Is there still a nursing shortage?

pro-student · May 1, 2017

Short answer, no. There are some issues with distribution of nurses (too many nurses in some parts of the country, too few in others), but, overall, there is no "shortage." There hasn't been for a long time. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), one of the government agencies that tracks healthcare personnel, is predicting a US nursing surplus through at least 2025.

There is a projected national EXCESS of nurses. One third of states (16) are expected to have fairly minor shortages, however the majority of states will have excesses, some even twice as many nurses as jobs. Even if nurses relocated to fill in the gaps, there will still be an oversupply of about 10%. So no, there absolutely is not a nursing shortage. For every place where nurses can get hired easily, there are two places where nurses go years without a job and many are forced to change professions.

https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bhw/nchwa/projections/nursingprojections.pdf

Yive · May 1, 2017

I have the same question as you do and throughout the entirety of my nursing school career, they constantly tell us "There is a nursing shortage".

The hospital that I had clinicals said the same thing - the RNs that I shadow would tell me how a friend they knew quit the profession within the first 5 years due to burnout, etc. and it's a relatively good hospital too.

I am currently applying to a different hospital (I love the hospital that I went to clinicals for and was a patient care tech there too - they were more than willing to give me a job as a new grad RN but I plan to move back home so it would make sense to find a job closer to home) and one of the units had rejected me, even though they were saying that they were constantly hiring new RNs...I went to their career fair and the HR recruiters were telling me over 400 new grads attended and application/hiring process is taking longer...so yeah...is there really a nursing shortage? I see my classmates getting jobs in their dream units (some in ICUs) at their dream hospital left and I'm here crossing my fingers...

Volley88 · May 1, 2017

In California, there's a shortage of experienced nurses. Thus, hospitals would prefer experienced nurses over New Grads.

calivianya, BSN, RN · May 1, 2017

Definitely a shortage in my area. My hospital's been offering "high vacancy incentive" for any nurse in any department in the entire hospital to pick up overtime in 12 week blocks because the hospital itself has greater than 30% of RN positions unfilled. Pretty much every night every unit has nurses over the ratios they're supposed to have, even the supposedly more desired specialties.

150 RN openings at my hospital alone and I suspect that they are underposting listings... there are nine listings for my unit currently, but those are a mix of days and nights. Nights could probably use at least ten more people and days are regularly even shorter-staffed than nights - nine listings is nowhere close to sufficient to bring us to full staffing.

Anyway, long story short, there are definitely areas of the country with a critical shortage, where we don't even have enough NEW GRADS to fill positions, let alone experienced nurses.

For kicks and giggles, here's what our staffing matrix looks like for a week closer to the end of May before the float pool staff get worked in. This includes regular staff plus current travelers. And yes, those negatives are the number of nurses below 18 per shift currently on the schedule, as the highlighting of one of the -10 days shows.

Skippy97 · May 1, 2017

There is a projected national EXCESS of nurses. One third of states (16) are expected to have fairly minor shortages, however the majority of states will have excesses, some even twice as many nurses as jobs. Even if nurses relocated to fill in the gaps, there will still be an oversupply of about 10%. So no, there absolutely is not a nursing shortage. For every place where nurses can get hired easily, there are two places where nurses go years without a job and many are forced to change professions.
https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bhw/nchwa/projections/nursingprojections.pdf

It's still very odd to me to hear many nurses are out of work because the BLS government website states an unemployment rate for registered nurses at 1.1% across the nation currently.

allnurses Guide · May 1, 2017

Imagine you are at a family reunion and your great-aunt asks where that nice by Larry you have been dating is. You tell her you and Larry broke up years ago and don't mention that she asked you the same question last year. Replace the Larry question with "nursing shortage".
Sometimes old news has a way of sticking and taking time to clear up.
There was once a prediction of a vast nursing shortage.
This prediction was made years ago when it when middle skilled jobs were plentiful and job security was a given.
In most places there is no shortage.
The job market is always shifting. Predict a nursing shortage, and a new class of medical workers called MAs comes into existence and displaces nurses from working in doctors' offices. Who knows what the future brings?

This is so true. I once heard the lag time for perception to reality and the reverse is like steering a barge. You turn the wheel, and wait, eventually the thing starts to move in the intended direction. Years of shortage-battling strategies starting to have an effect, finally.

It's interesting to me that students/new grads were reporting difficulty on allnurses way before anyone else noticed. When they noticed they didn't acknowledge it.

