"Nursing Shortage"

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I know that this topic has been discussed time and time again.... But WHY does the news media continue to insist there is a nursing shortage? One of my prerequisites is Public Health. In the book, half of a chapter is dedicated to the "nursing shortage" and how the job opportunities are plentiful. I really don't understand how everyone is so mislead. Please help me understand

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Not that I'm an expert, and I really don't have an answer for you, but someone mentioned to me the other day that there are some projections (mind you, these shortages are cyclical) that around 2017/2018, a wave of the "returned-to-work-when-the-economy-crashed" folks will be re-retiring. Not that this is in anyway the definitive answer to your questions, but I thought it was interesting so I'd share it.

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Specializes in ICU.

I don't put much stock in what so called experts say regarding the job market. If you have a good resume and good interview skills jobs should not be real difficult to find.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Not that I'm an expert, and I really don't have an answer for you, but someone mentioned to me the other day that there are some projections (mind you, these shortages are cyclical) that around 2017/2018, a wave of the "returned-to-work-when-the-economy-crashed" folks will be re-retiring.

I suspect many of these folks will be working until the day they die or become infirm. Many are financially supporting spouses who are long-term unemployed. Many are financially supporting adult children who failed to find paid employment after graduating high school or college.

Things are going to be bleak for some people beyond 2018.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Also ... remember that the material in textbooks is usually a couple of years old (at least). Textbook authors are basing their statements on articles that were printed a few years ago (based on research conducted a year or two before that). etc.

The job market is a dynamic thing: it is not static. Things change. There was an actual shortage a few years ago, and that made it into the literature. The studies from those times are still being quoted. And there is predicted to be an actual shortage in the future due to upcoming retirements and/or baby boomers cutting back their work hours.

Finally ... the media usually does a poor job of distinguishing among different types of nurses and different levels of nursing. For example, they confuse Home Health Aids with nurses. They don't distinguish between nurses with different levels of education and/or experience. They hear that hospitals are looking for experienced leaders -- and assume that jobs for new grads are plentiful. Stuff like that.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I agree with Ilg re: textbooks The entire process of writing and editing new books or new editions is time-consuming. I know that even the people who specialize in the nursing workforce specifically were taken aback several years ago to note that the total number of graduating nurses was unlike anything they had seen before.

Although I haven't seen any hard numbers on it, I've seen articles stating that nurses are delaying retirement for a number of reasons. At first they thought it was because they needed to beef up retirement funds depleted in the 2008 "meltdown", but that wave of retirements hasn't really panned out.

Last, what you see in the mainstream media is not the whole picture. Reporters still generally use the ANA or university-affiliated "experts" who have a financial interest in keeping the flow of new students and new graduates at full throttle. It is new graduates who are having the most difficulty.

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The odd thing about this textbook is that it was published this year. You would thing they would have up to date nursing statistics?

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Thanks everybody for the thoughtful answers :) definitely some new ideas I had not considered before!!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

They base numbers off of supposition and projected numbers and not actual facts. The media? They seldom, if ever, get anything right.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

PPs are all correct. One of the most interesting things about healthcare is that no one can really predict the future. Anyone remember lithotripsy? Everyone invested jillions of dollars in that "cutting edge" technology that was going to revolutionize common surgical procedures.... but no one anticipated the true impact of fiberoptics and minimally invasive high-tech such as robotic surgery. So - those massive litho systems are probably rusting away in parking lots all over the US... who knew??

There are just too many unknowns to accurately predict any aspect of health care delivery in the US. But I am always amused by those who attempt to do so.

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I also think it's hard to say that a shortage exists everywhere. The US is a big place. I think there may be shortages in some areas and not in others. Like in central Pennsylvania there is a moderate shortage. In places such as South California, based on what I read on here, it is nearly impossible to find an opening.

I do think its annoying when you have family blindly saying how there is "a massive shortage" When there really isn't.

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I do think its annoying when you have family blindly saying how there is "a massive shortage" When there really isn't.

And just wait until that family starts wondering what the heck is wrong with you when you tell them you can't find a job! Because, as we know, hospitals are DESPERATE to hire new grads...:sarcastic:

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