So Many Students! Will Shortage Now End?

Nursing Students General Students

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I've been reading posts on here and I just can't help to notice how many nursing students there are out there, some on the verge of graduation, others just now starting their programs and others like me who are lurking on here and beginning their prerequisites. If all goes well and as planned, I should be finished with my accelerated BSN by the beginning of the summer in 2011. Cannot help to wonder if I will be graduating into a market that's overrun with nurses and have trouble getting work. Let alone the concern on here that new grads are having a hard time getting hired ...

One small reason I am leaving the legal profession, there are just too many lawyers out there! :down: In hindsight, I should have steadfastly followed my childhood dream of entering the medical profession, but better late than never!

Specializes in being a Credible Source.
I mean, who could have predicted the current conditions of the economy???
Anybody who's been paying attention over the last 6 years.
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Specializes in Community Health.

Regardless of the economy, people will always be getting born, getting sick, and dying. Actually, all three will probably increase in the downturn...right now, a lot of people aren't seeking medical attention because they can't afford it. Unfortunately we probably won't know who they are until they come into the hospital critically ill, and they will need nurses to take care of them. I predict a minor explosion of these kinds of patients in the near future...plus, we can't forget the aging baby boomers. No matter how bad the economy gets, I can't picture people leaving their grandmothers on the streets to die...they will need nurses.

I agree with PP's, the people who are in it for the money and the "job security" are going to get a slap in the face when they realize they aren't going to get a big fat hiring bonus or employers knocking at their door just because they have a piece of paper that says they are a nurse. There are a lot of students in my class who have this type of delusion, and these are usually the type that seem to have no thirst for knowledge, no compassion and are content to just squeak by with the lowest grade possible and phone in their clinicals. The entitlement mentality is something that seems to permeate our entire culture, not just nursing. My cousin just graduated with a BA in philosophy and whines all the time about how he can't get a job...lol

I'm a new nursing student and I'm scared as heck about the future, especially being the sole provider for my daughter, but all I can do is take every opportunity I have in my education to learn and to develop professionally, and if I have to take a bottom of the barrel job to start off I will do so and be grateful for the chance to prove myself. I am cautiously optimistic that my dedication and natural ability will set me apart and get me where I need to be...because I really have no other choice. What are the student nurses of the world supposed to do, throw our hands up and quit because of an article posted on Fox News? I think not :rolleyes:

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Specializes in ER/Trauma, Home Care, Corrections.

There is no way that there will be a glut of nurses by 2011. At least not nationwide, but there are some areas of the country where the supply more nearly meets demand. This recession reminds me of the economic conditions during the Carter years, when I graduated from Nursing School (BSN '79 Indiana State Univ.) People are losing employer linked insurance and delaying procedures. This has caused some spot layoffs, primarily in surgical centers, but also some hospitals.

If it is true that the average RN is 49 years old, and 70% of all RNs now working plan to retire over the next 15 years, it is unlikely that the shortage will outlast the recession. I was able to find a job "back in the day" and eventually moved to a more hospitable geographic area, Florida where jobs were more plentiful. You should be able to find a job, especially if you are willing to relocate to areas where the shortage is more acute.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

It also depends on what part of the country you live in. Here in Pittsburgh, there are numerous nursing schools and hospitals, but there is one reigning medical facility - UPMC - that has the market cornered. Quite a few of their hospitals are having hiring freezes right now. The economy also has put otherwise "retired" nurses back to work to support their families, therefore, the experienced nurses are getting the jobs over the GNs. I've already come to the conclusion that I will not be so choosey when I graduate in May - I'll take that job on the Med Surg unit that nobody else wants just to have a job and get the experience. This won't last forever and when it gets better, I'll be that experienced nurse that will qualify for that job that I really want.

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Specializes in ICU, MS, Radiology, Long term care.

IMO, the nursing shortage will not end until the culture of health care changes. I was recently told by a human resources person that they could hire two graduate nurses for the same price of one with twenty years experience. Their criteria for hiring nurses was prioritized to having personnel with licenses, not particularly those with high skill levels. The hiring of nurses seems to be dictated by the health care industry which is motivated by higher profit margins and providing returns for shareholders. The quality of nursing care, not just nurses, will deteriorate unless there is a culture change to hire quality care providers instead of a person with a license.

