Nursing shortage? or Nursing bubble?

[goetface]

When I first entered nursing school in 2008, the hype here in california about nurses being in such a high demand seemed to be at question. Contributing factors that brought this into question was the economic decline, lack of jobs, lack of hiring for new grads, and other factors. Fast foward to 2011, many of these factors have become a fact, the jobs for new grads here in california are in dire shortage, very difficult to obtain, and new grads can expect to hunt around for a year + easy if not more. Older aged nurses are not retiring due to economic instability, hospitals are just as tight as corporations for hiring and training, although one thing doesnt seem to have changed, and thats the number of nursing students. From personal observation of the years, one will often here from someone on the street, " oh your going into nursing, theres always work there, tons of jobs you'll be good". Additionally, I've noticed these new private colleges which are rapidly growing, all they require is you go into debt, and since people are desperate for a career, this is in my opinion attracting the wrong kind of nurses. Because of the long waiting lists at community colleges, often individuals are taking the debt to degree route, when looking at this in a bigger picture think back to the housing boom 2005....what is it we are seeing? Tons of individuals moving into real estate, hearing of great compensation, easy credit, easy this, easy that.

Personally, while I understand we have an influx of baby boomer patients who are aging, what happens lets say around 2020, when you have all these nurses, and buisness slows down....a bubble begins to burst. It does scare me to think about the fact that nursing is now becoming a buisness, and a buisness I believe for the wrong reasons. Everywhere I go, resturant, bar, park, public place, its all to often I hear someone say, im in nursing school, im going to be a nurse. Now, what im not saying is im passing judgement, because i dont know these people so I dont know what kind of person they are so thats not my job. However, Im just seeing alot of factors here, and things just arent adding up, It's not making any sense. While I just graduated in june, and now im studying for boards, even friends of mine who graduated in 2010 are still presently not hired, looking for work, even grads from 2009 can said to be in the same position. At this point I feel its best to diversify my career outlook, based on my personal intuition that this is gonna be a problem 15-20 years down the road, and we should'nt put all our chips in one basket for a career *as if the last few years havent taught us anything*. However, dont get me wrong, nursing is my passion, my life, and it always has been since I was medically discharged from the navy in 2003, it has taken me years to get to this point and it was and always has been a calling. Although, I wonder if the person who is sitting down at home thinking about going to nursing is really seeing this at all as I am given the new prespective I have on the entire industry. Any thoughts? :)

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

Different parts of the country have different needs. I graduated in 1985, and in the city I was in, I only got a job quickly because I'd worked at an agency as a CNA during school, and they knew me- and needed a night nurse ASAP for someone's maternity leave... 6 months later I moved to TX....I ended up on a 28 bed neuro unit on 11-7 with one other nurse. Period. Other places in TX still hire a lot of nurses from Canada, or agency contracts with travelers.

If you're willing to move, there are jobs. Otherwise, it can be hard. When I moved back from TX to the midwest, I'd heard so much about the nursing shortage...what I found are RNs bumping into each other, very experienced LPNs being blown off (sadly- a LOT of them had a lot more knowledge than many RNs who were too good to get their hands dirty), and techs doing most of the workload.

Nurses are working longer (sometimes too long!!), and boomers are as well. There are some legit shortages out there.... and a bad economy everywhere. Nursing has been a business for a LONG time... it's just getting a lot more overt. And patients know that they are a part of a facility's bottom line ( I've been hospitalized too many times to count since being on disability).

Not sure what the answer is...except scoping out the country for better job opportunities. In TX (which I loved- just moved back here to help with a sick family member, then have had serious health issues myself, so can't move back), the cost of living is better, no state income tax, friendly people, and a lot to enjoy.... California is great- but if you can move, jobs are around :) Good Luck :)

[gatoraims RN]

I think it depends on the area. In Fl there seems to be a big need for RN's. I think of it as more of a roller coaster. Just a few years ago LPN's were sought after to fill in at hospitals now they are being forced to become a RN if they want to keep their job at the hospital. But older nurses who I have talked to said they have seen this trend before. In a few years there will be a shortage of nurses again (maybe when/if the economy gets better) and to fill in the gaps they will hire LPN's again.

I also think and maybe I am naive, that those who do get into nursing for the "wrong" reason. Will burn out fast and maybe move on fast.

[Katie82, RN]

There are two factors impacting the job market at present. First and foremost, the bad economy not only keeps older nurses from retiring, but brings a lot of stay-at-homers and part-timers into the workplace. I have seen this happen with every economic downturn since I have been in nursing. Secondly, it is becoming very expensive to hire new grads because of the scramble for larger hospitals to achieve "Magnet" status. While this trend is good overall, it has created a barrier to hiring new grads because of the "Fellowship" programs that must be offered to new grads. My daughter recently completed such a program and she was in orientation status for 6 months under the supervision of a preceptor. I have long said that hospitals should offer an internship program to new grads to ease the transition from school to work, but fact is these programs are expensive and labor-intensive to operate. It did take her 1+ years to get a job, and she was already working at the hospital, but when they only hire 4 new grads for a six month program, someone is going to have to find an easier way to get nurses into the workforce. This hospital currently has 72 openings for RNs, and been having to hire agency nurses to cover the floors, which is quite expensive. Seems to me someone at the NLN or ANA needs to get the big picture. In a perfect world, the Magnet program is great, but after 30 years in nursing, I have never seen a perfect world in the healthcare setting.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Texas is completely saturated in the major metropolitan areas.

