NJ/NYC Area - Best way to enter nursing as a 2nd career

fnn1jxw · Dec 3, 2013

You all make good points. Thank you Esme for the link to the job density charts. The charts are eye opening.

If I am reading them correctly, would I be correct in saying that nurses are in demand in NYC with a -10% Job density rating and average pay of $82k? I have spent a good amount of time with some nurses a few years ago in NY Presbyterian Weill Cornell. They all insisted that BSNs were required to work there. However, they also had traveling nurses to fill open roles. Common sense would tell me that if there was a 10% shortage, it would drive wages up and requirements down (in other words, BSNs not required). I would be curious to hear your comments on this.

How about an area such as Ocean City, NJ or Bethesda, MD? These areas seem to have some shortages. Are ADNs able to fill hospital jobs in these areas?

DoGoodThenGo · Dec 3, 2013

You all make good points. Thank you Esme for the link to the job density charts. The charts are eye opening.
If I am reading them correctly, would I be correct in saying that nurses are in demand in NYC with a -10% Job density rating and average pay of $82k? I have spent a good amount of time with some nurses a few years ago in NY Presbyterian Weill Cornell. They all insisted that BSNs were required to work there. However, they also had traveling nurses to fill open roles. Common sense would tell me that if there was a 10% shortage, it would drive wages up and requirements down (in other words, BSNs not required). I would be curious to hear your comments on this.
How about an area such as Ocean City, NJ or Bethesda, MD? These areas seem to have some shortages. Are ADNs able to fill hospital jobs in these areas?

Travelers are brought in to fill specific staffing units/floors when there is a shortage of staff for a definite period. Maternity/family/child-care leave, disability, education and so forth types of leave can leave gaps that must be filled. These are not permanent positions thus no need to train new hires. Ideally you want an experienced nurse who has done exactly the same thing before so she/he can slot right in and do the job.

Depending upon their contract travelers will be the first nurses called of if patient census counts do not warrant full staffing.

Regarding the "10%" shortage, by and large when hospitals in NYC and elsewhere speak of not finding staffing they refer to seasoned RNs with recent and direct patient care experience usually in the specialty or one closely related that requires staffing. That is if they are wanting ER nurses then someone with ten or so years of experience in maternity probably won't be the first choice. In such instances you will often see travelers being used until staffing can be sorted out.

Since 2000 NYC has lost about fourteen (14) hospitals including the famous shuttering of Saint Vincent's in The Village. Each hospital closure sends scores if not hundreds of experienced RNs out in search of new jobs. But yet only a handful (if that) of nursing programs have closed in NYC, thus the numbers of new grads churned out yearly continues in the hundreds. So you have a situation where there are less inpatient beds thus lowering the demand for nurses, but yet they still keep on coming.

The other worry for yourself is that you are *not* the first person from outside NYS to get the idea to work in NYC as a RN. Hospitals in NYC have staff nurses from not only NJ, but Conn, LI, and Westchester. Then there are the numbers either recruited from Maine to California , and or choose to come to NYC for various personal or professional reasons.

Hospitals are closing in your state as well and one of the first places NJ nurses look to find work is Manhattan, especially if they live

Many new grads are finding work in upstate NY such as Rochester, but that is not possible via commuting, so you would have to move house. The other option for some is to move to the South or Mid-West, anywhere they can find work. Remain for two or so years in order to gain experience then try their luck again in the City.

As the healthcare models in the United States change so is the nursing profession. The current trend is towards less in-patient hospital care and more done in the community/home based settings. Like others parts of the United States, NYC hospitals are shrinking inpatient beds by closing entire units or other means, and learning how to do more with smaller nursing services. This is translating into less hospital nursing employment. Indeed predictions for the largest growth in the profession see community/home care as expanding, however those settings are not up every RNs street.

lmh364 · Dec 4, 2013

I graduated from NYU with a bsn in nursing in May of 2012 and I know many classmates who are still having difficulties finding jobs. One of my friends had an externship during school at a big manhattan hospital and luckily got right in, but her nursing recruiter told her she gets about 1000 applications a day for posted positions, not only from NYC/nj residents but from people all across the country willing to relocate. (Just an example of how competitive it is to get a job in that area right now)... Luckily I moved back home to Pennsylvania and got a position in an ICU immediately after passing boards, but I hear this is a rare occurrence