Everything leads to believe that new nurses are needed. The aging population, the baby boomers, the aging nurses working, longer lives lived, more chronic diseases present etc....
My dilemma and question is, how can hospitals and health care facilities afford not to hire newly graduated nurses. They should be getting the manpower from somewhere. Are they relying only on overworking the experienced staff only. If they rely only on experienced nurses they are using a constant amount of people for a growing population of people with diseases.
This is what I do not understand, either the hospitals are using workers from some obscure source that I am not aware of or there is a mystery going on here.
It's the hospitals' fault? How do you figure that?
It is the hospitals who have created the problem by their willingness to snap up those 1-year nurses, offer them more money, and place them into the units. The newbie nurses were simply responding to market conditions. If, instead, the hospitals had retention programs in place and created an environment that valued employee longevity then the problem would have been greatly diminished.
I kind of take offense to this. I am a foreign born nurse, and your Government begged me to come over with all kinds of incentives because of the "nursing shortage" at the time.
Yes, the government was very short-sighted in their actions. Rather than import nurses they should have (and still should) incentivize employers to create structures that will create the workers that are needed from within the existing population (native born *or* foreign born).
As far as I know, all visas for foreign nurses have been on hold for several years due to the current job climate.
As well they should. Unemployment and underemployment in this country is terrible and it is absurd to contribute to the problem by bringing in nonresidents when the existing population is sufficient to solve the problem with sufficient training.
Please note that I have not distinguished between foreign-born, native-born, citizens, legal residents, etc. I'm simply saying that policy should rightly benefit those people currently living in this country (legally, that is).
Yes, the government was very short-sighted in their actions. Rather than import nurses they should have (and still should) incentivize employers to create structures that will create the workers that are needed from within the existing population (native born *or* foreign born).As well they should. Unemployment and underemployment in this country is terrible and it is absurd to contribute to the problem by bringing in nonresidents when the existing population is sufficient to solve the problem with sufficient training.
Please note that I have not distinguished between foreign-born, native-born, citizens, legal residents, etc. I'm simply saying that policy should rightly benefit those people currently living in this country (legally, that is).
Agree more retention incentives, better and safer working conditions for existing US RN's would have solved the problem long-term. And it would have been cheaper in the long-run rather than importing foreign RN's. There have always been plenty of American nurses willing to work.
Wow guys thanks for the numerous replies, I believe this is an important topic that can't be ignored for much longer by all the actors in the field like the schools, hospitals and the government .
But the most important thing is that the "NURSING SHORTAGE" mantra that I believe has contributed a lot to this problem has to finish and people and students ho want to invest in nursing should make the decisions based on the reality of facts from now on rather than from the "Nursing Shortage" mantra that still you hear from a lot of sources.
Let us admit it, there is definitely NO SHORTAGE IN NURSING for now, so all the people thinking to get into nursing should be aware of this.
Truth is the shortage of nurses is still there but with this economy no hospital wants to spend money to train a new nurse. So how do they solve their staffing needs? Overworking the current staff by increasing the patient-nurse ratio.
A "shortage" implies that there simply are not enough nurses to fill available slots. Are you really saying that? If you are, I would counter with a hypothetical: How many qualified applicants do you imagine would apply for a nursing position that paid $60/hr with a guaranteed "no call-off" policy, a defined-benefit pension, comprehensive low-deductible medical insurance for the employee and dependents, guaranteed ratios of 2-4 pts, and call pay of say $20/hr? I contend that they'd be FLOODED with applicants.
Instead, if that same position offered $21/hr, a high-deductible plan for the employee only, a 401(k) with a 1% match, no assurances regarding call-offs, call pay of $3/hr, no support personnel, and a ratio of say 8:1 - yeah, they might have some difficulty - unless they were willing to hire new grads...
There is *NO* nursing shortage. Yes, one is projected, but even that could be ameliorated by compensation, conditions, and some advance planning.
I worked at a hospital with on-call pay of $1/hr!!!!
Exactly my point... *no* shortage of licensed, qualified nurses. Simply a shortage of people willing to work for ludicrously low pay or to tolerate poor work environments.
In these parts, I've noticed that the high-quality employers never have trouble finding nurses. The *shortage* only exists with those employers such as you describe... and that is essentially disappearing in the current environment.
It's sad to me when I hear nurses on this very board continue to parrot the misinformation.
Instead, if that same position offered $21/hr, a high-deductible plan for the employee only, a 401(k) with a 1% match, no assurances regarding call-offs, call pay of $3/hr, no support personnel, and a ratio of say 8:1 - yeah, they might have some difficulty - unless they were willing to hire new grads...
Wow, that is actually better than what my hospital offers, the turnover is on the high side, but every time the managers post a position, they get hundreds of applications. So your wrong about them having "some difficulty" getting nurses. They have no problem. And I saw the list of online applications for a med/surg spot posted 12/2, on 12/6 there was 174 applications...INSAIN. I stayed there because I moved on to the MICU, after turning down another med/surg spot in a bigger hospital that would have paid $7 more an hour (no raise where I'm at even after 2 years), But I'm gaining experience to boost my resume. I made a huge monetary sacrifice to stay and learn more, but Personally, I'm just happy to have a job after reading the million threads about bad job prospects.
But hospitals can afford to not hire cause they can get away with putting nurses and techs into what I feel are horrible working conditions, so why pay more money for more nurses if you don't have to. It's all about the numbers.
Something that hasn't been mentioned but has been going on for more then a few years is the transferring of traditional Nursing duties to much lower paid ancillary staff. I've noticed a trend in Hospitals ( I worked in) to create new Job Titles for unlicensed staff in Dialysis (Hemodialysis Tech) Anethesiology Techs, Telemetry Techs, Medication Techs, IV Techs. I have performed 4 out of 5 of these aforementioned duties in the Hospitals when I started in Nursing over 25 years ago, yet today if I were to return to Hospital Staffing, they would be performed by Lower (much) paid Techs. That's a lot of work off the Books so the need for increased Nursing Staff is not there as it used to be. Not saying this is happening in your Hospital but I have noticed it the places where I used to work. Friends keep me up to date as I have been away from Hosp staffing for 10 years and only do Home Health Visits presently.
Unfortunately these Nursing Schools keep hammering home the same old Kool Aid "There's a Huge Shortage, we need More Nurses" so the HS students or layed off workers in need of a New Career drinks the Kool Aid the Nursing Schools are putting out. What a Surprise it must be to get half way thru school to find out there isn't a Nursing shortage. These Nursing schools should be taken to task for leading these Students on with Empty Pie in the Sky Promises of all these oppurtunities. The Schools of course need to prolong this Nursing Shortage Myth to justify their own existence and Jobs. This Myth has been building for years (like our real estate Bubble of 2006 that crashed) ad now its deflating and sadly, taking hese new Grads down as well.
I think that alot of new grads are having a hard time finding jobs because the demand in the area they live isn't as high. I would suggest that they be willing to relocate.
A really good article, this page is the top 10 states with nursing openings, also talks about top 10 and worst 10 states to work, and highest paid/lowest paid states. Informative!
Music in My Heart
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