[Rntr]

Personally, I have never bought the "nursing shortage" garbage. Nursing is a business just as hospitals and colleges are.

I believe the only reason many are having trouble finding jobs is the economy. If the "experienced" older nurses like me (graduated 1975) didn't go back to feed the family or would not still be working, there would be plenty of jobs out there.

Many many nurses are still in nursing because it's hard to make the change once in it. Pay and treatment of nurse's and the working conditions is the biggest part of why nurse's won't stay in it. Of course this is my thought's on it.

Florida will always need nurse's as the state believe's sunshine will pay for the electric which you need 10 out of 12 months. Also, the work conditions is really bad in much of the state. Florida is my home state and I have worked in many areas and have moved out and will not ever go back to live or work there.

[pale_pilsen]

In the near future, many students who went to nursing for the wrong reason will write on this site complaining about their debt and how nursing is not really what they think it is. I can truly say that the only way to find out if nursing is right for u is when u start working on the floor. This does not include student clinical ok. Helping people is nice, but when youre thrown in the pack of wolves by yourself, thats when u start thinking fight or flight.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

There is no shortage now. The economy has lead to a change in the face of nursing. Older nurses who fully planned on retiring can't because we lost our butts when the stock market tanked with our 401K's. Stay at home Mom's have returned to the workforce to supplement their family income or because their spouse has lost their job. BUt there is also a boon because every Tom, Dick and Harry out of work has flocked to nursing because 'It's a decent money and you'll always have a job" leaving a very tight job market.

I also believe nursing in cyclical and this too shall pass. Back in the 80's in the Silicon Valley boon...nursing took a hit. No one wanted to work shift work or deal with patients and we were paid NOTHING! at the time, they became computer programmers for all the DOT.com companies and made big bucks....until it crashed. Then they all flocked to nursing because "you'll always have a good paying job" which left a plethora of nurses. There were layoffs and nurses couldn't find jobs..........they eventually gave up and found other professions.......which again left us with a shortage.

With this bad economy I am not sure how long this will take but I believe it will return to the shortage status at the bedside. There are not to many people dedicated to shovling stuff at the bedside for little pay and very little glory especially with all the "Non bedside" opportunities availiable like APN. When the economy rebounds (hopefully sooner than later) those who flocked to nursing will leave for greener pastures nad let's face it........wiping bottoms at 3am isn't all that appealing.

Just my :twocents:

[netglow, ASN, RN]

i tend to disagree about things cycling back the other way to there being plentiful jobs even for new grads.

just way too many out there with licenses that were unable to find nursing jobs for the past two years, and more pumping out of every dark corner twice a year. these schools are gonna keep pushing and people are going to keep buying into the job availability myth for many many years to come. if suddenly people realize the "shortage" is a scam and enrollment slows, that won't cause any dip in the availability of nurses out there who can just refresh if they were forced to leave for other employment due to being unable to find work as new nurses. also the late 90's produced some pretty solid pipelines to the [color=#0000cc]philippines and many large networks like the cost savings of online ordering. they lobby congress to loosen the constraints that are in place at this time. people who hire nurses won't feel any kind of desperation for locating nurses ever again.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Employers are reluctant to hire at the moment to cut costs, but there is definitely a shortage and it's going to get worse. Most facilities are chronically understaffed. To illustrate, 3 nurses have recently retired at my workplace. We are screwed. Their positions have been posted for 2 months to be filled, and since it is rural....very difficult to recruit nurses.

That is a very small scale, 3 nurses of retirement age who vacated at the same time. More and more this will be the case. At some point, hopefully employers will wise up and hire the people it takes to effectively staff these units.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

See but that's just it. You are small and rural and there might be a temporary shortage at your one facility - or - not. Just depends on what really is behind it. Near me, everybody is big time corporate for profit, I mean FOR PROFIT!!! You will see ratios increase, and jobs posted, but, it's not because there is a shortage of experienced nurses, it's because they LIKE THEIR MONEY and so far the gamble they've been doing with patient safety doesn't seem to hurt them much. Posting a job doesn't mean it's meant to be filled. I run into excellent/experienced nurses all the time who tell me it's killer to get interviews... so, I do not think they are having trouble finding quality and experience. What I am hearing is that at some places they size a person up, and you are good to hire if:

1. you don't look like you have much going for you, eg. you will not leave, you don't appear to be capable of leaving.

2. somebody else oriented you for a few months (the quality of that does not matter).

Someone I know interviewed at a NH, and the DON told them, "Naw, you won't stay, I can tell that". No call back. I laughed when I was told this and said that they had done the baseball bat test. They swung the bat at your head, and you stepped back and put your hands up to protect yourself - that's how you messed up.

[Rntr]

Too funny and I agree totally! No such thing as a shortage....