Nursing Shortage: Yea or Nay?

[BabyRN2Be]

Yes, yes, I know. Another thread about the tired discussion of said topic. We all know that the bottom feel out of the nursing bucket roughly 2008 when Bad Things were happening to the US economy. It just seemed as if there was not a job to be had for new grads and some of the most loyal nurses were cut from the institutions they had labored at for 30 years.

Well, at a pool get-together today, a woman just about back-handed me today when I said there was NOT a nursing shortage. She said her son was about ready to graduate from nursing school and he could go anywhere he wanted, claim his area of field, and he'd be taking in the $$$.

I tried to correct her gently that the scenario may have been true about 10 years ago, but that in metropolitan areas, the job market for nursing loss a lot like the central US in places: bogged down and flooded.

This woman talked over me and the others in the group who wouldn't know what the NCLEX was if it came out and bit them, whole-heartedly agreed with the woman, laughing at such a notion that there ever has or ever will be a nursing shortage.

So, let me hear it from you all. Have things changed recently? Has the shortage gone the way of the dodo? If LOVE to hear it as this is one of the reasons why I didn't continue after my baby was born. I didn't want to take out loans if there were no jobs.

What's up everyone? The good, bad, and the ugly.

[Newbie_RN17]

Overall there's no shortage but in some areas like rural eastern ky there is. You have to be willing to go to where the jobs are and/or be willing to look outside your desired specialty to start in most job markets.

[Libby1987]

Well. we'd always entertain an experienced applicant with great references..

But the new grads tend to have to look to LTC for their first jobs.

[vanilla bean]

Availability and variety of jobs available varies by geographic location. Where I live, it's rough for experienced nurses to find positions and near-impossible for new grads to secure their first nursing job. Many new grads have to take CNA or ward clerk positions and wait for sometimes as long as a year or more before they're able to begin an RN job. There are sporifice jobs to be had in doctor's offices, home health, hospice; even the long-term care facility jobs are hard to come by. Many new grads in my area move elsewhere to land their first hospital-based job.

[xxdiscoxxheaven]

I know there are plenty of nursing homes who need RNS in my area. Hospitals? No but I was lucky enough to have offers in two different hospitals in OB.

[MunoRN, RN]

Based on the number of nurses needed to adequately care for patients there is clearly still a significant shortage. The nursing job vacancy rate is lower however (employers chose not to actually employ the number of nurses we need).

Even though the job vacancy rate is low compared to what it was in past, nursing graduates still enjoy a likelihood of finding a job in their field that is well, well beyond what what other graduates can expect.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

A nursing school's graduate's MOTHER was there? Fighting battles for dear son?!

Nursing shortage is the least otpf that guy's issues.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Nursing shortages are cyclical .I don't have a crystal ball..but..when the crusty old bats finally retire... a new shortage will begin.

[ERGirl83]

Not around here there's not. Especially when you're talking acute and critical care. But I keep seeing a banner offering 5 figure sign on bonuses in Fla, so maybe some areas are in fact short enough to be offering incentives. Of course, these are offers for experienced nurses, not new graduate nurses.

Here, once you have a year of acute care, hospital based experience, you are marketable and able to be mobile. But breaking into that world can be tough.

[mvm2]

Well either this women's son will get lucky and get that job right after college or he won't.

Its hard really to talk about this because for every new nurse looking for that first job it is a unique road. Some will get a job lined up before they take their NCLEX, while there are others that can go a whole year looking for that job.

I don't even say anything to anyone about if they will have a hard time getting a job or not. Some people have found jobs imediately after school do why even put a damper on them or cause anxiety to them if they find a job right away. If I do run into someone that is struggling I then at that time can sympathize with them and reassure them that they are not alone in their fight to finding a job

[chicookie, BSN, RN]

Not Northeast Florida. I know many grads that look for a long time. Not impossible but not easy either.

[singwithme123]

I would say that certain parts of the country definitely do have a shortage of EXPERIENCED nurses. I worked for several years as a nurse recruiter for a large health system in TN, and we were overrun with new grad applicants, but our managers would have killed for an experienced, motivated candidate. I no longer work for that company, but I just looked at their web site and there are still many full-time positions posted for experienced RNs.

I truly do hate it for the new nurses graduating these days, as I believe that they have always been told that if they become an RN they will always be able to find a good paying job. 10-12 years ago new grads were certainly able to call the shots - What facility they wanted to work for, what clinical area, what shift.. Hospitals in this area fought over them! But things are vastly different now.