Nursing Shortage: New Grad or Experienced

[OhioCCRN, MSN, NP]

Nurses!

I know this topic has been beaten to death, but after reading a thread re: importing more Nurses, i had to ask:

Is the mysterious 'Nursing shortage' related to:

1. Lack of EXPERIENCED nurses

2. Lack of ANY nurses e.g New Grads (which going by the posts here seems kind of unlikely)

3. A ploy to increase revenue by schools.

Thoughts?

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

I'm a cynical sort of person, and I think it is probably number 3. New and experienced nurses are having a hard time finding jobs at this time. I wish I had not drunken the kool aid before I started, but what to do.

[Perpetual Student]

3 + a ploy by many health care organizations to make some more $$$ and and have some more power by making nurses lucky to just have jobs.

There's a lack of experienced nurses who're willing to put up with extreme bovine excrement from clueless administrations.

[Screen name]

There is definitely a shortage of nurses, but the hospitals can't afford to hire them all.

[OhioCCRN, MSN, NP]

Thank you, whoever turned this into a poll!!! Awesome!!!!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

There was never a true shortage of nurses; however, there was a shortage of nurses who would willingly work at the bedside.

During the 'shortage years,' many nurses with active licenses did other things (became housewives, started businesses, worked in fields outside of nursing, etc.). However, there had always been enough nurses in the U.S. to eliminate the shortage of bedside nurses overnight if all of these people actively returned to nursing. When the financial markets collapsed in 2008, many of these individuals had to return to bedside nursing when their businesses failed, or their breadwinner spouses were laid off, or their jobs outside of nursing were eliminated.

Prior to the collapse of the financial markets in 2008, there was a shortage of nurses who wanted to do bedside nursing. Facilities could not retain staff because there was a shortage of nurses who would deal with poor working conditions, lack of respect, understaffing, noncompetitive wages, and the political garbage that comes with the territory of bedside nursing. However, all of the experienced nurses who disappeared from the bedside have had to return due to financial necessity.

In addition, nursing schools have opened or expanded their programs over the past ten years, which has also contributed to the disappearance of the 'nursing shortage' and the emergence of a 'nursing surplus' of more new grads than can realistically be absorbed in local job markets.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Thank you whoever turned this into a poll!!! Awesome!!!![/quote']

You are very welcome. :)

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

To a large extent, it seems to depend where in the country you are. I live in one of the 5 largest cities in the country. In the 4 county metro area from 2009 to 2010, the BLS employment data showed an increase of about 80 nursing jobs. During that same period, according the BON website, the 25 or so nursing schools in the area provided over 2,000 new RN's to the work force. Certainly no shortage of nurses and arguably a signficant oversupply. I suspect that this is similar to most of the larger metro areas in the US.

On the other hand, many small cities and rural areas appear to need both physcians and nurses. I would suspect however that the numbers involved here are relatively small and that overall, there are significanly more nurses than there are nursing jobs.

If these suppositions are right and there is a substantial nursing oversupply, we can expect to see significant downward pressure on nursing wages in the comming years. Only time will tell.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

There is definitely a shortage of nurses. Everywhere I've worked, they work short. But facilities still are not hiring. Where I am now, 2 RNs are retiring at the same time, and we're having some difficulty filling the spots. I am in a small town though, and many people won't relocate to small towns.

[Catch22Personified]

It's more like a shortage of nurses who are going to put up with the abuse that comes with customer service oriented care and caring only about the bottom dollar.

And schools love shoving that crock of **** statistic about nursing shortages. I seriously feel insulted that people just go into nursing thinking its easy money for a 2 year degree.

[honeykrown, MSN, NP]

Its a ploy. For the organizations it is the basic economy of supply and demand. over saturate with nurses and then the price of hire would be low because people would be willing to work for less just to have a job.

Although i have not seen anyone saying they are willing to take a pay cut.

[JulieCVICURN, BSN, RN]

I don't believe it's a ploy. Before the economy turned sour, nobody wanted to be a nurse because you could make a lot more money doing other things that didn't involve backbreaking work, personal risk, and exposure to poop and deadly bacterium. The economy turned and everyone rushed to nursing school because within a couple of years you could be making a somewhat decent living without a huge time and money commitment for schooling.