Is the nursing profession causing its own RN shortage?

[RNDave]

With all the RN's going to NP school, is the profession significantly contributing to the RN shortage? Between retirement and RN's in line to become NP's it seems our unit is on a constant hunt for staff.

[canigraduate]

There's an erroneous assumption in your original post, OP. There is no nursing shortage.

There is a shortage of hospitals and facilities who are willing to pay for experienced nurses. The reason your unit is on a constant hunt for staff is because they are failing at retaining their staff.

KatieMI, I don't think your post came out the way you meant. It sounds like you're slamming bedside nurses as mindless drones.

I don't believe that nurses are martyrs.

[RNDave]

"Nursing shortage" is probably an inaccurate way of putting it. There may be plenty of nurses out there. We just continue to have people leaving more than staying.

[Farawyn]

"Nursing shortage" is probably an inaccurate way of putting it. There may be plenty of nurses out there. We just continue to have people leaving more than staying.

Is that so?

No one ever leaves. Ever.

Most new nurses I know cannot get a job. No jobs to be had.

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

I'm still waiting for some statistics that attest to this "nursing shortage" you speak of.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

There's no nursing shortage in the very large metropolitan area where I live. Actually, there's been a glut of nurses here since 2009.

Nursing shortages and surpluses are regional. The market conditions in one area could drastically differ from the employment marketplace in a neighboring city or state.

[ddaviddudley]

My hospital is chronically short staffed in ALL the departments. I work ER and if we get a patient that becomes ICU or DOU then be ready to sit on that patient all day as there are no beds (actually there's plenty of beds, just no nurses to take care of those beds).

Were hiring new grads constantly none stop but nurses quit faster than they can be replaced. And therein lies part of the problem.

Most hospitals that are horribly short staffed all the time either simply don't pay their staff enough money to retain them or don't make the work environment practical to work in.

[DowntheRiver]

I feel like there's a very specific niche of nurse that hospitals are looking for. They want at least one year experience but not more than five years or so because that (in my opinion) is where nurses start to get "expensive."

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

I am sorry but i really have difficulties finding in my own posts any mentions of "all bedside nurses".

I did mention that doing the same entry-level job for 35 years cannot be named a good career, although it may be satisfactory for someone. I think it is pretty much correct about nursing as about anything else. Staying for 35 years near conveyor belt doing the same operation was considered a career when Henry Ford started his automotive business. Nowadays, it is still a job and respected as such, but it hardly be named a "career".

I did not mean that all bedside nurses are mindless task machines (as a matter of fact, I am working bedside). But, as kalivianya mentioned and as one can easily see from this very forum many posts, in many places they are treated just as such. Add to that anti-intellectualism and bullying culture which are often flourishing in the very same type of places, and also lack of power in decision making and inability to practice the skills and knowledge they posess, and you will better understand at least one reason why so many nurses go back to school.

I am sorry if my posts hurt anyone's feelings.

[Farawyn]

I am sorry but i really have difficulties finding in my own posts any mentions of "all bedside nurses".

I did mention that doing the same entry-level job for 35 years cannot be named a good career, although it may be satisfactory for someone. I think it is pretty much correct about nursing as about anything else. Staying for 35 years near conveyor belt doing the same operation was considered a career when Henry Ford started his automotive business. Nowadays, it is still a job and respected as such, but it hardly be named a "career".

I did not mean that all bedside nurses are mindless task machines (as a matter of fact, I am working bedside). But, as kalivianya mentioned and as one can easily see from this very forum many posts, in many places they are treated just as such. Add to that anti-intellectualism and bullying culture which are often flourishing in the very same type of places, and also lack of power in decision making and inability to practice the skills and knowledge they posess, and you will better understand at least one reason why so many nurses go back to school.

I am sorry if my posts hurt anyone's feelings.

I didn't say "all" either.

MANY bedside nurses choose not to pursue NP because they enjoy being at the bedside. Not EVERY hospital (or EVERY shift, if you want to break it down further) treats their nurses like handmaidens or punching bags. In my teaching hospital we were collaborating as part of a team on most units.

I wouldn't say my feelings were hurt, but your word choice didn't sit well with me. Thanks for further explaining your position.

There's a lot of floor nurses here who are anything but punchbags.

[Dogen]

A couple of things... the BLS says there are about 122,000 NPs nationally. The AANP says there are 205,000. About 16-17,000 new NPs are licensed annually. There are about 2.8 million RNs in the US, and according to HRSA about 142,000 graduate annually. An addtional ~6,000 RNs educated abroad pass the NCLEX annually. NPs make up about 5% of the total population of nurses and 10% of new graduates. Seems unfair to blame anything on them. I think there's a perception that everyone is in school to be an NP that is probably not entirely accurate.

One of the things that does impact nurses is being overworked. It's bad for nurses and patients. The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation found that almost one fifth of newly registered nurses leave their first job within a year (!) and 33.5% leave within two years. The two most common reasons given were poor management and stressful work. Now, obviously many of them stay in healthcare, but a study in 2010 found that 4% of RNs work in fields other than bedside nursing and 12% don't work at all. Of those nurses not working as nurses, 27% reported burnout or stressful work environment as a reason they left. They also found that nurses reported being "retired" at younger ages than other female-dominated careers, with 44.7% of respondents between 45 and 64 saying they were retired.

[Dranger]

My ICU is staffed by RNs with an average experience level of 6 months to a year if that most are just off residency. It is a revolving door of attrition every year for various reasons.

There is a nursing shortage with regard to EXPERIENCE. Its not hard to get a brand new into a hospital role but keeping them is a different story.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

"Nursing shortage" is probably an inaccurate way of putting it. There may be plenty of nurses out there. We just continue to have people leaving more than staying.

That's not a shortage; that's an issue with retention. And turnover is one thing that some people consider when looking for a job- personally, I don't want to be on a unit as a new nurse where in a few months, I'm going to be one of the most senior people- who would I turn to for assistance and expertise?

What your unit needs to look at is ways to retain the experienced nurse. Why are they leaving? Surely it can't all be retirement and NP school. And sometimes, that may be the stated reason but not the true reason. If there is such a high turnover rate, perhaps those who have been there for a long time are burned out from precepting and need a change from that constant energy drain. Perhaps those going to NP school need more flexibility in their scheduling. What ideas can your unit come up with to decrease the number of nurses leaving?