How is there a shortage?

Nurses General Nursing

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So I went to a seminar a couple of weeks ago about nursing, and I didn't really understand some of the things they said. So first of all, they kept mentioning that there is a shortage of nurses.

Other facts that were stated:

- recent graduates are not all getting hired because nurses who are suppose to be retiring are not. They are waiting for the economy to pick back up before they retire.

- LVNs are being phased out of hospitals

- CNA's are doing LVN jobs, basically that they are hiring the lower paid nurses to do the higher level of work?

- Colleges are closing admissions into nursing programs, there are long wait-lists to get in.

I feel like some of these facts contradicts the "shortage of nurses." Can someone explain why there is a shortage or if there even is one?

edited: Sorry, I forgot to mention, I'm in California ^__^

Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.

To the OP

I can see that you are a recent joiner...so first of all welcome.

Next, I don't know if you have had a chance to read any of the former posts regarding this issue but it is generally accepted that there is NO nursing shortage in the USA anymore. There is a myiad of reasons for this and if you explore the threads you will finds scads and scads of posts addressing this and the reasons.

There are dozens and dozens of posts regarding new grads who can not finds jobs---in the vast majority of the 50 states...also harder now for experienced nurses.

So do a little looking around and it won't take you long to find the information...you can use the search option for the topic.

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I hear there is always a nursing shortage partly because hospitals won't hire the proper amount of RN's to begin with. Also, part of nursing school now is networking and looking for your first job before you graduate. All of the graduating classes ahead of me have a handful who are able to secure their first job a month or two before graduation while those who wait spend months landing thier first job.

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I just graduated this past May. I too was very worried about finding a new grad position. Especially after reading all the comments on here. That concern lead me to get a CNA/PCT job while still in school. I worked my butt off and treated that job like an interview everyday. That lead to me getting an RN job that I'll be starting next week. Many of my fellow grads have been trying to get jobs, and are having a tough time. I think that there are jobs out there, if you're willing to work and go to school at the same time. It will be really tough, but I guess that will show you how much you really want to be in the field. Good luck! Oh, and I'm in MD/the DC metro area, which usually does better in economically hard times. Still, I think if you are strategic about it, you'll find something!

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I totally agree! great point. After your first med/surg clinical, talk to the unit manager or charge nurse to get a PRN position. This is a great schedule for being in school and it gives you an in for RN positions. For my graduating class, we either got jobs a month after graduation or it looks like people may have to wait until next spring to get a job.

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To the OP

I can see that you are a recent joiner...so first of all welcome.

Next, I don't know if you have had a chance to read any of the former posts regarding this issue but it is generally accepted that there is NO nursing shortage in the USA anymore. There is a myiad of reasons for this and if you explore the threads you will finds scads and scads of posts addressing this and the reasons.

There are dozens and dozens of posts regarding new grads who can not finds jobs---in the vast majority of the 50 states...also harder now for experienced nurses.

So do a little looking around and it won't take you long to find the information...you can use the search option for the topic.

Thank you for the suggestion

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Long-term we absolutely have a major nursing shortage. Short-term we have a serious surplus. There are two very bright young women in my own extended family who are new grads and can't find jobs. So there is this ugly disconnect between the fact that, in the long term, we need more nurses and, in the short term, we have too many. Bad for everyone.

I'm curious about the time frame for short and long-term? When do you think things will change? 5 years? 10? More or less?

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The federal "nursing shortage" is a statement about the number of nurses we have in this country per capita. HRSA still currently deems that we have less nurses than is needed to maintain their health and safety goals. This has nothing to do with the number of nursing jobs available. We have a "nursing shortage" but not a nursing "job shortage". Facilities are trying to cut corners just like every other buisness out there, so they are doing less staffing and hiring. Hence, the difficulty in finding jobs these days.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Step-Down.

In my opinion there is still a huge nursing shortage but the economy is masking it. I recently graduated from nursing school and everyone has been struggling to find a job. I know so many smart and gifted students who just cannot get a call back from a hospital. However, when I was a freshman in nursing school (right before the economy crashed), I remember a senior nursing student who came and talked to one of our freshman nursing classes. She told us how we all would have job offers before the end of senior year and we wouldn't have to struggle to find one. That was just four years ago and everything is so different now. I have a hard time believing that in four years the nursing shortage disappeared. Instead hospitals are just not able to hire additional nurses and nurses of retiring age cannot retire for financial reasons. And even when hospitals are hiring, which I believe they are a little bit more than a year or two ago, new grads are expensive to train. As the economy gets better I believe the nursing shortage will be just as bad, if not worse, than before.

On a happier note, I have been watching everyone in my class slowlyyy get jobs at great hospitals. While it certainly would have happened a lot faster in the past, people are finding jobs eventually. It just takes a lot of persistence and patience.

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I'm curious about the time frame for short and long-term? When do you think things will change? 5 years? 10? More or less?

It depends on when the economy truly recovers in ways that mean something to the average person. In the technical terms that economists use, we've been out of the recession for some time. By definition, when the economy is growing, we are not in a recession. And it has been growing, if slowly. But almost all of the economic growth is going into corporate profits and CEO salaries - very little is going into job creation. So we aren't technically in a recession, but it sure looks like one to the average person. At some point though, the retirement of the baby boom era nurses and the increased demand for care created by the aging of that generation (my generation!) will at least partially override the bad economy.

I think that demographers use the years 1946 - 64 as the beginning and end of the baby boom years. So the very first of that generation are just hitting retirement age and there are a few years to go - maybe 5 to 10? - before the full impact of it on the health system starts to be felt.

So, for a strictly pulled out of you-know-where prediction: If the larger jobs picture recovers faster, the short end of that 5-10 range. If it recovers slower, the long end.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
It's really about the difference between short-term and long-term.

Long term, due to the aging of the baby boom generation, we have a shortage of nurses. It's real and it's going to hit hard in a few years.

Short-term, due to the recession, we have a surplus of nurses, for the following reasons:

1. Nurses who were licensed but not working at all, being supported by spouses, coming back into the work force because of spouse losing their job.

2. Nurses who were working in some other field losing that job and coming back into nursing.

3. Nurses who were hoping to retire having to put off retirement due to loss of value of their retirement savings.

Long-term we absolutely have a major nursing shortage. Short-term we have a serious surplus. There are two very bright young women in my own extended family who are new grads and can't find jobs. So there is this ugly disconnect between the fact that, in the long term, we need more nurses and, in the short term, we have too many. Bad for everyone.

Well said......:yeah:

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I wish that this shortage drama would stop!! In MOST markets in USA there are very few jobs for nurses without 1-2 years acute care experience. This has been the case for the last two years BUT the schools keep turning out grads knowing there are NO jobs. They are licking their chops because they have so many applicants they can pick the 4.0 students. Its like a dirty little secret, and of course the media just loves drama so off they go with this shortage talk. What they need to talk about is how after the shortage crap hit the airways tons left thier careers to start in nursing becuase "you always have a job as a nurse":devil: Now most don't have jobs, but they have loans to repay, and the market is flooded with new RNs. They do predict the shortage for about 2020, hmmm that really helps. One national nurses organization actually had the balls to say "now is a great time to get your masters!! " Yeah right! spend 40,000 on another degree, and be unemployed . I know I sound bitter BUT it gets so old having to hear over and over " but nurses always have work":eek: So on we go waiting for the mythical shortage, fighting over jobs, watching bills pile up.If anybody asks me about going to nursing school I tell them to do some research first! Make sure there are actually jobs in your area, and have a back up plan!

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.

Nursejossy,

Well said...this is also one of my soapboxes....I feel like there are fingernails on a blackboard when I hear someone say something about the "nursing shortage".:mad:

It is not the universities that I take issue with though, it is the little sleazy private nursing schools that have sprung up like mushrooms all over...at least here in So Florida. When i went to school 20 years ago, there were 2 nursing schools-both were universities. Now there are 8....one more college level program and 5 private "nursing schools"...they cost mega bucks and turn these poor souls like lemmings.

The job market is very tight and it has been very difficult for the new grads to find jobs...unfortunately, also harder for the experienced nurses as well.

I don't know what it will take before the general public understands there is not a real shortage and no, you will not alway be able to get a job if you become a nurse...and the ever popular..."nursing is recession proof"...tell that one to all of the unemployed nurses right now.:mad: GGGrrrrrrrrrrr

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