My daughter is in the process of applying for a BSN program (the competitiveness of these programs could be the subject of another post). Even though she has a 3.8 her first semester and a 4.0 in science so far, the supplementary criteria and assumption of B's for classes in progress make this Fall not so sure of a thing. The nursing information session was attended by very few college age kids. Many attendees appeared to be on second careers with possibly previous Bachelors Degrees in other majors. It seems like the supplementary criteria could work in their favor. It is anticipated that less than 10% of the applicants will be admitted into the program.
Anyway, the difficulty of just getting into the program has caused me to do a little checking on the career. I was amazed to find that there is an abundance of nurses right now. Most people that you talk to think that there is still a nursing shortage. I've seen a few articles stating that foreign nurses are at least somewhat responsible for the nursing glut. And I've seen a few articles talk about how retired nurses are returning to the field leaving few opportunities for new grads. I've also read, though, there is still a projected nursing shortage in the not so distant future.
I'm posting to get some insight from all walks of this field. Potential nursing students, nearing grads, recent grads, current nurses, Human Resources Specialists, Hospital Administrators, and anyone else that I left out that might have some insight into the current and future nursing job market.
I do have some special questions, though, for the HR's and administrators out there: If the future does have a likely shortage, why wouldn't you make long term hiring decisions? To hire a retiree back into the system only gets you a few years worth of work. At the same time, you have several unemployed graduating classes that will likely lose their skills. The expense to educate these classes was not only incurred by the student and possibly the government, but from what I understand, from many hospitals. The program that my daughter is applying to used to have twice as many seats available due to local hospital grants. I bring that up just to show that hospitals have invested in these new grads. Why would they let not just the long term capacity of nursing go by the wayside, but why would they let their direct investments get exchanged for the short term work that a retiree can provide? And, I would imagine that an experienced nurse returning to your hospital commands a much higher wage than a new grad. There may be more training involved, but it would seem that it would be more than worth it in the long (and maybe even the short run). I guess my questions are: is there truth to the notion that retirees are displacing new grads? What about foreign nurses? If so, what is the logic behind it?
