30% of Nurses Leaving the Workforce - 2017 Salary Survey Results Part 2

[Nyteflyr]

I am one of those nurses. 65 years old and frustrated and angry over years of being treated like a servant. Also nursing has to take a lot of blame for this upcoming shortage. Today we are no longer RN's or LPN's primarily, we are defined by our degrees, And in the very forward thinking state of NY there is a push by the schools, primarily to make the minimum degree be a batchelors.

[FatsWaller, BSN, RN]

I do find it interesting that California, as usual is one of the top states "suffering" from a nursing shortage, but is one of the states that also makes if extremely hard for a new graduate RN to find a job. I had to relocate to Kentucky just to land my first RN job out of school in an ER because after applying to over 100 hospitals, 90 replied "Unfortunately one year of acute care experience needed" and the others had such competitive residency programs the chances were slim to none (tens of thousands of applicants for 80 spots). Just a catch 22 if you ask me. I'm sure New York and Florida are similar. If the shortage is so drastic, hire nurses...there are plenty trying to get hired, believe me.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I agree with NC being on the list of places feeling the shortage the most.

For those complaining about not being able to find jobs as new grads... come here! 90% of the hires on my unit this year have been new grad RNs. We'll take anybody with a pulse and a nursing license. Really. It's that bad.

My manager states she ends up hiring most of the people she interviews. The problem is that we don't have applicants. Nobody applies, so nobody gets hired... so we stay short.

[RobbiRN, RN]

FatsWaller said:

I do find it interesting that California, as usual is one of the top states "suffering" from a nursing shortage, but is one of the states that also makes if extremely hard for a new graduate RN to find a job. I had to relocate to Kentucky just to land my first RN job out of school in an ER because after applying to over 100 hospitals, 90 replied "Unfortunately one year of acute care experience needed" and the others had such competitive residency programs the chances were slim to none (tens of thousands of applicants for 80 spots). Just a catch 22 if you ask me. I'm sure New York and Florida are similar. If the shortage is so drastic, hire nurses...there are plenty trying to get hired, believe me.

Florida is not similar, at least not yet. Most of the RNs hired into our ER over the past few years have been new grads. Pressure is mounting here too for BSNs, and experience is good if you have it, but for now the shortage wins out.

I was intrigued to see the line "leaving the bedside" repeatedly referring to RNs leaving the profession. Of course "the bedside" is where the unheralded core of the profession grinds it out day after day. I'm wondering if the shortage is less acute in management?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I too am a little surprised by that. I have left the bedside to work in professional development....partly because I am passionate about nursing and love to teach and interact with nurses, partly because in just the five years between my starting bedside practice/graduating and when I left that role, the changes were getting so stressfully bad. I am staying in nursing, but not at the bedside.

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

RobbiRN said:

I was intrigued to see the line "leaving the bedside" repeatedly referring to RNs leaving the profession. Of course "the bedside" is where the unheralded core of the profession grinds it out day after day. I'm wondering if the shortage is less acute in management?

not.done.yet said:

I too am a little surprised by that. I have left the bedside to work in professional development....partly because I am passionate about nursing and love to teach and interact with nurses, partly because in just the five years between my starting bedside practice/graduating and when I left that role, the changes were getting so stressfully bad. I am staying in nursing, but not at the bedside.

I too have left the bedside but am still an active nursing professional.

I edited the text in the article slightly. The survey included nurses from all areas and levels of nursing - bedside, management, etc. The shortage will occur throughout nursing, but will be felt the greatest at the bedside. As the number of patients is expected to rise due to the factors discussed in the article, there won't be enough nurses to care for them unless the number of incoming nurses increases dramatically.

Thanks for your comments.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

I've been a nurse now 40yrs, last 15yrs in non-bedside position in Home Health. Started planning my retirement 2yrs ago with plans to decrease from FT to 2days wk in about 4 years. Reading allnurses one would assume no one wants bedside positions. In Philly area, BSN push has been on for about 5 years with glut of graduating nurses and not enough hospital/SNF bedside positions available. Five new BSN grads I'd hired into Home Health Central Intake roles all left after that magical first year as able to obtain hospital bedside positions.

As part of retirement planning, I increased 403b contribution to 10% salary 3 years ago to take advantage of health system match for those over 16years employment getting $.60 for every $1.00 up to 6% salary if making less than $100,000. Paid off all credit cards; use just 1 debit card with monies out of checking account. I rarely go to Starbucks/ Dunkin Donuts/Wawa for Chai tea, instead buy individual sealed Chai + Constant Comment tea bags (my stress relievers) along with Truvia carrying them in separate area in my handbag to cut down on spending. My work pension is anticipated @ $900/mo now --just enough to pay PA state and school Taxes.

