Experience Nurses

[ttpurtee]

People who have been in nursing for a while, I am interested in how long will it take before there is another nursing shortage. Do you think the Healthcare Reform, will create a nursing shortage again? Do you think Healthcare Reform will lower/raise Nurses wages? Just curious!

[Flying ICU RN]

What you are seeing now, is a brief lull in health care access between the baby boomer generation and their parents.

You and anyone so interested can answer your questions and allay your fears by perusing various government websites for statistical information and charts. To start, go to bls.gov, census.gov, and hss.gov.

Another source of good info, are the investor relations pages for anyone poised to make a buck when the boom returns, IE pharmaceuticals and suppliers.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

It is my opinion that Obama care will be the end of the RN as a in-demand source. It has been happening for the last 15 years for cost containment that CNA's, med techs, etc... are being skilled in areas that only licensed nurses use to be.

So what will happen when a health care state of mind goes to insuring everyone but take down costs? It's not rocket science to figure it out.

[llg, PhD, RN]

No one can accurately predict such complicated matters. Anyone who thinks or says that they know how it will all play out is naive.

Nursing will continue to evolve in response to changing environmental conditions -- as it always has -- because there will always be people who need health care. However roles, titles, educational requirements, compensation will change -- as is normal for a profession.

The baby-boomers now working as the backbone of most hospitals and other nursing facitities will eventually get old and need to retire. That is inevitable. They will also need nursing care. That is inevitable.

Our society will adjust to the economic events of the last few years. That is inevitable. Things may not be the same as they once were, but a new "normal" will be established. Job turnover will eventually normalize. Signs of that starting to happen are already appearing.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

They are increasing the education of LPNs in Canada so they come out of school with the same education as we did coming out of the diploma schools 20 years ago. So now they get RN-like labor on the cheap, and use techs the same way LPNs were used back then. It's all very discouraging.