Nursing in the next 10 years

[linguine]

Experienced nurses, new grads, retired nurses,

What do you think nursing will be like in 10 years in terms of education, work environment or professional developement?

Nursing is going through changes and advancements in different directions very quickly. Wondering what is going to be required of a nurse in 10 years to practice successfully.

Nothing special sparked this discussion.. just going through some thoughts (and some anxiety) about what being a nurse may be like in the next decade.

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

Sounds like homework, but most schools should be on a break.

10 yrs from now, I know I will still have a job. That's what I love about nursing.

I'm in LTC, so I hope there will be tons of change in the next 10 yrs. Culture changes is just now getting started in LTC and it is very interesting to see how much it has changed in the last 10 yrs or so.

[annister]

You haven't heard? Nurses are all being outsourced to India. Press 1 for English. Press 2 for Espanol.

"ring, ring"

(nurse in India)

"3west, annister speaking. What can I do for you"

(patient in US facility on 3west, room 304)

"I'm having chest pain and my arm hurts too. Oh, oh, and my cousin wants a diet coke"

(nurse in India)

"ok I will send your RNbot right in and program the codeBOT to get your coke on it's way to your room"

(patient in US facility on 3west, room 304)

"ok hurry. I-feel---" ( loud crash as phone hits floor.....)

"next please"

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

"ring, ring"

(nurse in India)

"3west, annister speaking. What can I do for you"

(patient in US facility on 3west, room 304)

"I'm having chest pain and my arm hurts too. Oh, oh, and my cousin wants a diet coke"

(nurse in India)

"ok I will send your RNbot right in and program the codeBOT to get your coke on it's way to your room"

(patient in US facility on 3west, room 304)

"ok hurry. I-feel---" ( loud crash as phone hits floor.....)

"next please"

But fortunately a clerk in India will send a customer satisfaction survey that will spam their email for no less than two weeks and call every night at dinner for nine days. Finally, the customer (patient) will respond, and the survey results will promptly return to India's File 13.

[Fixit]

[color=#111111]in spite of the obvious oversupply of nurses, nursing schools continues to proliferate. to me this will lead to much greater competition for jobs and lower compensation.[color=#111111] (hate to be a debbie downer but this is what i see happening and i think it will continue.)

[color=#111111]

[NJMike]

Great question.

I don't see the requirement for entry level practice increasing to BSN, I'm sorry. The PTB have talked that move up for years, and it hasn't moved any closer. Now, I do think that we will see more BSN/MSN impact on clinical ladders, etc. I do think that the DNP will become a standard for advanced practice, and that as healthcare reform evolves, we will see more mid-level practitioners taking on more and more of physician functions.

From a professional development standpoint, I think we will continue to see a move toward evidence based care and shorter hospital stays, more home and community based care (read: home health and perinatal homevisit programs) to cut costs of care, so I think we'll be doing more of those types of education programs as well as keeping the medical-legal focus in the facility.

Lastly, Healthcare is big business. Costs are going to have to be cut, and staffing will be on the list. Flex time (I've already seen programs for RNs in our facility for 48hr weeks 42 weeks a year, summers with planned lay off) and low census aren't going away, but going to be more pronounced, I think. Also, the market will become more competitive, because media are still selling the story that nursing is the recession proof profession. And, as we see on this board all the time, it just isn't.

My thought exactly. Getting a nursing job will become more competitive as more new nurses graduate. Hospital acuity will rise as length of stay must decrease due to the escalating cost of health care.

[beewink]

I agree - great question.

I think all nurses will be focusing more on the business end of health care. We're going to have to in order to survive. I see more of us becoming politically active - again we're going to have to.

Don't see the BSN as a requirement for entry level - heck they've said that at least since the 70's!

I think there will be more of a need for mid-level providers: NPs, CNSs (in states where they are APNs), CRNAs. We have proven that we are cost effective and provide good care.

Few nurses will auto-retire at 65 - I think many of us will use education as a means to switching jobs into something less physically stressful.

The thought of nurses focusing MORE on the business end fills me with dread. I do see it headed that way - it has been so distressing to see this trend. I know it's always been a part of healthcare, but it has definitely gotten worse - and it is becoming more and more obvious. But then you have the hospital corporations producing commercials that say, "WE CARE", "WE ARE NOT A BUSINESS". It makes me sick. They know what they're doing - and they are trying to pull the veil over the consumer.

[MtBpsy9609]

Nurses in hospitals will still have heavy care and high acuity patient loads because it's all about profits.

Hospitals and nursing programs will continue to use political clout and tell the public and PTB that there is a "nursing shortage" instead of a shortage of RN's willing to work in bad conditions.

[Preeps]

[color=#111111]in spite of the obvious oversupply of nurses, nursing schools continues to proliferate. to me this will lead to much greater competition for jobs and lower compensation.[color=#111111] (hate to be a debbie downer but this is what i see happening and i think it will continue.)

i agree completely. and i don't think we will have a nursing shortage again any time soon. bad news for salaries. there are too many people out there who see nursing as a sure thing for job security (forget about job satisfaction lol). so they will continue to flood the nursing programs around the country with grad nurses. i think this will definitely be the trend of the future.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

[color=#111111]in spite of the obvious oversupply of nurses, nursing schools continues to proliferate. to me this will lead to much greater competition for jobs and lower compensation.[color=#111111] (hate to be a debbie downer but this is what i see happening and i think it will continue.)

it's what's happening to law school, and i've read this is a trend in pharmacy school as well.

[Trinitas2010RN]

Robots will be used to perform nursing duties, a glitch in their program will cause them to malfunction and they will take over the world...

[evolvingrn, BSN, RN]

This not the first time the job market has been tight, and it won't be the last, in our area while its still hard for new grads im seeing more jobs pop up. I think we are going to see more and more nursing jobs move to the community , im excited about that. I don't mind bedside nursing but i don't intend to do for the next 35 years, my goal right now is to develop my bedside nursing experiencing but i have my eyes on other nursing avenues and i think the future of nursing is going to provide a diversity of jobs (for BSN and higher nurses)

[chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

[color=#111111]in spite of the obvious oversupply of nurses, nursing schools continues to proliferate. to me this will lead to much greater competition for jobs and lower compensation.[color=#111111] (hate to be a debbie downer but this is what i see happening and i think it will continue.)

while there is indeed an oversupply of nurses, it unfortunately only obvious to those of us involved in nursing. nursing school enrollment has already increased substantially and there are no signs that it will decline or even slow down in the near tearm. unless the law of supply & demand is somehow repealed, fixit's prediction can't help but become a reality.

i'd also predict that the movement to the bsn as the entry-level credential will accelerate. this is in fact already well underway in many areas and the oversupply is clearly an enabling element in this. i also see a movement already underway in hospitals to reduce support staff from pcts to security to housekeeping. the tasks formerly performed by these folks will inevitably fall to the rn. this too appears to be underway in many hospitals and i believe is likely to spread, again enabled at least in part by the oversupply of nurses.

i frankly expect a rollback of the recent federal changes to healthcare - what is inaccurately refered to as "obamacare". this will probably lead to growing numbers of severly ill patients as they defer needed treatment until absolutely necessary. hospitals, nearly all who will be running very lean operations, will not have the resources to treat these patients, leading to er chaos and swamped community clinics. hospitals will also accelerate the trend of discharging patients as quickly as possible. on the plus for nurses, this will have the effect of increasing the numbers of nurses needed for post-hospital and community care.

sorry for the rather gloomy prediction but i think the trends for all of this are already in place and will be accelerated by the changes in government that are taking place right now and that i also see increasing in the future.