Is There a Nursing Shortage in MN?

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Hi Everyone,

I'm fairly new to this whole nursing/allnurses.com thing, and I was wondering if someone could honestly tell me if there is a nursing shortage in Minnesota, specifically the Mpls/St. Paul metro area. I've been hearing conflicting stories, and I've also been hearing that it's really hard for new grads especially to find jobs in acute care. Some of my friends who've recently finished nursing school (having come to nursing as a second career) are taking jobs in LTC or TCUs...which is fine, but not what they wanted.

I, too, am planning on starting nursing as a second career, but I'm a little concerned to be making such a large investment if there won't be a job for me when I graduate in a few years.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Lola

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Specializes in RN- Med/surg.

No- not unless you go to the metro area. BUT- that doesn't mean it's impossible to find a job where you want. I applied at every hospital within driving distance. I interviewed at 3 and accepted an offer at my first choice. Pay for RN's is good in MN compared to many other states.

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Hi April,

Thanks for the reply! I'm actually in the metro area (Mpls proper), so it's good to hear that perhaps my friends just had bad luck.

:) Lola

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Specializes in ED.

I don't think there is a big shortage. I am a soon to be new grad and do have a job lined up but more because I had some connections and precepted where I wanted to work. I know many students in my class who are having difficulty. There are many jobs being posted but seems that as a new grad it is a little harder than I would have imagined. However, I am graduating from an ADN program so that makes it a little harder for us. Many hospitals want to have so many BSN's before ADNs and many hospitals also hire a lot of their nursing assistants who are graduating so that really helps to get a job. I know a few NA's who got jobs because they got the first batch of interviews for the new grad spots. Without connections it is a little harder. There are jobs but it isn't like a new grad can be super picky about where they go.

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Specializes in RN- Med/surg.

I don't think it's true that BSN gets preference over ADN. WHen I was applying I saw MANY ads that said BSN was preferred. But- when I interviewed I was told it didn't matter by nursing managers..but that corporate puts that in the ad.

Apply everywhere. There isn't really a shortage..but jobs are definately available. Everyone from my clinical group had jobs to start after boards. Some were stressed that they weren't hired sooner..but some employers wait to hire until closer to NCLEX...or even after you've passed.

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HCMC is looking..............

I had several classmates catch on with Allina and with State Operated Forensic Services. (It seems like Corrections always has openings.)

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Specializes in Staff Dev--Critical Care & Trauma.

Well, there is a shortage. But.

There is also a swarm and increase in students/new grads. Which means that hospitals are not in the position where they will hire any warm body that happens to pass the NCLEX.

The combination of the two situations means that hospitals can afford to be extremely picky in the nurses they hire. I see no real preference in my hospital for BSN v. ADN (although MSN nurses will almost certainly get hired*). What I do see is no new grad hired with a GPA less than 3.3. Experienced nurses need to have stellar references.

* Because it will be asked: The University (and others, I'm sure) has a program where you can go to nursing school and graduate with a Masters in Nursing if you go to nursing school there after already having a baccelaureate. In addition, post-Bac nurses who go to ADN programs appear to have an advantage over straight ADN nurses.

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Specializes in PMHNP.
Well, there is a shortage. But.

There is also a swarm and increase in students/new grads. Which means that hospitals are not in the position where they will hire any warm body that happens to pass the NCLEX.

The combination of the two situations means that hospitals can afford to be extremely picky in the nurses they hire. I see no real preference in my hospital for BSN v. ADN (although MSN nurses will almost certainly get hired*). What I do see is no new grad hired with a GPA less than 3.3. Experienced nurses need to have stellar references.

* Because it will be asked: The University (and others, I'm sure) has a program where you can go to nursing school and graduate with a Masters in Nursing if you go to nursing school there after already having a baccelaureate. In addition, post-Bac nurses who go to ADN programs appear to have an advantage over straight ADN nurses.

What places have you heard that wont hire new grads with gpa less than 3.3?

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Specializes in Staff Dev--Critical Care & Trauma.

Heh. My apologies. My fingers didn't quite type what I intended to write. Currently I don't know of any hospitals that require a GPA that high. What I was trying to say was that I forsee a GPA requirement that high in the future.

Our HR department tells me that they are willing to make allowances for internal NA to RN graduates based on past work performance and manager request. However, for external hires they only take "the best" GPAs--frequently higher than (are you sitting?) 3.5.

Consider: My hospital originally posted for 30 new grad positions this summer. We hired 50. Out of 400 applicants. You have to weed 'em out somehow.

Just be aware that while it is true there is a nursing shortage (that hasn't changed), competition is fierce. Hospitals will not settle for "passed" ... they are looking for "exceeds".

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I'm not trying at all to be argumentative, but I can't resist asking:

How can you say that your hospital had 400 applicants for 30 positions, and then say, two sentences later, that "it is true there is a nursing shortage"? Where is the evidence of this so-called "shortage"?

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Specializes in Staff Dev--Critical Care & Trauma.

The shortage is evidenced by open positions. Our hospital has more open positions than just new grad positions. We don't take new grads into all positions; however, for the new grad positions we posted, we had 400 applicants.

That's why I wrote in my earlier post that there *is* a nursing shortage, but the huge increase in new grads allows hospitals to be pickier about filling the shortage than just hiring someone who passed the NCLEX. The nursing shortage will not go away anytime soon--there are still estimates that nationwide the shortage will be about 800,000 to 1 million nurses by 2020.

The difference is that many, many people are aware of the shortage and are going to school in the hopes of filling the jobs. That's why there are so many applicants. As more nurses retire, the shortage will become more evident.

The shortage may not be as obvious in Minnesota as elsewhere, but the heavy use of travelers and per diem nurses in many facilities points to the fact that there is, in fact, a shortage.

So the question many will ask is: "If there are so many open positions, why don't you hire new grads into them, or post more new grad positions?"

Those are good questions. The answer to the second part is that you can only hire so many new grads at once because preceptors have to be paid and orientation costs a lot--you have to spread it out. Our new grad program takes 30-50 new grads about three times a year. Also, preceptors get burned out and can't precept non-stop--they need breaks too. Finally, precepting and orientation also have to be given to experienced nurses which we are hiring all the time as well.

The answer to the first part is changing. Some managers still require one to two years of med-surg experience before taking a nurse into their area. Other areas are not areas that new grads are ever interested in--no one leaves school saying, "I want to work on an IV team," for example. Nevertheless, there are openings in those areas. Many "specialty" areas (and I'm not going to get into the whole med-surg *is* a specialty argument right now) are now looking at taking new grads where they didn't before. OR, PACU, critical care, and L&D are some examples of areas that did not take new grads traditonally but may be now. However, even if they have started to take new grads, those are the areas that are most likely to take only very high GPAs or internship experience. Our critical care program for new grads, for instance, only takes graduates that had 250 or more hours of a critical care internship.

So while there is a nursing shortage, how it is being filled is more complicated than one might think.

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It is evident that there is a nursing shortage when hospitals are using agency nurses that cost much more than a staff nurse.

Most new grads will have to accept a night position or hours that they do not prefer, and then watch for other open positions.

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