that promises not just security but also opportunities in many industries and the chance of advancement. I also believe it is one of the fields with high attrition rates, due to hard working conditions and lack of preparation of what is involved in the real world of nursing.
With that, I simply was trying to make a point that a nursing shortage is not likely to be resolved soon. Unlike the IT field where there was a shortage 2-3 years ago, people went into the field and stayed there because they generally worked 8-5 and pretty much knew what to expect. But nursing is different with more attrition and a field already short on personnel is likely to continue to remain short with higher than expected attrition.
Unless you are working in the fields of science and technology, you have no idea what type of advances are in store. Just because you can't think of anything new that could be discovered or invented, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Think about before there was electricity, cars, cell phones, Wii...people in the past had no idea things like this were possible. You have no idea what is in store for the future. I think the human mind is incredible, and we have so many possibilities. The human race isn't through yet my friend.
You are correct that I have no idea what might be coming out, but then again, neither do you. I don't mean that in a tit-for-tat tone. What I mean is that there is no reason for you to have any faith in a new technology that will save our economy. The bottom line is that we don't need anymore technology, at least not any technology that is actually possible or useful.
Let's say solar energy took a huge step forward and we could all power our houses and charge up our electric cars with nothing more than a solar panel the size of our house's roof. That would be great. That might move us forward for a couple of decades as people invested in that and grew the industries that spun off of that, but if we could do that, we would have. We've wanted that for fifty years and we still don't have it. So I don't see it coming.
Unlike the personal computer. When we wanted it, we simply evolved it. The possibility was always there. When Steve Jobs made the first PC, he built it from components that already existed. (See the movie: Pirates of Scilicon Valley.). Something like the internet was around in the 60's but the PC wasn't. When they came together, we got the IT boom. There's nothing like that out there now.
Example: I went to Verizon to replace my phone. I wanted a phone that combined my iPod, PDA, camera, and phone. They had one, but I walked out keeping what I had, because when I got to thinking about it, what I have is working for me very well. I haven't bought a computer in a long time. In the late 80's when I got my first PC, computers were changing rapidly every six months. Nowadays, I don't even know or care what specifics a computer has, because a while back they surpassed any practical use I could make of them. In other words, the technology of the PC is about dead.
So, what will pull us out of this economy? If I'm not buying a new cell phone or a new computer, what will I buy? Basically, I'm going to pay off debt for the next ten years. I'm going to buy groceries and gas and pay off debt. My new attitude amplified by millions of other "used-to-be" consumers is going to disintegrate the economy.
And what will happen to the nursing shortage when the economy drains out?
So, what will pull us out of this economy? If I'm not buying a new cell phone or a new computer, what will I buy? Basically, I'm going to pay off debt for the next ten years. I'm going to buy groceries and gas and pay off debt. My new attitude amplified by millions of other "used-to-be" consumers is going to disintegrate the economy.
People are not buying like they used to, even with gas prices coming down.
I even wonder if nursing salaries will start to go down.
At least my nursing job is paying that big mortgage payment (for now). And if we all get another "stimulus package," it will go toward the same thing the last stimulus package went to: paying off debt. I'm sure that is not the purpose of us getting the little bit of extra money they are going to toss us, though.
At least my nursing job is paying that big mortgage payment (for now). And if we all get another "stimulus package," it will go toward the same thing the last stimulus package went to: paying off debt. I'm sure that is not the purpose of us getting the little bit of extra money they are going to toss us, though.
Yes, or if we get a stimulus check again, for me it will probably become part of a cash reserve. It won't get spent.
For so long the economy has been propped up with debt spending on the assumption that house prices could never go down. You could give a bum on the street a mortgage, because what did it matter if he paid? The value on the property would keep going up and you could just kick him out and resell it at a higher price.
Now I wonder what will keep apreciating in price that we can all go into debt again over.
This isn't like the Great Depression. This is a whole new economic animal and it's affecting the whole world. It seems to me that if you can't find anything new to appreciate in value, all the old stuff has to come down in value so we can start over buying it again.
Where's the next Model T? Where's the next Intel 286 MGHz PC to start things off? Where's the next Necktie.com IPO for us all to scramble to buy? Where's the next cellular bag phone that once you had one, you knew you couldn't do without it ever again?
I look around me, and admittedly, I think it's possible I could be in a uniquely good situation in my nursing job. I'll keep my fingers crossed. But I look around and the only thing that can pay the bills that's hiring is nursing. Sure, software engineers may make 100,000 a year, but who's hiring? It may be true that heating and air conditioning pays well, but who's building the next housing development?
Think about it: what are teenagers going to go to college for anymore? College for what?
Yep, I agree, the only thing I will add is that for those of us in nursing for many many years things will change. I think we will be asked to take pay cuts, take more pt's. Yes, I too think there wil be a depression. I think we have better be prepared for a long bumpy ride. If a depression occurs I think we will see all of those that went into nursing for the pay start to leave. Those that care for people because they are people will stay and be willing to care for those that need us even if we arn't getting what we feel we deserve. It will be a time that we all need to stick together to do the job to the best of our ability.
Were is the hope in this thread? I am becoming depressed just reading it.
Depressed reading it? Try writing it! But seriously, I disagree that there will be any cut in nurses pay. It's very hard to do that and try to keep a hospital open since it may cause nurses that you need to leave. And I think professional health care is one of the best industries to be in in this economy. What seems more likely is that given the pay and the security, more people will become nurses and the nursing shortage will dry up fairly quickly making it hard to find employment if you're new, and hard to get another job if you quit the one you are in.
The students in here, in my opinion, should try to get jobs as techs or CNAs at the hospitals they want to work at when they get their licenses, even if they only do it on a very minimal PRN basis. Techs and CNAs will always be looked at for nursing positions before strangers--they're a known quantity.
I've been in nursing since 1990 and never had a problem finding a job until just recently. Everywhere I go I still hear about this so-called "shortage" but if there was a shortage in our area, it wouldn't have taken me nearly 3 months to secure a job. Granted, I'm only an ADN but planning on eventually going back to school.
I don't know...maybe the statement about agency nursing...I even tried to get on with an agency but because I had ZERO hospital experience, they wouldn't even hire me. The best they said they could do was put me in their agency as a Hospice nurse, which required a lot of traveling and no more than $22/hr. in my area.
Blessings, Michelle
I suppose time will tell eh?
What do you mean "just an ADN? tell me who works harder! Especially med/surg?
But seriously, I disagree that there will be any cut in nurses pay. It's very hard to do that and try to keep a hospital open since it may cause nurses that you need to leave. And I think professional health care is one of the best industries to be in in this economy. What seems more likely is that given the pay and the security, more people will become nurses and the nursing shortage will dry up fairly quickly making it hard to find employment if you're new, and hard to get another job if you quit the one you are in.
RNperdiem, RN
4,592 Posts
If the job market remains tight, yes, I think more people will look into nursing.
This probably is not unique to nursing. I imagine there are more people looking into stable careers like dental hygiene, radiology techs, that pay well.
As another poster said, the waiting lists and prereq's will drive the less determined away. Other unsuitable candidates will drop out along the way.