One interesting study determined there had been a surge of students and new grads whose numbers weren't tracked moving through nursing programs. Around 2010-2011 it was extremely difficult for new grads. I know many probably bailed out of nursing due to necessity, utility bills, loan payments due on jobs they didn't have, etc

PMFB-RN, RN · May 1, 2017

There is not now, nor has there ever been a shortage of nurses in the 18+ years I've been in nursing. Plentiful jobs and employers having difficulty filling positions tell you absolutely nothing about the supply of nurses. It does tell you about the strength of the economy and the pay and working conditions being offered to nurses.

I did an research paper on this. I found that in my state, after controlling for non resident license holders, retired nurses whose license hadn't expired yet and some other factors, there were enough RNs to fill every RN position in the state with over 1/5 nurses. This at a time when hospitals where crying to state legislators and congress about a supposed "nursing shortage" and extorting tax money to create new RN programs and expand existing ones with the goal of creating a glut of nurses, which they did. This allows them to pay nurses less, cut their benefits, and treat them worse without fear of too many open positions.

The "Nursing shortage!" is nothing more than propaganda used by employers to have more control over us and reduce the number of "uppity" nurses they have to deal with.

PMFB-RN, RN · May 1, 2017

Definitely a shortage in my area. My hospital's been offering "high vacancy incentive" for any nurse in any department in the entire hospital to pick up overtime in 12 week blocks because the hospital itself has greater than 30% of RN positions unfilled. Pretty much every night every unit has nurses over the ratios they're supposed to have, even the supposedly more desired specialties.
150 RN openings at my hospital alone and I suspect that they are underposting listings... there are nine listings for my unit currently, but those are a mix of days and nights. Nights could probably use at least ten more people and days are regularly even shorter-staffed than nights - nine listings is nowhere close to sufficient to bring us to full staffing.
Anyway, long story short, there are definitely areas of the country with a critical shortage, where we don't even have enough NEW GRADS to fill positions, let alone experienced nurses.
For kicks and giggles, here's what our staffing matrix looks like for a week closer to the end of May before the float pool staff get worked in. This includes regular staff plus current travelers. And yes, those negatives are the number of nurses below 18 per shift currently on the schedule, as the highlighting of one of the -10 days shows.

You have given no evidence of a shortage of nurses in your area. Where are the numbers of licensed nurses in your area?

Open positions and short staffing are management choices and in no way reflect the number of available nurses, but rather the number of nurses willing to work for the pay and working conditions being offered.

PMFB-RN, RN · May 1, 2017

In California, there's a shortage of experienced nurses. Thus, hospitals would prefer experienced nurses over New Grads.

What is the evidence that there is a shortage of experienced nurses?

PMFB-RN, RN · May 1, 2017

I have the same question as you do and throughout the entirety of my nursing school career, they constantly tell us "There is a nursing shortage".
.

Of course they tell you that. Its in their interest for you to believe it.

Skippy97 · May 1, 2017

Definitely a shortage in my area. My hospital's been offering "high vacancy incentive" for any nurse in any department in the entire hospital to pick up overtime in 12 week blocks because the hospital itself has greater than 30% of RN positions unfilled. Pretty much every night every unit has nurses over the ratios they're supposed to have, even the supposedly more desired specialties.
150 RN openings at my hospital alone and I suspect that they are underposting listings... there are nine listings for my unit currently, but those are a mix of days and nights. Nights could probably use at least ten more people and days are regularly even shorter-staffed than nights - nine listings is nowhere close to sufficient to bring us to full staffing.
Anyway, long story short, there are definitely areas of the country with a critical shortage, where we don't even have enough NEW GRADS to fill positions, let alone experienced nurses.
For kicks and giggles, here's what our staffing matrix looks like for a week closer to the end of May before the float pool staff get worked in. This includes regular staff plus current travelers. And yes, those negatives are the number of nurses below 18 per shift currently on the schedule, as the highlighting of one of the -10 days shows.

Thanks for the info. Do you mind sharing what area in the country you are in? I heard Midlands have this type of shortage. My mom is head of nurses where she works in CT, and says she always has vacancies, interviewing new grads (who are the ones who claim to have trouble finding a job) and she says that they are super picky about it and never end up taking the jobs even when offered. So sometimes it's hard to believe there is no shortage, when people that complain don't take the jobs they are offered because for example they didn't get the hospital position.

PMFB-RN, RN · May 1, 2017

The California Department of Corrections used to have a vast nursing shortage. When their health care was put in federal receivership a judge looked at all the money they were spending on over time and agency nurses and decided to drastically increases the wages of their staff nurses. New nurses starting at six figures. Guess what? Most of their openings were filled. They went from hundreds of open positions to a dozen or so listed.

This at a time when hospitals were screaming "NURSING SHORTAGE!!!" and were offering signing bonuses to new grads.

I can't say for sure, but I'm thinking nurses don't choose to work at San Quinton or Pelican Bay because it's fun or interesting to care for the worst of the worst offenders.