Hypothetical Question: What happens when the baby boomers retire?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

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?

my sweet husband retired at 58, bought out so they could bring in someone else, and we were thrilled with it. they didn't give him a boatload of big $$, but we were so happy to have him home (he worked far away and was only home a few days a week) that we loved it.

fast forward to today, 18 years later. he is tanned, rested, fit, and out doing his garden and mowing the lawn. except for the time i waste here on an :jester: i am fat, pale, sedentary, and at my desk working, and will probably do so until i am too demented to keep up with what i have to remember. well, i'm always fat and pale. at least i shouldn't get skin cancer, eh?

what will happen when the baby boomers (of which i am one-- i'm 60) retire? all hell will break loose. there won't be enough nurses to take care of us, and there will be sooooo many of us. i review a lot of medical records and i'll tell ya, i'm scared to death of having to have what is called "health care" in this country.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency; med-surg; mat-child.
Many boomer-nurses will be forced to quit because of sickness, illness, injury, or death.

I've had some bad days, but I've never had to go in to work dead.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

With the huge surplus of new nurses being pumped out by the huge number of nursing schools and peoples inability to retie because of the economy I do not think we will ever see any real shortage again. I wish.....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

The way the work force is being run now ... as one nurse retires, the rest of the staff will take an extra patient to take up that slack. Over time, that workload becomes the norm. The next nurse retires ... and the staff picks up the slack.

There's no shortages. It's simple! :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I've had some bad days, but I've never had to go in to work dead.

I think I've worked with a few zombie nurses in my time.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency; med-surg; mat-child.

Don't forget the double-tap!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I don't think our retirement will be much of a problem for nursing as far as having enough nurses. The problem will be when a good number of these retirees get really old and have many health problems. When I started nursing there was not a nursing home in the nearby town. They have sprung up all over now. Haven't known any to shut down due to lack of residents. You can see what will happen when the % of old to young increases in the next 20 years and medicine saves more and more of the old and disabled.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.
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?

Well, the boom and bust cycle of available nursing jobs will enter another boom. These facilities will probably hire a lot of LPNs, TMAs, and MAs passing meds and doing tx with an RN with his or her head in the noose. They'll need a lot of RNs too.

There will probably be a sharp increase in Assisted Living and LTC facilities that need staffing. There will be an increased demand for Nurse Practitioners as we already see MDs not being real interested in that type of practice.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

If you look at how many nurses are passing the NCLEX here, either from graduating here, or relocating from another country (I think it's around 100,000 now? another thread discussed it) Do the math, if anything there's a flood of nurses. Not certain how many will stay though, when they find out how crazy it is. I don't recall any of the hospitals I worked in having a huge number of baby-boomers, most were under 40, but even so, there's a good 10 new grads or unemployed nurses begging for any open position.

I'm wondering if it's too late to go back for a perfectly boring job where tons of people don't want to be....accounting?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
I've had some bad days, but I've never had to go in to work dead.

No but it's felt like it before:D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Case Manager.

So the consensus is that hospital nursing will pretty much stay the same or get worse and a lot of LTC spots will open up...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
. except for the time i waste here on an :jester: i am fat, pale, sedentary, and at my desk working, and will probably do so until i am too demented to keep up with what i have to remember. well, i'm always fat and pale. at least i shouldn't get skin cancer, eh?

what will happen when the baby boomers (of which i am one-- i'm 60) retire? all hell will break loose. there won't be enough nurses to take care of us, and there will be sooooo many of us. i review a lot of medical records and i'll tell ya, i'm scared to death of having to have what is called "health care" in this country.

boy, do i hear you on that one! :eek: i'm fat and sedentary too (although i'm not pale thanks to the teensy drop of hispanic blood running through my veins:lol2:), and i'm sure i'll be right there alongside you at the desk when i sign off on my last chart and keel over. :rolleyes: i honestly think that will be my retirement....a few final chart notes, and then "sayonara".

but i've got to say, when i look around at the mess our greatest generation---who paid into the "system" all their lives, only to be denied care and services now when they really need them---is in, i think i'd rather check out a few years early than be at the mercy of this rapidly-unraveling and all-consuming monstrosity, where 'health' is secondary to profits and 'care' is merely a buzzword. i'm not worried about a shortage of nurses, i'm worried about a shortage of decency. i'm worried about a shortage of compassion. most of all, i'm worried about a shortage of heart, because a system that doesn't have heart doesn't have the best interests of patients in mind, and i don't want to play that game when i'm old and vulnerable. but, that's just me.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment