Is there really a nursing shortage? I am starting to think not.

Nurses New Nurse

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So, if there is a nursing shortage then why is it that nursing grads can't seem to get a job or have to wait months for a job. Also, I am really disturbed by the fact that Obama wants to bring foreign nurses to the U.S. to fill the so called shortage. A hospital in Cali said that would gladly hire them. Really? What is wrong with the nurses we already have? Maybe it is because these nurses will work for a lower wage. Hmmm...it is scary.

Here is the article I found.

Immigration: More Foreign Nurses Needed? (U.S. nurse shortage is getting worse as population ages)

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Many parts of the U.S. are suffering from a surplus of too many nurses, not a shortage. It is really hard for new grads to find work in some regions right now, and even experienced nurses are encountering difficulties due to the recession.

However, the article that you have linked is more than one year old. In addition, it says absolutely nothing about President Obama specifically wanting to import nurses from foreign countries. When I read the article, it mentioned that the main proponent of opening up the pipeline to foreign nurses was a politician from Florida.

Additionally, it is extremely hard to lure people to the California border town of El Centro, even during this financial crisis when many nurses cannot find work. The hospital clientele is mostly Spanish-speaking and undocumented. The town itself suffers from abject poverty, with an unemployment rate that exceeds 30 percent.

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I re-read it and I was stand corrected. However, it is still scary. I mean what is going to happen to the profession. I want to go into nursing for 3 reasons.

1. Job security (who knows now though)

2. Pay

3. All the options it offers

I guess these are all the wrong reasons, but I have been floundering about what I want to do and finally decided I am going for it. Then I start reading that there really isn't job security etc. I am scared. Now what?

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There is a nursing shortage and there probably will be a severe nursing shortage in the future. However, basic economic logic just shows hospitals don't have the cash to train new graduates as they used to before the crash. New graduates cost ~60k - 100k to train with a 30%+ of dropping out their job within 1 year due to: stress, poor support, and etc. That is a huge investment and risk as the same time for hospitals. If that wasn't the case you wouldn't be seeing 1-2 year experience on every job posting.

Sorry to say, New Graduates nurses are not viewed as "nurses" besides from their family members (sorry to put down that little piece of paper that says otherwise and all the hard work you put into it ... ) until you get that 1 year experience (training) you're just ... a new graduate ... like me BTW.

1. Job security (who knows now though)

2. Pay

3. All the options it offers

All of which is TRUE after you get one year of experience.

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I can't make up my mind what the heck I should do. Seriously you guys here is my issue. I am torn between nursing or PT. I love the PT aspect of things, but at the same time I like the challenge of nursing. I am just not sure which way to go. Since I am hearing about gluts and I am concerned that if I spend the money to get through school will I get employed. I am hearing about grad nurses having to wait tables and work at supermarkets. It is nuts. PT is longer, but wonder if it might be a better choice. Not sure. Any advice?

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sc0628,

I doubt there is really a big decision to make which has a better job outlook. PT has a hard time finding jobs too. I have a cousin that spend a long time looking for a job in CA, only to move to Oregon in a small town to work as PT. At least he has a job. I still dont.

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Bottom line: don't vote for Democrats...everything Dems do screws up jobs in the private sector...and that does include Nursing Jobs. Bottom line with businesses (incl hospitals, etc...most nursing jobs are private hospital, etc jobs), they're in it for money & if they're not making money, they're not going to hire. Dems are good for only govt workers and heavily unionized govt workers like teachers (who, BTW, are have much easier degrees than nurses have to get...fluff)...SEIU & nursing unions aren't enough (private sector unions just drive jobs out of the USA in the long run (in the case of nurses, union demands just end up encouraging hospitals to import foreigners)...only govt or govt-union jobs stay in the US...and that screws the tax payer (YOU & me), BTW!)

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Bottom line: don't vote for Democrats...everything Dems do screws up jobs in the private sector...and that does include nursing jobs. Bottom line with businesses (incl hospitals, etc...most nursing jobs are private hospital, etc jobs), they're in it for money & if they're not making money, they're not going to hire. Dems are good for only govt workers and heavily unionized govt workers like teachers (who, BTW, are have much easier degrees than nurses have to get...fluff)...SEIU & nursing unions aren't enough (private sector unions just drive jobs out of the USA in the long run (in the case of nurses, union demands just end up encouraging hospitals to import foreigners)...only govt or govt-union jobs stay in the US...and that screws the tax payer (YOU & me), BTW!)

