nursing shortage?

[RN1980]

my girlfriend said she read a article in yesterdays clarion ledger that claims there is a nursing shortage in mississippi? did anyone else hear or read this nonsence....

[RN77]

I can't speak to the article, since I didn't see it; however, for the past several years, there has been a NATIONAL nursing shortage. This is due to three things, that I know of; and probably several others. The first thing is that nursing instructors are aging, with an average age of something like 55. Think about it, that means that many are older than that.....approaching or past retirement age. Because of this, enrollment has had to be reduced, because they just don't have the instructors to teach the courses. Secondly, more women are going into higher-paying jobs that had been rather "closed" to them in the past.....science and engineering come to mind. Thirdly, nursing pay, compared to other occupations with similar educational preparation, has been pitifully low. Nursing used to be seen as a great field to "dabble" in....you could work part-time, off shifts, etc. to work around children's schedules, husband's work schedule, etc. It's only been more recently that more people are working more full-time, going higher in an organization, etc. Pay has not caught up, that I'm aware of. Part of the problem has been the on-going question as to whether to pay ADN-RN at the same level as BSN-RN. That's a huge debate, with strong arguments on both sides.

With that said, I've heard that new grads are having a hard time getting jobs. I don't quite understand the cause of that. One could say that hospitals don't have enough staff to begin with, let alone enough to act as preceptors or orientation guides. My answer to that is, if not now, when?

Another aspect of all this is the age-old problem of nurses "eating their young". I've heard preceptors call nursing students, "nursing stupids". Many say that they'd rather have bedpan duty than to have a new nurse following them around for orientation. That's reprehensible!! They need to stop and remember that they were there once, too.

I better stop for now.....this is a topic that raises my feathers.....to say the least.

[BULLYDAWGRN, RN]

i dont beleive ther is a national nursing shortage, at least within the last 3 yrs. ther are adequate numbers to feel vancantcies. as far as mississippi, no there is no shortage esp. since there is around 800 new grads every yr comming to the field, for a state our size that is a gigantic amount. the article is full of stool.

[Bornleader-NP-C]

yes, i read this article and i was surprised i must say, i just hope there will be a shortage in the near future, lol, but the article was detailed and interviewed students from various schools around the state, it even mentioned that there will be a shortage of nursing professors in the future as well. students are passing boards but for some reason there is still a shortage of nurses, maybe they are leaving the state to reside elsewhere but yea i read this article and found it quite interesting

:yeah::yeah:"Class of 2010":yeah::yeah:

[pabfnp]

I don't see how there is a nursing shortage in MS, at least South MS, since I know several Dec RN grads have not found jobs. Some are working places like Smoothie King....

[Bornleader-NP-C]

yea but thats just what the article says, who really knows, lol

[RN1980]

article is fool of stool, there is no shortage in mississippi, esp. since schools are puttin out around 500 new grads every yr.

[Bornleader-NP-C]

that maybe true but i didnt write it, only read it and added my input on it

[ctmed]

"Nursing Shortage", like the famous "IT/ computer shortage", etc. is propaganda put out by academia and corporations looking for tuition money and a large labor pool to drive down labor costs.

Always look at where these articles come from :)

I forget when it was posted or who posted it on allnurses but it said something like this:

"There is no shortage of nurses except a shortage of nurses willing to do bedside care for low pay and large patient loads."

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I forget when it was posted or who posted it on allnurses but it said something like this:

"There is no shortage of nurses except a shortage of nurses willing to do bedside care for low pay and large patient loads."

And now there's no shortage of new grads willing to do even that to get experience... but hospitals in their wisdom have decided that hiring new grads isn't worth their bother. They think in 10 years from now there will be another bumper crop of new grads to choose from....