nursing shortage?

OC_An Khe · Dec 30, 2007

There is currently a shortage of RNs willing to work under poor working conditions and poor compensation you describe. Fast approaching is the retirement of the baby boomers increasing the need for RNs at the same time decreasing the supply of RNs as they retire. This is the shortage that lots of people fear as there isn't enough new RNs being trained to replace the retiring RNs.

So the supply demand ratio will continue to be in nursings favor. RNs can work anywhere and will gravitate to those areas that are more highly compensated. Areas where compensation is low have to realize that they are competing for RNs with the more highly compensated areas and need to make adjustments. Those that don't will face increasing difficulties and will find there very continuation as a viable entity threatened.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2007

If you look at trends over time salaries have indeed climbed for nurses. My salary has more than doubled the last 10 years.

There are plenty of licensed nurses that are inactive that could fill the vacancies but aren't willing to work in nursing, so there really isn't a shortage of nurses, just those who want to put up with it.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Dec 30, 2007

I agree with Tweety; there are more than enough nurses that hold licenses. But, they are not at the bedside. Many of them either leave the profession, or those that hold higher degrees decide to work in management, case coordinators, and other things besides the direct patient care because of the horrible conditions.

I graduated last year and immediately started working in a clinic with weekends and holidays off. While I may do agency work in med-surg occasionally to keep up the skills, I can honestly say that I will never work there full time, or permanently due to the horrible things that are covered up and not discovered.

Fiona59 · Dec 30, 2007

The shortage arises when nurses decide they will no longer work nights or weekends. My hospital is always looking for staff for those shifts.

Our float pool is a joke. Most of the floats signed up with the knowledge that they will be required to work x number of holidays and be available for x number of weekends in a set period.

Guess who works M-F, day shifts, yup, the floats. The parttimers who are supposed to get the pick of the "extra shifts" are being hounded to pick up the evenings, nights, and weekends.

As soon as I've locked in my pension, I'm going float.

llg, PhD, RN · Dec 30, 2007

As the previous posters have shown, it is much more complecated than a simple "Yes, there is a shortage" or "No, there is not a shortage."

The dynamics of our society and its implications for our nursing working conditions -- and our nursing workforce -- are complex, inconsistent across the country, and constantly changing. The best any individual can do is to "know thyself" and pursue a career path that gives them satisfying work and maintain enough personal flexibililty to adapt to the changing conditions.

On a broader scale, each community needs to assess and address the particulars of its own situation. For example, an area with a lower cost of living and lower wages overall may not be able to raise its nursing salaries significantly because it would price its services out of reach of the average citizen of that local community. Nurses will inevitably be tempted to live 25 miles away and commute another 25 miles away to work at a hospital in a wealthier (or more urban) facility with higher salaries. Such situations are difficult for a hospital to cope with because they can't survive financial if their salaries have to match the metropolitan area 50 miles away.

The example above is just one "simple" scenario that illustrates some of the problematic dynamics happening in many towns today. There are many other examples to choose from. There is no single, simple description or explanation of the issues -- and there is no single, simple solution that will work for every one of them.

RN007 · Dec 30, 2007

I agree with Tweety; there are more than enough nurses that hold licenses. But, they are not at the bedside. Many of them either leave the profession, or those that hold higher degrees decide to work in management, case coordinators, and other things besides the direct patient care because of the horrible conditions.
I graduated last year and immediately started working in a clinic with weekends and holidays off. While I may do agency work in med-surg occasionally to keep up the skills, I can honestly say that I will never work there full time, or permanently due to the horrible things that are covered up and not discovered.

Ditto here. I graduated in May and stayed where I worked as a student assistant, but when a new VP over nursing started making numbers even tighter, I left for an occupational health nurse job that is closer to my house, pays more and gives me weekends and holidays. I miss the hospital but not enough to sacrifice my sanity. I have several friends who are working toward that magical "one year of experience" and plan to start looking for other positions, too. I also know several seasoned nurses who are working away from the floor.

MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2007

Nurses (new grads) are making twice the money of the quoted hourly rate in Wyoming. I agree with the others...plenty of licensed nurses...not enough to put up with the hours, and working conditions.

Recently found out our "new" director of 6 months is already leaving and heading to another management position. I was told that he'd already "seen this and done that" with this type of position. Time to move on....too many problems in the department. I asked him what he expected, I stated "that if he thought the older nurses were getting negative and should suck it up, just wait until those in second careers and those young new grads started hitting the floors." I am already seeing (myself included) that they are not dealing with the status quo and are fighting back....who will be taking care of the patients if we all fight back? Management should start taking notice...it will be pretty scary very soon, especially in acute care areas. Who will have the experience to take care those patients?

Oh well, a subject for another thread perhaps?

Maisy;)

fins · Dec 31, 2007

There are several reasons why nursing doesn't follow a simple supply and demand curve.

First and foremost, most competition for nurses is fairly local. That is, most nurses aren't as willing to move a significant distance for a better job opportunity as a computer programmer (to pick one example). Nurses are overwhelmingly women, the majority are married, and their average age is in the mid-40's. So it isn't as easy for them to pick up their lives for the sake of a better job as it would be for a single 20-something C++ coder.

As a result, pay tends to jump in areas where there is a fair amount of competition, and stay stagnant where there isn't. To use the example of Pennsylvania (where I'm from), there are several major health systems in the Philadelphia area, as well as several smaller stand-alone hospitals. As a result, pay is fairly high in Philly. If I don't like working in the U Penn health system, I could go to Temple (or whatever). On the other hand, Pittsburgh is dominated by the UPMC health system, so wages are lower there. So Philly tends to look more like a pure supply and demand response. A few years ago, when the shortage was really bad in the Philly area, wages were jumping. Then all of the local nursing schools really ramped up their output - bigger classes, one year BS-RN progams, etc. And as the supply has increased, wage increases have slowed dramatically.

So a big part of the answer is that the US doesn't have a nursing shortage or not. Houston has a nursing shortage or not. Chicago has a nursing shortage or not. Boston has a shortage or not. Nursing doesn't respond to supply and demand, it responds to supply and demand within a given area.

nurseby07 · Dec 31, 2007

I agree with Tweety; there are more than enough nurses that hold licenses. But, they are not at the bedside. Many of them either leave the profession, or those that hold higher degrees decide to work in management, case coordinators, and other things besides the direct patient care because of the horrible conditions.
I graduated last year and immediately started working in a clinic with weekends and holidays off. While I may do agency work in med-surg occasionally to keep up the skills, I can honestly say that I will never work there full time, or permanently due to the horrible things that are covered up and not discovered.

What kind of horrible things have you seen covered up and not discovered? I am so curious!

ilmbg · Jan 1, 2008

Yes, in some towns the payis better than the $16 or so, but here, where I live, there are two towns. The hospitals will tell you that 'the beautiful country makes up for the lower wage'. I was one of those foolish suckers- now I know better, and will take a lesser 'beautiful view' and go back to the nursing where I did before- or possibly a different state. I asked, because here, nurses are in short supply- I just do not understand why hospitals think people can live on nothing. I literally took a 50% paycut. You get smarter as you get older!!

marie-francoise · Jan 1, 2008

Here is a related thread:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/there-no-real-nurse-shortage-268060.html

Also, managed care is another contributor to the nursing shortage; to save money, many hospitals actually maintain an internal "nursing shortage" by not hiring enough nursing staff, and this can lead to burnout of nursing staff with excessive patient loads.