Job outlook 2013 and beyond

[nurse?99]

I am planning on going back to school this summer to finish my nursing pre-reqs while working as a CNA. I will be finished with my pre-reqs by next summer at the latest. I have a non nursing BA and intend on attending an ABSN program. Assuming that all goes to plan, what do you think the job prospects will be for new grads in 3 years time? I know that many new grads are having a hard time finding jobs.

Do you see demand for new grads to increase while I'm in school. Or should I just avoid the inevitable sunk costs of money and time and head for greener pastures?

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

[oramar]

Wish I could answer that for you. This tight job situation is deeper and lasting longer than I thought. Job market is probably going to turn but WHEN? No one knows that. I can see why you would be concerned. If it was something I really wanted to do I wouldn't let it stop me. However, if my main concern was a paycheck I would have second thoughts.

[guiltysins]

If this is something you really want to do I say go for it. The market will pick up eventually. It's hard to tell how long that will be but unless you have somerhing you really want to do stick with this. If the economy stays like this in general then a lot of people will have a hard time finding jobs.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Very hard to give a general blanket answer because really everything is local. Even during the height of the last "nursing shortage", some states and local areas reported they were doing fine. When this current crisis passes (and it will), it is not clear what the landscape will look like across the board.

Case in point here in NYC we have had several hospitals close within the past three years (and another annouced today, St. Vincent's), each time sending hundreds of experienced nurses out into the trenches, and the closings may not be over.

When an experienced nurse moves to another hospital she may have to take a lower wage and or loose certain benefits. This added to how long it takes her to find another position may mean having to work that much longer to get back to where she once was professionally and financially.

To this we have hundreds of newly licensed RNs coming out of nursing programs, and more coming as the media hypes nursing as a "recession proof' career choice.

All this means locally there are quite allot of nurses chasing not that many hospital openings. Nursing homes here are either closing or transforming into LTC centers, so that avenue should at least help with new hires, not everyone wants to work in such places.

Finally there is a new fly in the ointment in terms of "ObamaCare" and how it shakes up the healthcare landscape. In theory it should increase the need for nurses, but where and how those nurses will be deployed isn't totally clear. Hospitals are going to take a big hit in terms of Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements, and more may come down the line. Add to this insurance companies may "adjust" their payments as well to the new reality on the ground.

Advice given upthread is quite good. If you want to become a nurse out of personal desire and or satisfaction, then by all means stick to your guns. However if you need to count on earning a wage right out of school, then you *might* want to give some serious thought.

[rayne215]

im 2 yrs off from my RN i hope i can get a job SOMEWHERE....im a server in a resturant for now... i really want to work in the healthcare field now!hmmm i can do a phebootmy or cna course i guess.... i hope this is all worth it

[Yo gaba gaba]

If you think becoming a Nurse is the "gold rush" you have heard about, you are in for a horribly rude awakening. There are very little opportunities in Nursing. The job market is more than saturated.

[Thunda]

The amount of Nursing Diploma Mills is staggering. Make certain the program you're going to attend is properly licenced (NLNAC is the important one in my area) and Make sure that the program you're going to attend has their clinicals in a good hospital and do well in them while interacting with staff, then when you do your intern hours (whatever your program calls them, capstone was what mine was called) do a very good job and come prepared (Knowledge and Humility).

It worked for me, I was hired directly as a result of my performance during my internship, the nurses(we never got a sole preceptor) on the floor were telling me to fill out and application and without my knowledge went to the floor director to recommend me. I am forever thankful!

[RunninOnCoffee]

I would advise looking in the area that you are living in and finding a hospital you want to work for and start with a nonclinical job. I was a unit secretary on a large med/surg/tele floor for 2 years while I was in nursing school. It did 2 things for me. 1 made me very comfortable in the crazy hospital setting so I didn't have deer in the headlights look when we first started clinicals. I already knew a lot of the terminology and had a basic understanding of how things kind of flowed. 2 I had a job guaranteed to me as soon as I passed my boards. In fact at the encouraging from my boss I took my boards a lot sooner than I had planned to start working as a nurse. Since I already knew all the nurses on the floor, already knew all of the doctors it made for a very easy transition. I knew who were the really strong nurses that I could easily turn to for help. I would encourage anyone wanting to be a nurse to do the same thing. Added bonus, since I was the secretary I saw every order that came across my desk and was the only one in the first semester of school that could read the doctors handwriting in the chart :-)