Almost 500,000 licensed registered nurses were not employed as nurses in 2000.*
Data from the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA's) 2000 national sample survey of RNs shows that more than 500,000 licensed nurses (more than 18% of the national nurse workforce) have chosen not to work in nursing. This available labor pool could be drawn back into nursing if they found the employment opportunities attractive enough**
The ANA maintains that the deterioration in the working conditions for nurses is the primary cause for the staff vacancies being reported by hospitals and nursing facilities - not a systemic nursing shortage. Nurses are opting not to take these nursing jobs because they are not attracted to positions where they will be confronted by mandatory overtime and short staffing. **
76.6% (of) Licensed RNs (in The U.S. are) Employed in Nursing***
* Projected Supply, Demand and Shortages of Registered Nurses: 2000-2020 (released on 7/30/03 by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in an earlier report, predicted that that we will need one million new nurses by 2010 (Monthly Labor Review - November 2001) to cover new positions and replace the nurses who have retired.
I think many posters here have hit on something important. They notice there are zillions of ads in the paper from hospitals 'crying out' for nurses...yet I know for a fact in my area applications sit in HR, nurses don't get called, etc. I have personally had to call the nurse managers to get ANY action on my application. This has gone on for years in my area... HR controls the ball and are hedging/stalling. Anybody want to guess why??
This practice of course results in the staff working short because 'we don't have enough nurses.' and (surprise) it all adds up to $$ for the facility...you guys do the math.
Yeah you 'may' get called if you're young enough, experienced enough, cheap enough, passive enough and in perfect health...the 'perfect nurse specimen.' Sorry to be cynical but its what I see out there. Glad to know others see it too. :)
i agree that there is no shortage of nurses right now------------but there will be as the baby boomers cont to age, retire and need health care services at an increasing rate. a lot of the talk and hype is directly attributed to the future of health care and it's r/t the aging population.
now, look at what has happened in the last 10 years to health care. managed care has pushed hospitals to look at ways to cut costs. a new breed of hospital ceo's had entered the picture and now the bottom line is what it's all about.
do any of you nurse actually believe administration will sit around and allow staff nurses to dictate there wages? never. not even when the baby boomers retire. look around you. computers are coming. epic, meditech, pyxis, hboc, cerner, idx. like many industries, when money gets tight, the tight get computers. example, united airlines and ted. teller machines at banks. vending machines in hospitals.
sure, nurses will never be completely replaced. to maintain the bottom-line, however, administration will find ways to reduce the need for nurses and doctors and other medical personnel. don't believe me? dictation is in india, nurses chart reviews are being sent offshore, wet reads of x-rays are already being done offshore. it is even cheaper for a patient to fly to places like thailand to have surgery than to pay the deductibles and co-pays.
face it. until nurses form group practices and completely extract themselves from the organizational chart, as physicians have done, we have no leverage. we are virtually powerless due to the edicts of our profession, such as "not abandoning a patient." it sounds like a henny youngman joke: "a doctor gave a man 6 months to live. the man couldn't pay, so he gave him another 6 months." "what kind of strike do you continue to offer services and cross your own picket line -- a nursing strike." hahaha
like my mom, a 45 years veteran of nursing, once told me, "nursing will never change as long as nurses care more about shoes and vacations than nursing itself."
Include me in the (northeastern) middle age cyincs group! I have taken part in that "what else could I do?" converstaion many times! Never seem to be able to discover that new profession due to the money factor, though. But, the list of possibilities is an interesting one!
Dog groomer
Pet sitter
Florist
Manicurist
Baker
Personal trainer
Real Estate agent
Housekeeping service
I would go the "something with animals" route. What new profession do you dream of? It seems those of us left already have one foot out the door!
I put a star by the jobs that nurses I personally know are now doing- instead of working as nurses.
I've said it before on this board. The shortage is artificial. AND it is created by the very people who are "complaining," that is the employer.
The arguement is we would hire if we could find nurses.
The fact is employers will not hire and turn away perfectly good oportunities to hire. Consequently nurses work short.
Nurses working short is interpeted as they're not enough nurses in existance.
Now here is where it gets its momentum. nurses working short so they burn out. then nurse quit. Now employers try to hire and voila they can't find any.
What to do, what to do? Train more nurses. This results in an excess of nurses. Too many nurses drives down the employers' response to nurses' demands for wages, working conditions etc. It's the old supply and demand thing.
When the supply of nurses is abundant employers can afford to misuse and abuse them. Of course this eventually leads to burn out nurses quitting and the whole thing starts over.
I recently resonded to a newspaper ad of a local hospital advertising for nurses for day and night shift.
mattsmom81
4,516 Posts
I think many posters here have hit on something important. They notice there are zillions of ads in the paper from hospitals 'crying out' for nurses...yet I know for a fact in my area applications sit in HR, nurses don't get called, etc. I have personally had to call the nurse managers to get ANY action on my application. This has gone on for years in my area... HR controls the ball and are hedging/stalling. Anybody want to guess why??
This practice of course results in the staff working short because 'we don't have enough nurses.' and (surprise) it all adds up to $$ for the facility...you guys do the math.
Yeah you 'may' get called if you're young enough, experienced enough, cheap enough, passive enough and in perfect health...the 'perfect nurse specimen.' Sorry to be cynical but its what I see out there. Glad to know others see it too. :)