Huge over supply of nurses

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Feb 10, 2015

I guess my point was more about the over-abundance of nursing programs and states having special funding for nursing education because of the "shortage" and how misleading I think it is for future students.

martymoose, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2015

Yeah, and the colleges are more than happy to take your money.

False advertising!!( that a person will get a job out of school)

ALlpn · Feb 10, 2015

Just saw a TV commercial for LCCTC Willow Street PA LPN program that I graduated from 3 years ago.

When I was there, over 200 people a year graduated from that school alone and they're not the only one in the area. Ran into people interviewing who had graduated YEARS before and still couldn't get a job as an LPN!

TV commercial stated salary is $44,000 a year. My job interview offers after graduation were for $10-$12 an hour with many others jockeying for the same position. Most were part-time positions with no benefits.

I make $34,000 a year now working full-time in a Nursing Home (which is where LPNs get the highest pay) and I was one of the fortunate ones who gained employment 4 months after graduation, so am now considered "experienced".

This school is part of the problem of too many nurses! They lie...lie...lie...for the tuition money. Sucked me in by saying there was a shortage of LPNs and I could bridge to RN if I started with them. Found out after I graduated that the RN programs do not acknowledge their classes and that MAs are getting just as much pay in the same jobs as the LPNs with less time in school. I warn anyone against attending LCCTC.

If you want to do it right, go to a 4 year accredited college that has an RN program. No surplus of them that I can see, at least not in Lancaster County PA. They start at $60,000 a year salary and have many more opportunities like self-employment and working in a hospital.

dcwang · Feb 10, 2015

this is actually scaring me... i just got accepted to nursing school. but as a student here's what i've been thinking

1. there are a lot of new nursing programs from universities which are not highly regarded, and therefore the quality of the nursing program is not good, which does not produce good nurses.

2. there seem to be many nurses who look close to retirement age.

3. It's important to go to a good school with a good reputation to form connections.

at my local community college and in my prerequisite classes, many people call themselves nursing or pre-nursing majors, but sadly do not have the academic chops. I hate to break it to them, but to enter nursing programs you need near perfect grades.

As a future nursing student, I wouldn't complain because my classmates from undergrad who majored in English and the humanities can't even find a job. My nursing student friends have found a job, even though it took them some time. that being said, they went to one of the flagship state universities.

since we are constantly being told that there is a nursing shortage, for profit college have strongly increased marketing. i've worked with nurses at volunteering, and I could see that the nurse who went to a for-profit university had weaker clinical skills. These schools target people who just don't have the academic chops nor the money and who think they'll be making big bucks right after graduation. i had this for-profit school call me multiple times that i had to block their number.

many people who aren't qualified to major in nursing want to major in nursing and get into a nursing program.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 10, 2015

I'm not surprised there'll be an oversupply in California--everyone wants to come work here. If it's not the for the weather, it's for the generally higher hourly rates or those lovely mandated staffing ratios we have.

Raviepoo · Feb 11, 2015

I graduated from the same school and my first job paid me 26$/hour (with differential.) I suspect you were just looking on the wrong side of the river. There are plenty of LPN jobs just a few miles to the West.

But I agree. 4 year degree is the way to go.

Just saw a TV commercial for LCCTC Willow Street PA LPN program that I graduated from 3 years ago.
When I was there, over 200 people a year graduated from that school alone and they're not the only one in the area. Ran into people interviewing who had graduated YEARS before and still couldn't get a job as an LPN!

theradiantforce · Feb 11, 2015

It seems like the states with the highest nurse oversupply are states that have a LOT of colleges and universities (like mine, ILLINOIS) and are pumping out eager new grad RN's by the thousands each semester. Honestly, I really think the hardest time nurses have finding work is as a new grad or once they have stopped working for several years (raising families, etc.). Even then, it seems hospital jobs are the toughest to get.

Overall, I do see a lot of open nursing jobs and a LOT of nurses here are up for retirement. So, I do think there is a need for nurses, particularly "experienced nurses" with "recent experience".

Rntr · Feb 11, 2015

Ok, I will try to post again with this miserable computer... colleges are a business and nothing more. If you not taking classes they don't make money.. same as going to Walmarts... if you don't buy from them... I talked to a recruiter in a hospital in Chattanooga a couple of years ago about a job in surgery as a circulator. I am an RN, CNOR and was offered $20/hr and this is with over 30 + nursing years.

No, refused to take it. I live in Alabama and this is considered a "feeder" state because of the glut of nurses here. In the North Alabama area there are 5 schools spitting out nurses from LPN to PHD... guess what works the most as "staff" in the hospitals. How about working for your masters and not getting past staff level unless you are somebody's friend...

I have been a nurse for 40 yrs.... so many times I wished I wasn't. It's not because of the patients but the bean counters and so called management. I refuse to work here and have traveled as an Independent Contractor due to poor pay, treatment and staffing...

anon456, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2015

That is astounding that the graduate rate went from 68,000 to 155,000 in just 12 years!

anon456, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2015

What I got out of this study is how important it is to stay competitive, keep up the competencies and certifications, get that BSN if you need to, because there will be 1000 other nurses who want the same job if you let yourself get stagnant.

sjalv · Feb 11, 2015

I am fortunate to live in a less desirable state (Oklahoma). I'm just starting my 2nd month of my final semester of an ADN program and have already secured a position, with which I have no connections, in the CVICU. My friend, under the same circumstances, has already secured a job in a pediatric ER. These aren't in rural towns, either; these are in Tulsa, whose metro has half a million people. As TheCommuter mentioned, these less sought after states will feel the blow of the nursing glut less so than major states like California / New York.

Of course, mostly everyone here already knows that and it is news to no one.

Is anyone really surprised that there aren't enough nurse educators to meet the demand of nursing students in this country? The pay is pathetic considering all they do. Of course, this is true for any teacher in the United States.

MatrixRn · Feb 11, 2015

I think it was only a matter of time before we had actual proof of what we have felt for a long time....there are WAY more nurses out there than there are good jobs.

The propaganda machine has been running wild for years, saying how we are short nurses. The schools jumped on the band wagon luring in more fresh faces to push through their programs. The end result is not all that surprising.