Future Market Saturation

Specialties NP

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I found this interesting blog that discusses the significant increases in production of various healthcare providers including NPs. According to reported data, new graduate NPs have increased 142% over the last decade. There are historical cycles of boom and bust in nursing and it appears we are in a cycle of surplus for new graduate RNs in some areas. Does anyone feel that we are producing too many NPs that may also face a surplus in the near future? A future surplus may not affect experienced NPs as much as new graduates and may be regionally dependent. Anecdotally it seems many staff nurses I know want to go back to school to become an NP. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of other NPs. Is this something to be concerned about?

there is a study showing a decent oversupply of PA and NP by 2025

they still show shortage of physicians at that time

https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bhw/health-workforce-analysis/research/projections/primary-care-state-projections2013-2025.pdf

there are your facts unaltered by nursing colleges or industry.

If you get your information from colleges they will tell you there is a shortage of business majors and if you get a bachelors in general business from their school you will have people thumping your leg for 100k salary jobs.

its a business brah, colleges would sell you used tampons for 20k if could

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I agree the market is saturated.Every new RN wants to be an NP. Starting salary for NP is about 75,000. Starting for RN is 65,000 in my area. With shift diff the staff RN actually makes more and has more flexibility in scheduling.I was very disappointed when I graduated with my NP,to know that pretty much every other nurse I work with is either in a NP program or applying to an NP program.The NP's have 5 job opening in our system and 45 open RN positions.This speaks volumes and the new NP's are going to be surprised when they make the same salary with a new student loan debt if they even get a job offer. All they think about is I can prescribe that's it!!!We are chopping our own head off with all these online programs and unlimited seats for NP. I honestly make more as a RN than I do as an NP and there are 50 grads every semester that will be ready to work for less and less.

Wow 75k that is seriously low, I thought the NPs in my area were taking low salaries from VA positions at 85-95k but i guess that's what saturation is doing screwing everyone over

Are you in the Midwest? Big city? High Cost of living?

It's a damn shame that people who try hard and attend quality NP programs are undercut by these for profit schools that are handing out NP degrees like candy.

These online schools should have the same rep as an online MBA from a for profit school like Capella (not hating but you cant compare Capella to even a local MBA program let alone a top 100 MBA program in the USA)

The salaries should reflect where you graduate from but i guess that isnt the case

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there is a study showing a decent oversupply of PA and NP by 2025

they still show shortage of physicians at that time

https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bhw/health-workforce-analysis/research/projections/primary-care-state-projections2013-2025.pdf

there are your facts unaltered by nursing colleges or industry.

If you get your information from colleges they will tell you there is a shortage of business majors and if you get a bachelors in general business from their school you will have people thumping your leg for 100k salary jobs.

its a business brah, colleges would sell you used tampons for 20k if could

University of Michigan School of Business pumps out 500-600+ graduates each year. That is an ENORMOUS amount of new grads, some without any valuable work experience. Even after graduating from such a high tier school (i believe its top 20), how easy would it be to secure a job one may wonder if you are graduating from a local or non-ranked MBA school

Degrees mean nothing, I regret getting my Biology bachelors more than anything. The only jobs available are clinical research positions at 40-50k or I would have to go back to school to get become a BSN, OT, PT, Audiology, Speech Therapist, Radiation Tech, Respiratory therapist, or cardiac perfusionist.

These jobs require 2 sometimes 4 years of MORE school and all top out at around 60 (minus RNs where you can take OT and do travel nursing to make more money)

It's a sad state of affairs for sure

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Unfortunately we have gradually cheapened degrees in many fields, not just nursing, to the point where they now mean absolutely nothing but debt.

When I taught a foreign language years ago, I knew fellow "teachers" who couldn't use the language to order a sandwich if their life depended on it.

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I would be careful about doing online/for-profit NP programs. When hiring gets competitive, companies will likely look toward educational background in making hiring decisions. Its similar with law. There's a glut of lawyers, and those from top ten schools will be hired before a second tier school or below.

My company has had open positions for NPs but doesn't hire graduates of online programs, so they remain open.

I know in my area they have a list of pre approved programs you can attend. was on that short list and thats why i picked them. So many online programs are on the Do not Hire list and its always a growing list.

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Sure every nurse now wants to be an NP. I think the bigger picture here is how bad it is to be a bedside nurse these days. Not too many years ago RNs had more autonomy and were treated far better. Now they are forced to work short and basically check boxes and complete stupid care plans. Scan everything and get in trouble when something does not scan. Get nasty emails when they clock in two minutes early or a minute late. RNs are treated like children and no wonder so many want to leave the bedside.

An instructor told me years ago that trouble was is that nursing is considered a cost center and had not way to represent revenue and that was the reason they are treated so badly. I am glad I was able to work as an RN when things were not so horrible and could never ever go back to the bedside now.

I couldn't agree more ...we are reminded on a daily basis of how expensive we are and we have to stick to the budget etc. So what happens on the floor we work short staffed a lot and even if we happened to be well staffed on a good day, someone will be sent home or brought in later in the shift. Yep, we are maxed out in patient load ...told to roll with it all while delivering excellent scripted customer service. We get dinged if we clock in 1 min early and a nasty gram if we stay late to chart all the little boxes. In my hospitals quest for magnet we now have patient representatives that goes into the patients rooms and ask how about there stay etc The charge nurses have to round on the patients and ask if the nurses are saying the little script the hospital wants us to say (not directly but they inquire in a round about way). We are treated like little expensive machines that must work harder faster and do it with a smile on our faces. So yes there is a rush away from beside and until conditions improve nurses leave in droves into other areas. On my unit we have lost 4 nurses recently 2 went into education 1 went to a peds ICU hoping for better working conditions and the other went to travel nursing, her thought was if I was going to deal with crap I need to be paid well while doing it. Oh yeah and managent now follows us into the patients room randomly throughout the day to make sure we are doing everything just the way they want. Other nurses I know went in case management or work for insurance companies with better work hours and better pay. Until conditions improve at bedside nurse will always leave and NP is another route they are exploring.

Just my 2 cents

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