Is there a "Nurse Shortage" Lie?

[New_Man_Nurse]

Is there a nursing shortage lie? Does this keep the colleges full of students?

Defined: a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. something intended or serving to convey a false impression; imposture.

After becoming a AS-RN, I was told Hospitals would no longer be hiring AS-RNs, the obvious option was to get that BSN. After getting the BSN the hospitals said, there are many people, many fine candidates with 4.0 GPA's, you were not selected. Landing a job in Home Health se.0emed like at least some way to continue to serve. Hospitals were saying that 5 years in Home Health didn't amount to 1 year of acute care, and he couldn't be hired on a med/surg floor. Ok then, a terminal degree would fulfill that life time goal of being educated, what should one do? Change professional from the "worlds most trusted profession, to some other profession?

Not really, a 4.0 GPA and a great understanding of the profession, it won't hurt to grab that Master's before I'm too old. So the Master's, my home health company and those friends had no time for a case manager that didn't work Mondays thru Sundays, so a break again from home health to become a top educated RN. What an honor right. Maybe not. 350 applications later and not one interview, or call, nothing but fake headhunters with "behavioral questions", is this ageism, a flooded market?

Master's done! 4.0, Suma Cun Laude, time to get that med surg outta the way, no more education needed. Advanced Practice wouldn't really be nursing, its is being a provider. Whats next? Another 300 applications, same answer, we found someone that was a better candidate for all 300 jobs? Then a headhunter for a major hospital told me. "I don't know why that a new RN can't be hired, that 1 year experience policy is stupid", no one can work without 1 year acute experience, and no one can be hired without it"? I simply can't place you in any position, sorry.

So, FNP? DNP? Folks if there was really a shortage of nurses I would be working everywhere. The truth is the hospitals are playing the traveler game. Several excuses are being used for refusing to hire nurses with adequate wages, and benefits. "We want to make sure you are a good fit". "We want to make sure after you are orientated, you aren't going to leave"! These excuses are just the ranting of the monopoly that is the health care system I guess.

See: Council of Economic Advisors Brief. (2016, October). Labor Market Monopsony: Trends, consequences, and policy responses. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/page/files/20161025_monopsony_labor_mrkt_cea.pdf

Shouldn't our colleges be informing students, and potential students about how this lie of shortages is not related to, or how it doesn't translate into substantial employment? This isn's a shortage its a "At-Will" employment fraud. IT forces nurses into signing a "At-Will" contract, instead of promoting a "good cause" employment contract. The nature of employment is contractual, signing an at-will contract destroys the definition of Federal Labor Laws, and is a fraud on nurses.

There is no shortage, only greed and deception. (Mostly greed). We are nurses, and at every practice level we do the job, we get it done, we put everyone else first, in the traditions of Flo, and Rogers, Watson, and Lewin. We are agents of change, satisfying customers, providing quality care within legal scope, cost effectively saving the bottom line, without lowering the safety and standard of evidence based practice, we are art, we are caring, we are the ethic, the bottom line, those that stand up when our patients cannot.

Are we jokes? I say we are and every new person that finds this calling should know the immoral and unethical lie you will be told. Is there another explanation? So you want to be a nurse? Do you?

[New_Man_Nurse]

No need to be sorry, we are seeing more facts that support my concerns. We need more mentors. Not more "I'm sorries", I won't bide excuses, or say sorry for becoming educated. Or rationalizing. I know being a RN is a tough job, and I worked for money, for free, for the good of it, tutoring. I had the best professors and mentor's in the country. But this subject is a dark little secret. After my DNP I'm done... wouldn't you say so... Until I get itching for a PhD.

Me to movement. The repercussions of "remember thinking about the impact the Weinstein revelation might have on nursing. In my view, the victims who bravely came forward with their stories had clearly been bullied in the workplace and had experienced psychological and physical assault at the most egregious level. Sadly, nursing shares a similar reality" (Lillee Gelinas, 2018, para. 3).

Lillee Gelinas. (2018, February 13). American Nurse Today official Journal of the American Nurses Association (ANA). Retrieved from What #MeToo means for nurses - American Nurse Today

[New_Man_Nurse]

That one should be in the all time hall of fame!!! :)

[New_Man_Nurse]

Thank you for your comment. There seems to still be an abundance of ways to look at the case study I presented. Whether or not the scenario is actually a exact accounting of a documented case, the issues surrounding the frivolous, and even sorted use of rationals isn't what I believe is a productive use of resources nor does it promote the outstanding history or our profession. But again yes deliberately short staffing a facility, to save money is not congruent with the values of our profession. The Institute of Health (IHI) repeats that the triple aim of heath care is to:

We call this approach the "Triple Aim":

Improve the health of the defined

population

Enhance the patient care experience (including quality, access

and reliability)

Reduce, or at least control, the per capita cost of care

The IHI Triple Aim is a framework developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement that describes an approach to optimizing health system performance.