One of my friends continues to work 2days week at age 82 as "keeping her sharp". I would like to volunteer at local library or assisted living activity center as something to keep me busy, rather than have deadlines to meet. All depends on how health insurance plays out over next few years as might need to keep working to pay for insurance cost.

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

FatsWaller said:

I do find it interesting that California, as usual is one of the top states "suffering" from a nursing shortage, but is one of the states that also makes if extremely hard for a new graduate RN to find a job. I had to relocate to Kentucky just to land my first RN job out of school in an ER because after applying to over 100 hospitals, 90 replied "Unfortunately one year of acute care experience needed" and the others had such competitive residency programs the chances were slim to none (tens of thousands of applicants for 80 spots). Just a catch 22 if you ask me. I'm sure New York and Florida are similar. If the shortage is so drastic, hire nurses...there are plenty trying to get hired, believe me.

It's complicated because some states, like California, have a combined shortage along with a glut of new grads. Basically a shortage of experienced nurses. To make matters worse, many experienced nurses stay in the workforce (and so are counted) but leave the bedside for non-clinical roles because of the dis-satisfiers.

I'm so glad to see more nurses contacting their representatives to legislate safe nurse-patient ratios- it's the only way to bring about this change- if nurses stick together with one voice. I live in California, and nurse-patient ratios do provide some assurance of safety for patients and nurses.

Many new grads are forced to relocate to get their first job, like the OP above. But even in competitive areas, new grads do get hired- but only the ones who know how to stand out from the others. It's been my passion to help those newbies get started. New grads are our future.

[FloridaBeagle]

Maybe instead of "bedside" we should use a term like "direct patient care." Where do school nurses figure in? I work directly with patients (students), but not at a bedside. Don't forget about the thousands of us school nurses! We also need nurse-student ratios in my opinion. I have over 1200 students under my one RN license, including dozens of medically fragile and developmentally disabled children, which I believe is too much.

[she244]

I am College Health Nurse and the only one still left employed here with an Associate Degree. As the push to obtain a BSN degree keeps getting stronger I will be retiring hopefully next year. I do not plan to take money out of my savings to pay for an BSN degree to continue to make the same a salary. And that is what is not okay in my situation. I hopefully with be able to work part - time some where once retired in Nursing but if not then I will do a non-nursing related job. I have a lot of experience from working in the Emergency Room for 11 years. I do picc line infusions and care of picc lines if needed, apply cast and splints, do IV infusions and medication administration if needed. handle all prescription refills if Physician is not available, prior authorizations, Immunizations. Spirometry Testing on students. So when I retire, hopefully I can find something in Nursing to do part-time.

[Marisette, BSN, RN]

I'm not good with numbers so please excuse me if I misunderstood this article. It appears to predict a future nursing shortage. Personally, I'm skeptical about this. Do employers predict this also? I recall working in 1988 when there was a nursing shortage and we used to believe that more students entering the nursing profession would resolve the nursing shortage, but nurses are still working short staffed in 2017. Personally, when I worked direct patient care, I informed my employer that another RN should be hired to resolve our frantic pace at work. However, my employer informed me they would hire a person to draw blood to alleviate our work load, not another Registered Nurse. It did not relieve much of my work load. Presently I work in phone triage, and working short staffed one nurse for more than one year. Management is looking at ways to alleviate the nursing load by reassigning work they feel may be delegated to others. So where is the other nurse that my employer promised to hire over a year ago.

The "nursing shortage" has to due with profits, revenue, $$$. Perhaps many of the health care facilities are not for profit or so I'm told. However, I believe someone is profiting, weather it be the CEO or some upper level administrator meeting goals, quotas or whatever gets them the end of the year or quarter bonus $$$. There may be a few states that are suffering a nursing shortage and hiring, but I don't believe this is generally the case. During the real nursing shortage in 1988, I recall employers would hire and provide training. There were no excuses. It did not matter that you did not have a BSN, did not have acute care experience, did not work in that specialty previously, did not have certifications, were a staff nurse 1 as opposed to a staff nurse II or III, or did not participate in community service. There is a hospital in my state that actually requires that nurses do some form of community service. Unreal !

There is no nursing shortage today and I doubt there will be a nursing shortage in the future, unless there is some type of regulation of staffing ratios by states or government. The nursing profession is changing, with less use of bedside nurses, and more team nursing as opposed to primary care nursing. The push for BSN, certifications, clinical ladders, is expensive so why not continue one's nursing education to become a nurse practioner and have some autonomy. If I were younger and could afford it, I certainly would choose the APN route.