Slowing Down of Hiring Nurses?

Col- I think colleges are having a hard time recruiting enough students for all their nursing programs. I am also from Western PA. and it seems there is quite a few BSN programs to choose from. It is a good idea to consider a BSN for many reasons but as far as not getting hired because you didn't have one-Please! Just concentrate on your program and don't worry about finding a job, the hospital recruitors will be heading your way soon enough. Good Luck-Lacey

Ditto what Lacey said. Focus on school. There will be many positions available to you when you graduate. The shortage will not be ending anytime soon.

Or will illnesses & surgeries be outlawed? There's a thought! Ooooh, another good one, our society will get into shape OVERNIGHT & naturally, admissions for treatment of disease will be nearly nil!

I sure don't believe that. You can all come to Wisconsin where there is sure to be a need for a long time to come.

I cannot believe that......many places are so willing to have a warm body to staff, the issue of degree type is SURELY not their concern...read all the threads about shortage here, print some select answers/posts and give em to that instructor. SHEESH what world is she in?????

Come to hospital. You get a $4000.00 hiring bonus, and I get $1000.00 for refering you. I really don't think you should worry about getting hired. Good luck in school.

Colleen10,

I am finishing my last of year of a Canadian diploma program (your ASN) and my wife is finishing her last term for her LPN and we have both been offered jobs in a hospital of our choosing.

Becareful, with advice you get from colleges or universities , they see the nursing profession through eyes that will most benefit thier interests which may or may not be in your best interests. In Ontario we now have direction from the college of nurses that by Jan. 2005 the basic entery to practice for an RN is a BSN.

When I went to talk to the above hospital they were happy to have a RN moving to the area and there was no mention of diploma/degree just WHEN CAN YOU START.

Mito

The situation in the Burg is a little different than the rest of the country. Because we have so many nursing schools the nurse shortage hit later and not as hard. However, that is not to say there is no shortage. There has been a policy in place to cut back on beds and that is going full throttle. Several hospitals have shut down, St Francis being the most recent. So in the Pittsburgh area about a thousand nurses are out there looking for jobs right now. Getting advice from a nursing educator about the future as far as jobs is not very reliable. Not that they out and out lie but their track record as far as perdicting the job market is very poor. The also have a tendency to color the information in a way that reflects their own values. So, in the next few years there may be a temporary tight job market for nurses in Western Pa. However, the rest of the country will continue to be very, very short of nurses. The shortage of the last two years in this area was caused more by out of town people enticing nurses away with large salaries and excellent benies than an actually lack of nurses. Sooo, if you are single and ready to move out of area you should have no problem when you graduate. However, things could be a little tight as far as jobs for nurses for a time over the next two or three years. This could merely result in swarms of recruiters decending on us from other places with fat bonus checks in hand.

Marketing is marketing, period! You can't believe everything people tell you when they have some money to gain from your swallowing it. Nursing schools are not different from other businesses, nor are ANY employers--a good thing to remember when you expect that they will "take care of" you in some way. "They ain't yo mamma."

Mine pulled an old trick used frequently by car salespeople. When I had 2 semesters to go, I was called in to financial aid and told that one of the school loan programs for which I had been approved long before had "fallen through," and that I would have to immediately come up with several thousand dollars or would be dropped. (This, after already spending several thousands of dollars on the program.) Since this was a fast track BSN program, this would have meant losing at least a year's time, etc.

I informed the young man that: 1) I had enrolled at this school after having been assured that their office would be able to arrange all scholarships, loans, and other financing necessary for me to complete it, 2) verbal financial agreements (which this one had been) are legally enforceable in California, 3) I was not short of the money, THEY were, and it was not my problem, 4) I would not hesitate to sue them for breach of (verbal) contract if there were any more problems about it.

A couple of days later the school offered to make me a direct loan of the necessary money, interest free, an offer I accepted (the original loan would have been at 6%). The other students fell for the maneuver, however, despite my explaining to them what was going on, (they didn't want to "make waves") and begged/borrowed/whatever the unexpectedly requested funds from family and friends to pay the school.

GET IT IN WRITING.