Without getting in to an off topic political debate, I will say that the current economic crisis is YEARS in the making. It's not the product of one administration or one party.

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Gosh, this is my first post on the website! So far, I love the topics...This one particularly is where I fall :( I graduated as an LVN just last April...passed my NCLEX the first time (so glad I didn't have to take it again..Thank God!). Guess what, I am JOBLESS, but I will get hired at Kaiser, hopefully...haters: don't burst my bubble lol

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there is a nursing shortage and there probably will be a severe nursing shortage in the future. however, basic economic logic just shows hospitals don't have the cash to train new graduates as they used to before the crash. new graduates cost ~60k - 100k to train with a 30%+ of dropping out their job within 1 year due to: stress, poor support, and etc. that is a huge investment and risk as the same time for hospitals. if that wasn't the case you wouldn't be seeing 1-2 year experience on every job posting.

sorry to say, new graduates nurses are not viewed as "nurses" besides from their family members (sorry to put down that little piece of paper that says otherwise and all the hard work you put into it ... ) until you get that 1 year experience (training) you're just ... a new graduate ... like me btw.

all of which is true after you get one year of experience.

coming from an engineering background to nursing, that $60k to $100k figure blows my mind. and i keep seeing that thought presented over and over here, how new nurses still need so much training to be any good at all. after 2 to 4 years of college and/or rn school and passing the nclex, the new grad rns are still not trained? what kind of training do hospitals still have to do? and why are the employers (and nursing school students) not pushing back on the schools to provide the caliber of fresh-out rns that are equipped to step in and work? granted, i don't work in the medical field yet. but it seems to me that if 1 year of experience after nursing school is the current de facto standard that produces a useful grad, wth doesn't someone do something about all of the inadequate nursing training curricula? if a nurse needs 6 months to 1 year of full time floor work to be "qualified" then that should be tacked onto all the training programs and made part of the standard for accreditation.

excuse me, but it's starting to look like a lot of stupid people run nursing schools, if they are producing useless graduates. maybe i will rethink this career change, after all.

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As much as I would hate another year of school, I don't think a one year hands on (no stupid lecture time) clinical rotation would be a bad idea. Then we would have that magic one year of experience every hospital wants. Granted, I'd hate to pay for another two semesters of tuition, but at least I could get student loans to feed myself and my family.

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coming from an engineering background to nursing, that $60k to $100k figure blows my mind. and i keep seeing that thought presented over and over here, how new nurses still need so much training to be any good at all. after 2 to 4 years of college and/or rn school and passing the nclex, the new grad rns are still not trained? what kind of training do hospitals still have to do? and why are the employers (and nursing school students) not pushing back on the schools to provide the caliber of fresh-out rns that are equipped to step in and work? granted, i don't work in the medical field yet. but it seems to me that if 1 year of experience after nursing school is the current de facto standard that produces a useful grad, wth doesn't someone do something about all of the inadequate nursing training curricula? if a nurse needs 6 months to 1 year of full time floor work to be "qualified" then that should be tacked onto all the training programs and made part of the standard for accreditation.

excuse me, but it's starting to look like a lot of stupid people run nursing schools, if they are producing useless graduates. maybe i will rethink this career change, after all.

for generations, hospital-based diploma schools turned out graduates who were ready to step into a nursing position and function the day they graduated. then, tptb in nursing decided that nursing needed to be "upgraded" and more "professional" and pushed to get nursing moved primarily into colleges and universities, and developed curricula that were v. heavy on theory and concepts and "critical thinking" and v. short on what rns actually do all day on an acute care hospital unit of any kind. hospitals that hire new graduates now have to pay for them to complete extended internships/orientations in which the hospitals teach them most of what they (the hospitals) feel they should have learned in nursing school in order to be prepared to enter practice. this is one of the main reasons so many hospitals are now "voting with their feet" and simply refusing to hire new grads -- and this trend was starting in some areas well before the economy tanked; the crummy economy has just exacerbated the situation. i don't expect to see it change just because the economy improves (if/when it does ...) hospitals are fed up.

imo, we've really thrown the baby out with the bathwater, as the saying goes, in nursing education in recent decades.

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