where are the nursing shortages?

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I am hearing that there are shortages in some areas while some are cutting back jobs.

Can anyone tell me for sure where thet know there are nursing shortages in the U.S or Canada.

Thanks

I agree...I am currently in Hawaii and if you look on hospital websites there are tons of positions listed but when people apply it seems there are hardly any positions and if there are they are per diem....hmmm :rolleyes:

Glad to see there are some sharp nurses out there. Hospitals have to post vacancies to make it appear that they are doing something about "the shortage". The reality is that they never plan to fill those vacancies. It's cheaper not to. Of course the "nursing shortage" in this country is a farce. There is not a nursing shortage. There IS a shortage of nurses willing to put up with all kinds of horrible things in exchange for lousy salaries, abuse from doctors/patients/employers and even each other. Take a look at the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners web site. They have stats (a few years old) from people who answered questions when they renewed their licenses on whether or not they were working in nursing or not. For my county alone, 18 % of the nurses who actually answered the questions reported that they were not employed in the nursing field. And those were just the RN numbers, that did not include any LVNs. Why do you think it is popular for employers to import nurses from places like the Philipines? In other countrys, women are taught to put up and shut up. Foreign nurses are often given lower wages than US nurses, work terrible shifts, and have the constant threat of being deported hanging over their heads. So of course they are going to be obedient little nurses and do what they are told. Having seen the way some imported nurses have been treated - I don't know many American nurses that would put up with it. But then they don't which just perpetuates the fallacy of a nursing shortage. Until nurses stick together as a whole, there will always be "shortages", disrespect, lousy wages, and even violence against us.

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I'm from the Ohio Valley in WV and see 36 postings right now on my hospital's web site for RNs or LPNs in various departments. I'm on a large med-surg floor and in the last year we have had 7 travelers. There are 10 postings for RNs right now for my floor alone. We work RNs and LPNs. There is definately a shortage here. On most days you see a float nurse assigned or someone pulled from another unit to our floor. Our administration tells us they don't get the applicants. Truth?? Probably because recently a few LPNs who became RNs didn't stay due to higher wages, benefits, etc. offered at other area hospitals. Why would they. I also precept local nursing students and every year they leave for other areas, they don't stay around here. There was discussions recently to bring nurses from other countries. Don't know if that's yet to be seen.

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Whether a shortage exists is not really the issue - as JRRN aptly points out, many nurses choose NOT to work in nursing.

Physical and verbal assaults from patients, families and Physicians are totally unacceptable, yet every hospital in this country will always support the patient, family member or physician.

To most administrators, nurses are always wrong and are truly expendable.

Where but in a hospital can a college educated person be expected to work any time, any area at the employer's whim, for less than $ 52,000.00 a year?

Nurses need to stand together. :o

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I am hearing that there are shortages in some areas while some are cutting back jobs.

Can anyone tell me for sure where thet know there are nursing shortages in the U.S or Canada.

Thanks

Central Arkansas, the shortage is here. I am an LPN and can find a job anyday working the hours I want. I left a job recently offering weekend option, I worked 12's Fri and Sunday night and was paid for 36hrs a week, I'm now working M-F, 8hrs a day, could've worked 12's, weekend 16's, mixed, whatever I wanted. I have great bene's, 11 paid holidays, 13 vac days to start, 13 sick days, good insurance, good retirement, and all the overtime I could want. If this bores me I could find a new job today. Interviews here are pretty much, "do you have a license", if you answer yes, 2nd question, "when can you start?" I work tele floor, and med surg but the opportunities are unlimited, and RN's are even more in demand. There is a big turnover in all the hospitals here because its so easy to change jobs for any little reason. The only reason a nurse doesn't work as a nurse here is that she/he chooses not to.

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How about Nursing Instructor Shortage, Most Universities and colleges are looking for good instructors in Arizona. Move on over California, the word is you're falling off into the ocean any way.

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New York has a terrible nursing shortage both hospitals and nursing homes

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I am hearing that there are shortages in some areas while some are cutting back jobs.

Can anyone tell me for sure where thet know there are nursing shortages in the U.S or Canada.

Thanks

We are in West Texas and we are experiencing difficulties in finding RNs.

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Then it's time for them to get out of Minnesota. I lasted a year there and between the lack of opportunities and horrible weather, I packed up and took my skills elsewhere.

The whole time I was there I heard people constantly complaining about the job market, weather, etc. BUT they just won't leave!! They stay forever!!

Why? "Oh I need to be close to my family......I was born here.....my kids in a great school here...."

I'm sorry but I'd need better reasons than that to live somewhere where I was "forced" to work in an LPN position after I worked my tail off to get my RN.

I'm not going to stay somewhere just so I can watch my parents grow old while I severely limit both my income and opportunities.

Maybe MN wouldn't be able to be so cocky if nurses started leaving for better opportunity to be had in other states....but they just won't leave. What is wrong with them?

Well they have family committments more than likely, are afraid to leave, etc. Lots of reasons people don't want to leave their 'home'.

I agree with you by the way...I left Mn as well but not due to MY inability to find work, it was my hubby's. One has to go where the work is.

My comment was not intended along these lines however...it was to challenge the opinion that there necessarily was a SHORTAGE (ie lots of ATTAINABLE RN JOBS) in Minnesota or many places for that matter.

From what I have observed over the years, huge ads in papers don't necessarily mean the positions are there, or HR really means to fill them if they are. Hospitals LIKE understaffing us...they make their $$$ this way.

I suspect all the ads and 'nursing shortage' cries are to benefit the healthcare industry, justify use of UAP's, short staffing, recruitment of foreign bodies, and that they place ads to show they are trying. Yes they 'might' hire that 'perfect nurse' if that nurse meets all their requirements. Its really about power play and control, IMHO.

As we get older we look at things differently. I have so many times heard from my bosses 'we need more nurses tonite but I can't get one...you'll have to make do' only to find oncall nurses NOT called, applications from friends 'lost' in HR, or the dreaded whisper from my manager 'she has a hit on Group One, HR won't let me hire her'.

Hospitals in my parts always have SOME excuse or other why we're working shorthanded...its either bad nurses, no nurses...but its NEVER the facility is it? Its always somebody elses' fault we're working short...again.

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JRRN...I just now read your post and you are right on target...in fact my post echos your observations...sorry for the reproduction. :)

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...Oklahoma

What part of Oklahoma? How do the wages in Oklahoma compare to other states?

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It's not the wages in Oklahoma you need to be concerned with, it's the senseless witch hunt currently in progress there, don't risk your career there. 's with wolves

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Here in montreal in my institution availability was cut and getting full time positions is not easy to start off with, on top of that positions werecut on my unit and beds technically closed for surgerywhile some beds opened in medicine with actually less staff. The shortage is real, but not always as a result of not having enough nurses but not offering full time posts or enough posts period.

WE are working short for the budjet but have people willing and eager to come in. Explain that one :Melody:

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