There Are Places Where the Nursing Shortage Is Still Real... Let's List Some to Help!

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I thought it would be good to start a thread in which people who know about areas where there is still a nursing shortage (or, at least, good nursing opportunities) could share this info with job hunters.

I live in Oklahoma, and I can tell you that many (if not most) rural areas here have very real nursing shortages - and even in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, both LPNs and RNs (ADN/BSN) seem to readily get jobs.

Because of the legacy of oil money here, many of our rural hospitals are also quite lovely and quite nicely equipped, thanks to bequests, etc.

So, I'll start:

There are still plenty of jobs in Oklahoma (metro, and especially rural).

"Shortage" implies signing bonuses, paid recruiting trips, warm-body-with-a-license syndrome, tuition and loan repayment, and a ready willingness to train in specialty units.

I'd be surprised to hear of that.

Cruises . . weekend get-aways . . . it was in-sane for a while there. I was going to look for a copy of a classified section from the early 80s to show what a real shortage looks like but I honestly feel it would make people who are already feeling bad feel even worse.

Oh, don't worry: My cousin let me know how it was. She graduated in 2004-2005. Interviews then were general, meaning, they asked you during the interview what department you wanted to work in. You literally had your pick of the litter on the spot. I also remember her telling me about how she was given so much money as a sign-on bonus that she paid off her student loans in one day. Mind you, she went to a public university that was a two-minute drive away while living with her parents. However, she also states that the orientation program back then for new graduates was on the fly, disorganized, and offered little to no support. My mom who used to do nursing interviews said (in 2003), "You could come in jeans and flip-flops and you'd be signing work papers by the end of the day."

I also remember around 2007-2008, my whole family (who are all nurses) said, "There are going to be no jobs for new nurses...We just know it." Crazy.

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This may be an obvious question, but can you make the same money in the rural area hospitals as you would in the big city ones?
Last year, I got a 70% pay raise (along with dramatically better benefits) for changing from a small, rural hospital to a large, city hospital.
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Usually in nursing......the "higher paid" facilities are the ones difficult to staff.....it's called battle pay.

The difference in pay in Boston rural to city starts around $10.00 for new grads or if it is a union facility....to as high as $30.00 for experienced RN's

Wait Wait Wait 10......Im sorry, did you say dollars? Or was I reading that wrong?

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Wait Wait Wait 10......Im sorry, did you say dollars? Or was I reading that wrong?

Dollars.....but this is Boston and the cost of living/housing is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the burbs at a VERY small rural hospital as an experienced supervisor(>30YRS)....I made $48.00/hr without shift diff. In a more populated area but not Boston proper I made $60.00.....in Boston that would be as high as $80.00/hr with 30 years experience at a Union facility downtown proper.

But jobs here are almost non-existent right now......especially for new grads AND old bats like me)

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O, ok lol.. I thought you were saying that there are some hospitals in Boston that only pay 10 bucks an hour for RNs. I nearly fainted. I'm originally from MA (western part), and I know how expensive it is up there, and I don't even think anyone can even live on that. You would have to literally work overtime every week just to have a roomie in a crappy apartment somewhere. Wshew, I knew it was getting bad on nurses, but that scarred me lol. Thanks for the clarification, Esme ;)

Dollars.....but this is Boston and the cost of living/housing is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the burbs at a VERY small rural hospital as an experienced supervisor(>30YRS)....I made $48.00/hr without shift diff. In a more populated area but not Boston proper I made $60.00.....in Boston that would be as high as $80.00/hr with 30 years experience at a Union facility downtown proper.

But jobs here are almost non-existent right now......especially for new grads AND old bats like me)

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I live in NE Pennsylvania - there are jobs aplenty here - LTC AND Acute care...one of the biggest hospital systems pays about $26 for new grads and they are ADN friendly. Most of my class that wanted jobs right out of school got them (others wanted to wait for boards, getting married, moving etc)....and they won't have issues getting jobs when they're ready...

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Wait Wait Wait 10......Im sorry, did you say dollars? Or was I reading that wrong?

She did say 10 dollars... but she was answering your question of "what's the difference" and the difference is $10... "Difference" is a subtraction problem (or a logical subtraction), X2-X1=difference.