How can we accomplish this in the United States especially when uneducated manager are committed to measures like "short staffing" to accomplish the task. That IS NO solution, I think you will agree in part.

Some components of a system to

accomplish the Triple Aim include:

A focus on individuals and families

Redesign of primary care services and structures

Population health management

A cost-control platform

System integration and execution

As a reader above mentioned, a MSN isn't really part of the solution? I'm sorry (Yes I said it), I believe that armed with a Graduate degree I am better equipped to begin to find solutions than short staffing our patients, and perpetuating a misconception about our profession.

[New_Man_Nurse]

That is an excellent thing. That kinda of causal relationship between location and employment percentages is significant indeed. I read this at the IHI:

That statement bears repeating.

At Hackensack University Medical Center, there is a waiting list of nurses who wish to work there.

How did this happen?

"We have never wavered in our support of the nurse at the bedside," says Toni Fiore, MA, RN, CNAA, executive vice president for patient care and chief nursing officer. "Through the good times and the lean times, we have never adopted a 'philosophy du jour' where nurses are concerned. We have never, ever cut a nursing position. During budget crunches, some organizations look at nurses as avoidable costs. We view nurses as cost avoiders" (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2018, para. 4).

Look at the positive statement that during budget crunches their organization views RNs as "cost avoiders". Does that statement bear more scrutiny? Why is our profession viewed as the place to "cut", or why are better educated RNs being forced to this rational that cutting cost means reducing the nursing workforce. This sounds suspiciously fishy to me.

BTW I apologize for these late replys to the forum... been busy moving 200 miles to find a new position where a MSN will soon be turned into a FNP, DNP therefore meeting the countries needs for more providers. That is of course if the USA decides to support the recommendations of the Institutes of Medicine (IOM)... but I digress

Refs

Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2018). No Nursing Shortage Here. Retrieved from No Nursing Shortage Here

[New_Man_Nurse]

That is awesome!!! Should ADN, AS-RN programs require a CNA job history before accepting RN candidates, or even a LPN history. Could hospitals improve the "shortage" by providing positions for those will to work, before attending a RN program, or a school with prerequisites.

I was a janitor for 10 years before attending college, I would have gladly given up starvation for a CNA position, I would have do it for free to assure a chance to enter a amazing field like nursing, or medicine.

Thank you for your comment!

[New_Man_Nurse]

Thanks for that comment. Indeed it seems like again it depends on the region we are becoming educated, and learning novice skills, continues to be the factor. Im curious: What do you think is the reason places that have no "shortage" of candidates might want to publicly announce that there are local shortages?

PS: I had a neighbor from Louisville come here after being recruited by Banner Hospital I think it was, scrub nurse. She disappeared after 2 months of friendship, said she was done and left back home.

[New_Man_Nurse]

Hmmm... that is another thing I have heard so often. "SNF's and Home Health doesn't give you the acute care back ground necessary for a medsurg position". "We won't hire someone that's not going to stay". (Kind of an insult right?)

Is that therefore a shortage? And "go where i say?" I would never leave a loyal employer that valued my dedication to their customers, nor to advancing the processes and systems that promote lowering readmission, fewer losses due to mortality, while using an advanced degree in continuous quality improvement, leadership, and evidence based care (all proven to lower cost, and improve outcomes and customer satisfaction). I admit there is a learning curve, and some RNs these days out out for the money, they are not a credit to the profession in those cases.

You have a PhD. Did you get your PhD so that you could basically lie your way into some discipline, and get "trained at bedside quickly" and run off to make some fast money?

I left jobs, to make time to become educated, that was just how my situation played itself out. I am for the most part independent, never did it cross my mind I wanted to be a nurse for the luxuries I could buy from being part of this amazing profession.

Could I inquire for this discussion what your PhD is in, and how did it play a role in your RN profession?

Thank you again for your comments, I appreciate the vast variety of discussions taking place. Best always

[klone, MSN, RN]

For the love of Dog, please use the quote button.

