Is Shortage in Nursing really a hoax?

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I have researched the nursing school admissions for four months now and find that most of them are "competitive". I begin to think that the shortage is really a hoax.

Does anyone have any comment regarding this story?

I took a many “Sign On Bonuses,” but I will be completely honest in what they led to.

2004- $7,000 for 2 years in Med Surge in Jackson, MS.

2006- DFW Area ED Dept. Staff RN- Tarrant County Hospital- $75,000 signed contract to work through all Holidays for 1 year including New Years Eve, NYD, Xmas Eve, XMas, MLK Day, Good Friday, Easter, Memorial Day, and 4th of July, and the bonus check tax free came July 5th, and I put it on a GulfStream Airstream Camper. I will never forget 6 mos of work at one year bought my family this beautiful Masterpiece RV. We love it so much!!!!

But, the shortage has gone away since then, but trust me, it will return. Too many aged in our society vs. the number to take care of them. It’s just elementary math. And the baby boomers will need care,...

and it’s coming like a train running down a track that is ending, at full speed.

The Recession confused things putting retired RN’s/LPN’s back to work, but be sure, the derailment is coming...

if you are licensed, your time is coming...

The Hospitals, Clinics, and all the other agencies that have benefit over a few years of cheap labor are going to have to swallow a bitter pill.

The worth of an RN and LPN, Heck, even qualified CNA/PCT is coming soon...

”Mark My Word.”...

The baby boomers just lived a decade or two longer than expected, and that drag on Medical Professionals is...

”Coming Soon,” to a desperate employer near you!!!!!

These aged boomers are insured, many with supplemental insurance!!!

And, the Healthcare “Card-House” will again BEG YOU TO HELP, and no amount of profit college and tech schools will fill the gap of this need, just watch,...

it will fall without you.

and the profits this time will be yours again.

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Specializes in ICU, transport, CRNA.

Yes, there is not nursing shortage and there hasn't been for decades. The "NURSING SHORTAGE!" is just propaganda used to extort tax payer money to create and expand nursing programs with the deliberate goal of creating an over supply of nurses.

Its been highly successful, as evidenced by declining RN pay, worsening benefits, and poor working conditions.

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

Nursing schools have nothing to do with how many RNs are needed. There are X amounts of seats. Once those fill up they fill up. In a given year there can only be a certain amount of graduates. If you have 50,000 seats then it doesn't matter if 50,000 apply or a million apply. You will have 50,000 new nurses.

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..
On ‎11‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 5:31 AM, IndiCRNA said:

Yes, there is not nursing shortage and there hasn't been for decades. The "NURSING SHORTAGE!" is just propaganda used to extort tax payer money to create and expand nursing programs with the deliberate goal of creating an over supply of nurses.

Its been highly successful, as evidenced by declining RN pay, worsening benefits, and poor working conditions.

Can you cite where you are getting this? Specifically cite where it says "propaganda used to extort taxpayer money to create and expand nursing programs with the deliberate goal of creating an over supply of nurses".

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On 12/6/2018 at 9:19 AM, Psychnursehopeful said:

to keep the wealth and that prosperity rolls downhill. Only urine and feces roll down hill.

❤️ this

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Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.

just as pretty much any job this is so hard to predict and it is very regional.

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On 11/28/2017 at 12:06 PM, guest517 said:

B) Nurses in their 50s are going to be retiring soon? I and plenty of other nurses I know are in our 60s and have no plans to retire any time soon.

Thats fine but I highly doubt a majority of Nurses in their 60s and 70s will still be working unless they had no choice. Most nurses are around 40-50 they can't work FOREVER, statistics prove it. Again, this doesn't have to apply to YOU or the "plenty of other nurses you know" but it likely applies to the majority of people in the age group

I plan on working until I need to call a code on myself. Maybe get a personalized crash cart.

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Quote

Baby-boomer registered nurses (RNs), the largest segment of the RN workforce from 1981 to 2012, are now retiring. This would have led to nurse shortages but for the surprising embrace of the profession by millennials ...

Read the abstract in its entirety:

NCBI: Millennials Almost Twice As Likely To Be Registered Nurses As Baby Boomers Were

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On 2/7/2018 at 10:56 AM, RobtheORNurse said:

There are geographic shortages. Georgia has a severe nursing shortage. Where I live, there is a nursing school on every corner it seems and there are few job openings. So the answer is Yes and No.

I live in GA and can attest to this!

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
On 2/16/2020 at 3:15 PM, juniper222 said:

I plan on working until I need to call a code on myself. Maybe get a personalized crash cart.

I appreciated your humor -- but my father kind'a did that for real. He was a physician who had his first heart attack while having a cup of coffee (and cigarette) with his cardiologist in the hospital cafeteria. He didn't want to make a scene, so he calmly got up and walked to the ED -- and asked them to page the cardiologist he had just left. The he told the staff he was having chest pain, and in his words, "All H*** broke lose." He survived that episode, but died 7 years later after having his second bypass -- less than 2 years after retiring from work.

It's made me (and my siblings) think seriously about retirement and NOT wanting to work up until we drop. We all want to retire early enough to have a little time to enjoy some "time off" before we die.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Another aspect of "the shortage" is that there is a shortage of nurses who can and who want to work certain types of jobs -- but not a shortage of other types of nurses.

We need more nurses who can work in highly technical, acute, specialized, units such as ICU's, burn units, OR's, etc. We need more nurses who can provide leadership, education, care coordination, etc. We need more nurses to work night shifts, weekends, holidays, etc. In other words, we need more experienced nurses with advanced skills that require both education and time in the job to develop -- who are willing/able to be available around the clock when the patients need them.

What we have are new, less experienced who need leadership, education, and time on the job to mature so that they can fill the roles of senior staff nurses and leaders. Sadly, many of those fresh new grad nurses don't stick around long enough to develop their skills sufficiently to function as a senior staff member.

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