I always find it more beneficial to speak of percent differences [(x2-x1)/x1] rather than absolute differences. A difference of $10 per hour is huge if you're comparing $5 to $15 but small if you're comparing $75 to $80 and negligible if you're talking $500 vs $510

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This may be an obvious question, but can you make the same money in the rural area hospitals as you would in the big city ones? If not, on average, how much less would be a good estimate? I'm just curious. I actually wouldn't mind living/working in some rural areas. Usually the cost of living is better there anyway. Thanks in advance my friends.. :D

Depends on the rural and urban areas in question. From salary discussion threads I've seen on here, I'm getting paid similar to nurses in some more urban areas (I seem to recall my pay being similar to Chicago's) even though I'm rural.

It also depends on proximity to an urban area. You can be pretty rural and still within commuting distance of a more urban area, which puts pressure on the rural hospitals to pay similarly. I believe that my pay is pretty comparable to the closest urban area.

But, like I said, it's about $15/hour less than I'd be getting in Sacramento (or would have three years ago, anyways. I have no clue what new grads are getting paid now). And Bay Area nurses are being paid even more than that.

And yes, cost of living is a lot lower here than it was when we lived in the Sacramento area. Quality of life issues (such as being able to afford acreage, raise livestock, and so forth) outweigh the financial benefit of staying, even if I ended up being paid higher overall there when taking into account differences in cost of living.

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Where in Oklahoma are there shortages?

Id be interested in applying somewhere thats more of a younger college town area

I live in OK and just graduated all but one of my friends had a job by graduation. We went to OU so most ppl stayed in Norman/OKC area but I got a job in Tulsa. Oklahoma is competitive for highly sought after positions like say ER, trauma icu but you can get a job pretty easily

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
"Shortage" implies signing bonuses, paid recruiting trips, warm-body-with-a-license syndrome, tuition and loan repayment, and a ready willingness to train in specialty units.

I didn't get a sign on bonus, but they are actively recruiting in other states, offer moving stipends, loan repayment, tuition repayment comes later and is competitive, and almost ALL are 6 month internships in a specialty. (only ones not in an internship are experienced float/ICU). Just hired 48 new grads this last go round. I know my floor is getting 6, I was one of 6, six months ago.

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Specializes in CVICU.

I agree that Oklahoma is a great place for nursing jobs. I personally live in Muskogee (40 miles southeast of Tulsa), and there are 3 hospitals here along with many home health agencies, LTC facilities, and a few clinics. There are so many job openings for RNs that it is unreal.

I check the RN job postings of the major Tulsan hospitals after every semester just to see what the situation is like, and it relieves me every time to see that each hospital has at least 40 postings for RNs with different shifts and units. I have not seen one job posting that says "experience REQUIRED", and every new grad I know has been able to get jobs.

So what if the wage is lower than other states? My cousin just passed boards and has a job at a college town hospital (Tahlequah, specifically) and she is making about $50k a year. A person making $50k/year living alone can live comfortably in Oklahoma, even in the bigger cities such as Tulsa and OKC.

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I agree that Oklahoma is a great place for nursing jobs. I personally live in Muskogee (40 miles southeast of Tulsa), and there are 3 hospitals here along with many home health agencies, LTC facilities, and a few clinics. There are so many job openings for RNs that it is unreal.

I check the RN job postings of the major Tulsan hospitals after every semester just to see what the situation is like, and it relieves me every time to see that each hospital has at least 40 postings for RNs with different shifts and units. I have not seen one job posting that says "experience REQUIRED", and every new grad I know has been able to get jobs.

So what if the wage is lower than other states? My cousin just passed boards and has a job at a college town hospital (Tahlequah, specifically) and she is making about $50k a year. A person making $50k/year living alone can live comfortably in Oklahoma, even in the bigger cities such as Tulsa and OKC.

Same here! I'm single! I got tuition reimbursement aka 7,000 for just handing them a transcript and I've heard ill get a sign on. It's really not that low of pay from what I've seen in other states. Ill be making 25/hr on night shift. And my friends in OKC only make 19.41 on day shift. Tulsa area is where it's at

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