Hypothetical Question: What happens when the baby boomers retire?

Biffbradford · Jul 5, 2011

Assuming we're all still working in nursing when we're "retirement age"?

Do I want to still be in nursing when I'm 70 years old? :confused:

LadyinScrubs, ASN, RN · Jul 5, 2011

i mean it's bound to happen eventually. but when do you think the baby boomers nurses will retire? and what's gonna happen when they do retire? i personally see this happening within the next 5-10 years. after they retire, there's going to be a huge hole left where all the baby boomer nurses retired. i also think that there's gonna be a huge influx of more acute patients due to technology and that people are living longer than ever before.
how do you think the healthcare industry will prepare for this and fight it?

1. depending on whe one is born, the retirement age could be 66 years old or higher. social security has a website showing reitrment age based on birthdate. if one retires earlier than the established retirement age, there is a $ penalty each month.

2. if the economy gets better, more nurses will stop working; if it does not, then they will keep working. many boomer-nurses will be forced to quit because of sickness, illness, injury, or death.

3. in 10 years (+/-) there will, again, be a nursing shortage based on the retirement and aging of the boomer-nurses.

4. how will the healthcare industry prepare? good question--wish i had a crystal ball.

pedicurn, LPN, RN · Jul 6, 2011

I mean it's BOUND to happen eventually. But when do you think the baby boomers nurses will retire? And what's gonna happen when they do retire? I personally see this happening within the next 5-10 years. After they retire, there's going to be a huge hole left where all the baby boomer nurses retired. I also think that there's gonna be a huge influx of more acute patients due to technology and that people are living longer than ever before.
How do you think the healthcare industry will prepare for this and fight it?

Agree - huge gap.

I believe there will be a dire shortage of experienced nurses and hospitals will be forced to pay top dollar for them.

Growing patient dissatisfaction / misadventure will be associated with lower rates of experienced nurses employed by facilities.

The affects of the wave of baby boomer retirement will be compounded by poor retention of second career nurses who went into nursing for the money & job security ... plus the unfortunate lack of experience and thus employment prospects that many new grads have been forced to endure.

A lot of baby boomers in their 50's and 60's have assets and other funds for a reasonable or comfortable retirement and will be able to retire before their 70's.

They may be the last generation of nurses able to do this - plus raise a family and own a family type home with all the trimmings

tyvin, BSN, RN · Jul 6, 2011

I don't think there will be a shortage. That's my personal opinion. There's never been a shortage where ever I've been. In fact it's the opposite. Cities will keep on spitting out many new grads each year and foreign nurses will keep on coming in droves.

The political front has always had to have some input about this fiction based nursing shortage and since no one was buying it they did the "Oh look it's the baby boomers thing" ... not buying it. All the stats and studies, you can basically prove anything you want to but the reality isn't playing along.

pedicurn, LPN, RN · Jul 6, 2011

I don't think there will be a shortage. That's my personal opinion. There's never been a shortage where ever I've been. In fact it's the opposite. Cities will keep on spitting out many new grads each year and foreign nurses will keep on coming in droves.
The political front has always had to have some input about this fiction based nursing shortage and since no one was buying it they did the "Oh look it's the baby boomers thing" ... not buying it. All the stats and studies, you can basically prove anything you want to but the reality isn't playing along.

Ah but the baby boomers are not retiring yet ... due to the recession.

They will en masse in a few years

mustlovepoodles, RN · Jul 6, 2011

Assuming we're all still working in nursing when we're "retirement age"?
Do I want to still be in nursing when I'm 70 years old?

The answer is NO. NO, I do NOT want to be working as a nurse when I'm 70. I've been a nurse for 34 years and I'm thinking that retirement may come in the next couple years. I'm 54 now and I'll be surprised if i'm still in the field when i'm 60

Ashkins529 · Jul 6, 2011

Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, peaking between 1952-57. This year baby boomers range in age from 46-64 years old. (55-59 for most) Don't hold your breath waiting for them to retire. :)

My in-laws are well into upper 70's and still work 1/2 time. They have NO plans on ever totally retiring.

rn4ever? · Jul 6, 2011

As per the US Census Bureau, if you’re born between 1946-1964, you’re part of that baby boom generation. So they’ll be about 47-65 years young in 2011. I know many that planned to retire soon. Unfortunately though, with the economy and the depletion of some of their financial accounts (like 401K, stock investments, etc.), many say that they will continue to work until they can. Some that have retired actually went back to join the work force. Bedside nursing is tough on the body…..will I want to do that when I’m 70? Definitely not. But if you don’t have the resources to retire comfortably, you might just have to do so! So it’s important to save early on. And yes, I met a nurse doing bedside care and she’s 70 and still doing great on the floor!

diva rn, BSN, RN · Jul 6, 2011

Retirement.....Hmmmm Good luck with that...I am a card carrying "baby boomer"...and I would love, love to retire sometime......anytime...BUT the reality is the economy is terrible, I took a beating in the market, I don't have any retirement, Social Security is not enough to live on ( assuming it will still be in existance when I do retire)...realistically I will probably have to work until I am 70 or so. I am not saying I want to--that is just what I will have to do. And I am not alone.

I now do case management so It's not hard on the body. I work with 40 nurses. Of the 40- 20 are in their 60's 2 are in their 70's and of the rest, most are in 50s--some 40s..nobody is younger than 45...I know that's not a big sample, but when I first started in nursing, I never thought I would work with 70 year old nurses..now it looks like I will eventually be one. So more and more nurses are in this boat.

I also don't believe we will ever see a nursing shortage like we used to have...mainly because of the nurses working longer--the hospital cuts--and the continued flood of new nurses by the thousands of nursing schools that sprung up like mushrooms and keep churning them out. Unless someone imposes some sort of moratorium on those nursing school mills...the long awaited return to nursing shortage days is not gonna happen.

danh3190 · Jul 6, 2011

I work on a floor and I don't think it will be that big a deal when we retire. There are only a few of us (probably less than 5%) who are within 15 years of retirement. Seems to me like most of those near retirement are in management or other support roles. If I were in charge I wouldn't refill a lot of those jobs.

There's also so much turn over among the young nurses in the our staff I don't think a few retirements will even be noticed. These days there doesn't seem to be much trouble hiring and our city has lots of diploma, ADN, and a BSN schools churning out hundreds of GNs each year.

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 6, 2011

It's going to be a gradual process and society will adjust. There won't suddenly be a mass exodus.

Hospitals and other health care employers never plan well for the future -- they react to changes in conditions. So I don't anticipate any significant amount of planning on this issue. As boomers retire, they will replace them with one of the millions of new grads being churned out of the new crop of nursing schools. My biggest concern is a drop in quality of care.