[New_Man_Nurse]

I am relocating. I was hired at the first regionally distant place I applied and I am thrilled. I wasn't hired because of my education, I was hired because I was talked to during the interview, instead of the typical behavioral questions, I was given a chance to discuss clinical decision making, and the interviewers really wanted to get to know me. They were more interested in who I was rather than how they might mold my thinking, or us my manpower to satisfy a misplaced need for cheap, affordable, soft spoken compliance. In short I was hired because I see nursing as a life long journey, not a means to any end, or a need to pad my resume.

The Master's was an amazing experience, if professional RNs were supported, or demanded support from their best resources like employers and regional politicians this profession could start making plans for the future of nursing.

So I agree with you whole heartedly and I hope this discussion continues, and can influence new grads, or even older RNs like myself to pursue meaningful higher education, and not just continue to be "hand maidens" to the AMA, or even ANA. Some of the comments disparaged me from pursuing a dream, I would say that my parents are both in their late 80's, it was a sacrifice to become educated. But let's all say that we all know how scary it can be when something goes wrong, a patients labs become despairingly overwhelming, being a RN is not easy. I've taught, worked for major IT companies, been a paid and unpaid care giver, replaced and repaired engines, and finished a Master's with plans for another NP. Right or wrong, there is not right way to do this job. The science yes, we follow scientific method, the Art, we follow our instincts where we can. I give no excuses for becoming a MSN, BSN, AS, RN, and we as professional should stop taking excuses for being interested in Public Health. We should not compromise our standards of providing morally, ethically, cost effective, holistic compassionate care for any corporation, or community, or individual.

If we have, or intend to adopt a right wing conservative position regarding human rights, regardless of where you have worked, or what regional opportunities were or were not afforded to us, we should find another profession. Until that day comes I will be a murse, new nurse.

I think your comment is the most thoughtful and insightful to date. Lol BUSTING.... love it!

[New_Man_Nurse]

Thanks for chiming in. I hope some of us are on our way to the Raleigh-Durham area... Lets go... on your marks!!

Nice comment

[New_Man_Nurse]

I don't want to come off as dismissive of the OP's points though.

My first career was teaching. All though high school and college, I was told there was a shortage of teachers. When I left university with my teaching degree, I found out what a lie that was. No jobs, and teachers powerless to have any agency in what they do. I was required to work unpaid after-hours, such as taking tickets at sports events, tutoring students, and writing the teaching equivalent of care plans for at-risk students. When I tallied up the actual hours I worked a week, I realized I was working for about $17/hr, with a 4-year degree! Don't get me started on how everything is the teacher's fault, despite out hands being tied on what we could do for the students....

Woah, Woah...I'm going way off-topic. My point is that the OP is absolutely right that a powerless workforce is good for big business: They have every reason to saturate the market. I was conscious of that when I joined nursing, but the shortage in my area does not look poised to dry up any time soon, so I'm banking I can get experience now to leverage later, while things are in my favor. There's really no way to make collages STOP producing nurses, is there?

Oh my! You are not off point at all! My only and dearest mother, a teacher, very talented, quietly hung on for 41 years, and she was an amazing influence in the district she worked all her life for. Heading up the district wide reading program, buying books every year for the library... until retired buy the need to purchase computers for the district; sadly her kind, and others like her are passing off into oblivion while we the public and the Public health sector gets more of the same. I liked what you said, "hat the OP is absolutely right that a powerless workforce is good for big business: They have every reason to saturate the market". I am counting on that also, "I can get experience now to leverage later, while things are in my favor. There's really no way to make collages STOP producing nurses, is there"?

I really feel that colleges should be preparing students, in nursing, for the realities that lay ahead, especially the idea that they may face loosing loved ones, family, spouses, and even themselves to be a member of the club. I sacrificed, and I make as I said no excuses, or take any for being a nurse.

Lol ... way off the topic: wtf... I think not.

Thanks for the condensed version of my anxiety!

[PMFB-RN, RN]

There is NO nursing shortage and hasn't been in the 18+ years I've been in nursing. I've seen studies that claim there is. However NONE of the count the number of RN and compare to the number needed. In my BSN program we did exactly that as one of our research assignments.

We did our study at a time when hospitals were screaming about a nursing shortage, every hospital and nursing home had tons of opening. New grad ADN RNs were getting $5K sign on bonuses (I got one). An RN could walk into any hospital and be hired into the department of their choice.

What we found was that there were PLENTY of trained nurses to more than fulfill the staff nursing needs in the state of Wisconsin. What there was, was a shortage of nurses willing to work for the stagnant wages, substandard benefits, and awful working conditions being offered. Wisconsin has lots of nurses working in other fields, and I bet the same is true for the rest of the country.