Nursing market becoming oversaturated?

CyclicalEvents · Feb 7, 2010

As I am pounding through my core and support classes I am noticing more and more people either moving to texas or beginning to take nursing as their career. Has the state become oversaturated with nurses?
Also when trying to get an internship are grades something they look at with high regard?
Right now I am working towards a Biology degree and was then maybe going to pursue nursing but was thinking of putting that off and rather do nursing first and then work towards my degree in biology.
Would having a degree in Biology and a AS in nursing better my chances at getting an internship/job?

The rural areas of Texas are not oversaturated.

A BS in Biology will not land you a job in anything related to biology (unless you count biology teacher). Grades are extremely important for internships. A biology degree might give you a solid foundation for the biology in nursing, but there are many other aspects to nursing and at the end of the day the hospitals are going to be looking for a degree in nursing.

Depending on how far you are, you could get your bachelors in biology and then take an 18 month accelerated program at a nursing school and get your BSN.

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Feb 7, 2010

I live in a semi-rural area of TX, and over-saturated is an understatement. This was the case even way before the recession, and is a primary reason for why I have never believed in the nursing shortage.

sbyramRN · Feb 8, 2010

There seems to be plenty of jobs in Houston.

AdrianLU · Feb 10, 2010

It's not over saturated. There are plenty of jobs, it's just harder to get on without experience coming straight from nursing school or even having very little experience. Internships do look at grades. A lot of them are requiring at least a 3.0. My opinion is a BSN will open more doors for you in nursing. Quite a few major hospitals in Houston strongly prefer BSN's and some even require it for an entry level position.

MissBrahmsRN · Feb 12, 2010

the nursing market for new grads in Austin is SUPER saturated. i was lucky & landed a job but there were over 1000 applications for 70-something new graduate Versant positions at Seton hospitals. the programs at ACC & UT just keep expanding & expanding chanting the mantra "there will be jobs lined up begging for you when you get done, don't worry!" no, there arent. Austin is growing but not that fast, there are plenty of new grads & experienced nurses without jobs who have been hunting for awhile.

ASH is always looking for nurses, & the benefits are good since it's owned by the state...

MissBrahmsRN · Feb 12, 2010

PS: over 60% of the RN residents at Seton are ADNs & in my job interviews they were thrilled with my degree & didnt care about the bachelors....my educator said many surveys show that BSNs have the lowest "stay" rates on units..

ibme · Feb 12, 2010

It's over saturated if you are a new graduate.

MissBrahmsRN · Feb 12, 2010

It's over saturated if you are a new graduate.

people keep saying that but i don't believe it, i personally know at least 3 experienced nurses in the austin area that have been told: "you have great experience, we'd love to hire you but we aren't hiring RNs right now." when i was in school I was on 2 different units that were very short & the manager wanted to hire RNs with experience but couldn't. granted the economic recovery is slowly happening but WAY too many new grads will eventually translate -> too many nurses with experience who can't get jobs.

i think it's exacerbated by the fact that many nurses stay only 1-2 years on a unit...even among my new graduate friends many that have landed a great job they really like are saying, "after a year i am gone!" i don't understand it, i love the unit i was hired onto, a good job with a good manager is hard to find, why would i take off in a year or 2??" it doesn't look good on a resume to have many little jobs lined up...

ICUMatador · Feb 15, 2010

13goingon30... you've been accepted to the Versant program?!? I will graduate with my BSN in May, I've already applied and I applied early! Is there anyway I can get my foot in the door? I hear nothing about good things when it comes to Seton and would LOVE to work there. However, I currently live in Lubbock (I go to TTU) so I can't really go over there and shake hands and mingle Any suggestions would be super!

thanks,

Mattie

shah · Feb 16, 2010

As I am pounding through my core and support classes I am noticing more and more people either moving to texas or beginning to take nursing as their career. Has the state become oversaturated with nurses?
Also when trying to get an internship are grades something they look at with high regard?
Right now I am working towards a Biology degree and was then maybe going to pursue nursing but was thinking of putting that off and rather do nursing first and then work towards my degree in biology.
Would having a degree in Biology and a AS in nursing better my chances at getting an internship/job?

With a bacelor's degree, you could get into a second degree BSN program. That is about all the advantage. On the floor they don't care if you have a PHD in physics. Everyone is treated the same. Even salary wise.

walk6miles · Feb 17, 2010

Never fear, there is still a great and vast need for nurses. I qualify this statement by saying this: about 4 out of every 10 new nurses who come to our lovely ICU leave after a year. Two this year were dismissed for excessive absentism (doesn't help when they repeatedly call in as a "pair"), another one quit after her third or fourth disciplinary action for blue tooth syndrome, i.e. on the blue tooth with married lover all night. Actually, she became so angry when he left his wife and became engaged to another "lady friend" while dropping her. Oops, bad taste.

And there is always the new grad who began to search high and low for "the things these old geezers miss because they've been at the job too long". The mistakes he pointed out were not mistakes and indeed, his enormous task took so much time away from caring for his patients that he had numerous patient complaints and is now seeking employment himself.

You will also find people who never realized in nursing school that as an RN, you deal with blood, vomit, feces, etc. on a daily basis....surprise!!!!

I wish you success and good will with your studies; remember, follow your heart and do what you love.