Shortage of Nurses

203bravo, MSN, APRN · May 13, 2013

To be sure there are only shortage of nurses in certain areas of the country - some have over abundance of nurses. That being said, the reason for the high admission requirements is that there is more a shortage of nursing educators... nursing schools can only admit a limited number of students based on how many qualified instructors they have and how many students they can place in clinical settings --- their goal is to admit those students that they feel have the highest chance of passing the program and actually start work in the nursing field.

Determined1992 · May 13, 2013

Thanks for your response. Are there no other options out there for someone who does not have perfect grades? Are there schools that do not only consider grades? One can have excellent test taking skills but no people skills or the compassion that it takes to be a great nurse.

203bravo, MSN, APRN · May 13, 2013

I agree with you and there are tons of options around the country for students that don't have a 4.0 --- it all depends on you and what you are able and willing to do... for instance someone recently posted that there is a school in New Mexico that is actively recruiting and has no wait list as well as the private colleges that admit anyone who is qualified - but have to consider the cost with them,,, really going to spend almost 100k in some areas to get an ADN?

csmcj, BSN, RN · May 13, 2013

There are options out there for those with less than perfect GPA, it just requires some searching. For example, I made some academic mistakes early on, so that when I applied to nursing schools my GPA was right at 3.0. I applied to 3 schools, 2 of which were solely numbers schools that rejected me. The other was a school that looked at applicants holistically, placing heavy emphasis on personal statements as well as interviews with candidates. That last school accepted me, and now I'm into my second semester with a 4.0, proving that I'm capable of doing well despite the mistakes I made in the past.

benegesserit · May 13, 2013

There are many reasons for this. As the previous poster said, lack of instructors is a major problem. Because of the clinical component, nursing programs have one instructor for about every 10 students, and you can't go much higher than that without seriously compromising on education and safety. Teaching doesn't tend to pay as well as floor nursing, so there tends to be little financial incentive for nurses to become instructors. Also, hospital space for clinicals is limited, so new programs can't just open up.

However, a bigger part of it is that the "nursing shortage" is largely theoretical, and doesn't represent reality. Yes, we need more nurses. That doesn't mean that anyone is actually hiring them. In many areas, it can be hard for nurses to find jobs, especially those who lack experience, and nursing schools are churning out way more new nurses than there are appropriate job openings. The economy also means there is less money for running nursing programs, especially publically-funded low-cost programs.

Thanks for your response. Are there no other options out there for someone who does not have perfect grades? Are there schools that do not only consider grades? One can have excellent test taking skills but no people skills or the compassion that it takes to be a great nurse.

This totally depends on what programs you're applying to. Each program has different selection criteria.

In most cases, you can re-take classes to get a better grade or raise your overall GPA. Some programs give extra points for people with significant work or volunteer experience in healthcare, or for factors such as foreign language skill. Some programs admit via lottery or waitlist as long as you meet the minimum admission standards. Some only consider or prioritize the nursing prerequisite GPA, or courses more recent than a certain number of years, so if you have a bad past history but a good prereq/recent GPA, you'd still be competitive. Some have an essay component in the application, in which you might be able to give them better context for your grades.

Look at different schools. If it's truly something you want, look at other parts of the country where programs are less competitive. Go the LVN route and then bridge to RN later.

Also, I hate to say it, but, in nursing, intelligence and ability to apply it matter at least as much as compassion and people skills. I'm not saying those don't matter. I'm not saying that test-taking skills (or lack thereof) and the ability to do well in an academic environment translate directly to real-world ability. But grades and test scores are the only quantifiable way schools have of sorting out those who are not going to make it in the program, and avoid wasting everyone's time.

For what it's worth, I made it into a highly selective school despite a poor first run at college a decade prior and a B in Anatomy, I think based largely on my essay and volunteer experience. So it is possible. You just have to find the right school.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · May 13, 2013

There is no nursing shortage. Doesn't stop the media from repeatedly telling this tale, though. Which, in turn, sends more and more applicants to schools, hoping to get accepted. Since college graduates in every profession are having difficulty finding jobs (and more and more people get laid off from existing jobs as companies down-size), it stands to reason that nursing looks like a good bet---after all, who hasn't heard there's a "nursing shortage"?

So schools get flooded with people who want to change careers, or get one in the first place.

If there was a true need for graduate nurses, such that colleges would be willing to pay for nurse educators (academia, clinicals), they would do just that in an effort to get higher enrollment. But since there isn't, they don't, and....you don't get a spot in the program. This, of course, doesn't even discuss the limitation of appropriate clinical settings for students to attend.

Hospitals help to continue the myth of the nursing shortage by spreading it around that "if only we had more nurses, we'd be better able to serve our community, woe is us". Yet they can sit with a mountain of applications on the HR desks, understaffing on the floors, and continue that way indefinitely. Years, decades......

rubato, ASN, RN · May 13, 2013

Yep, there's no nursing shortage. Not where I live. And, yes, the schools are that competitive. I had a 4.0 and made it into my community college. My friend with a 3.57 never had a chance. She is now in a private university, paying 10 times what I am, but she is still getting an education. Private schools tend to be a little less picky about that silly GPA number, but make sure it's a reputable school that has accreditation.

adc85 · May 16, 2013

There's a shortage in my area. I recently looked at nurse job postings at 2 hospitals in my area. One had 126 postings, the other had 155. Those are big hospitals and there are several more big hospitals around my area too. I also looked up postings on monster.com and there were pages and pages of listings for nurses ranging in lots of different employment settings. I hope the situation is the same once I finish my program! I guess the shortage or non- shortage differs across the country.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · May 16, 2013

Just because jobs are listed it doesn't mean there is any intention to fill them. Some postings are intended for internal candidates. Others are posted but not in the budget to fill. It happens all the time. Don't determine the shortage of nurses based solely on the number of job postings. Speak with working nurses in the area to get a better picture of reality

adc85 · May 16, 2013

Yes I am sure that is partly the case with those job listings, however I worked in an environmental lab as a lab analyst in charge of the microbiology lab as well as running chemical analyses on multiple matrices. I worked there for 4 years after I graduated college. I was laid off 2 months ago due to a big decline in work coming in because of government budget cuts. As of a few days ago, there were a total of 4 job postings for lab analysts in my area. Fortunately I was accepted into a nursing program. Job shortages are everywhere in every field, not just nursing. But ( in my area at least) I prefer the higher chances of finding a job as a nurse compared to finding a job in my current field.

#scrubs · May 16, 2013

i don't know where you live but the LVN nursing program at Lone Star college system in texas is actually opposite of what 203bravo said. There are not enough students applying. Then once you get that it would be easier to get accepted in a transition program. That's what a friend of mine is doing from the start.