Everyone should read 'Nursing Against the Odds' by Suzanne Gordon. I have been in nursing over thirty years and live in a state (Missouri) that can fire you for any reason they want. As long as nurses themselves have no voice in their practice, they will continue to be pawns in an industry that must have them to operate. The same has happened to the auto industry - not enough priority on quality and too much emphasis on profit. They seem to only look at the quarterly outlook, not long term.

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I have read (I believe it was the US Dept of Labor & Statistics ) that it is predicted the shortage to last up until 2016.

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There will always be a need for nurses! Most people are looking for jobs in cities ~ if you look towards the smaller towns you will see that they ALWAYS have openings for nurses!

You have to be realistic though. Don't expect to get the job you want after graduation...just like in any other field - us newbies are going to have to climb the nursing ladder and be low man on the totem pole for awhile.

By 2011 or 2012 the NSNA is predicting that the Nursing shortage will reach unheard of numbers ~ so even with a bad economy, Nurses are still going to be in HIGH DEMAND.

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Specializes in LTC.

One of my previous nursing classmates were concerned about there not being enough patients... we explained that there will always be patients. HE was mainly concerned about the 2010 health promotion and everyone getting healthy.

Anyway, I think us students will be ok.

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Specializes in Neuro.

I have to say that there is alot of passive aggressiveness in this post.

No wonder people think "nurses eat their young".

We can't be fighting all the time about the difference between seasoned nurses and graduate nurses.

It's about the person, not the level of experience. :twocents:

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I have to say that there is alot of passive aggressiveness in this post.

No wonder people think "nurses eat their young".

We can't be fighting all the time about the difference between seasoned nurses and graduate nurses.

It's about the person, not the level of experience. :twocents:

Clapping right now with you, ErinJane.:yeah:

I kind of agree with both sides of the coin here-but I fully agree with you on this: slinging garbage at each other (ie new nurse vs experienced nurse) is a waste, as well as really disheartening.

I graduated May of 08, and didnt look for a job till after I took and passed my NCLEX in Oct (I let myself get scared and I postponed it 1X...dumb move). I'm currently working in a LT/residential facility for complex peds patients-it took me a looong time to find this job, I had send out MANY MANY applications with no calls at ALL. I had my heart set on one of two things: #1 working in Peds. I love Peds. Love it. Did I say how much I love it?;) #2 If I couldn't have Peds (most hospitals in my area, SE Pennsylvania, don't have Peds floors), then I wanted to work in a specific hospital. I did lots of clinicals there is school, and the staff were AWESOME-the nurses there were welcoming to students, and you could see that they worked really well together. Teamwork. No, um, garbage slinging for the most part.

Well I had an interview there last week, after being REALLY REALLY persistent, and-I start in 2 weeks! I have to say-most, if not all, of my luck in getting that interview is b/c a great friend and fellow RN (we went to the same school) knew they had an opening and went out of her way to recommend me to the hiring Manager.

If I could have done it over again...while I was in school, I focused a lot on academics and being a good student nurse. In hindsight, I would spent more time making connections and networking with people ahead of time, and I wouldn't have waited till I took the NCLEX to start applying.

I would definitely not drop out or not go in to nursing school because of the current situation. But I dont think anyone should go into it for purely financial reasons-and so, in a way, the current situation may actually be a good one. Those who were going to go in because they thought it'd be a good paycheck might not go in to nursing school now.

I can't speak for the rest of the country (just SE PA!;)) but it is ROUGH around here as a new nurse. I've spoken to more than one nurse recruiter at the area hospitals and they have told me POINT BLANK that they are not hiring, and it is not due to the fact that they do not need more nurses...but they are not getting the OK from Budget to hire any, which is due to the economy.

It will turn around; I guess it's just when that is the big question.

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PS....in re-reading my post, I need to clarify something-I would not have TRADED the time I spent on academics and on trying to be a good student nurse for making connections...but I would have definitely spent a bit of extra time in doing so. Get the names of the charge nurses and the ppl in HR at the places that you like when you do your clinicals. Make yourself stand out by writing a short letter to these people when your clinical time ends, telling them how much you liked it there and why. This will make them REMEMBER YOU. Keep in touch with your peers that you respect and get along with; avoid the peers that always complain and you don't really respect.

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I am a little worried about finding a job out of nursing school. I am a CNA and I very recently worked in a hospital and was let go along with 125 other CNA's and Nurse Tech's, Graduate Nurses, and first year RN's and a few longtime RN's due to downsizing because of the economic situation of the hospital. It is happening in all of the area hospitals here in Kansas City area. Which makes me question wether or not there really is a nursing shortage....

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