What is your opinon of the nursing shortage?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi! I've been a nurse for almost 10 years and I am currently pursuing a BSN. For a project I have to teach a class on the nursing shortage. I have looked through this site, but want your opinion on the nursing shortage and how it effects you. Please share what state you are from also. I would like to read your opinions to my class. Thank-you in advance for your time!

Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

California does not currently have a nursing shortage. The only shortage of nurses presently is experienced nurses with many years of experience. Some areas there are literally no jobs at all, such as the Bay area. There are many new graduates here currently who are unable to find work at all. It is further effecting the economy because we cannot pay our bills and ultimately have to consider moving and losing things..like our homes.

I am in the southeast and we do have a nursing shortage. I feel it is partly due to terrible working conditions (high patient ratios, no union, no lunch, no breaks) and partly due to the fact that nursing educators are paid so poorly that they can't find enough, and therefore have to limit the amount of nursing students that can be taken each year.

there's a humongous amount of nurses and aspiring nurses here in the Philippines. and a lot of them wants to go abroad.

Specializes in med/surg,ortho, tele,.

Personally I think the shortage exists partially because of cost cutting (greedy) practices by hospital CEO's. For years they have short staff instead of filling holes with agency. And they have not improved working conditions for nurse and patient safety. Retention of experienced staff, pay for nursing instructors and educational opportunities for the many bright American LPN's to become RN's is the answer.

This is going to sound incredibly mean but I ABSOLUTELY believe when hospitals were allowed to import massive numbers of foreign nurses they used that as a bargaining chip against us.--A cheap way out of the need to improve conditions for American nurses. Some foreign nursing schools are now ripping off their own by training in 'third world' medical conditions with vague implications that they can still move to the US when licensed. I hope we never go back to importing over training and retaining our homegrown talent.

In my opinion the answer to the shortage is pay instructors what they are worth so we'll have more who are willing to teach. That will open up more slots in nursing schools. And retain the experienced RN's who are still working by paying more for their invaluable knowledge.

I agree that nursing instructors need a big pay increase to encourage more to go into teaching. And we should do a lot more to retain experienced nurses. The floor I work on in 80% RN's with less than 2 yrs exp. on day shift. On nights we have all new grads with

In answer to the question about how the shortage has effected me--too much stress eventually wore me down. I worked f/t med/surg for 6 yrs. Working short and always feeling inadequate and depressed about not being able to do enough for my patients got to me. I started feeling too exhausted to be a good Mom so I went to part-time for a yr. It was less money and I paid more for my health plan, but working two 12 hr shifts/wk gave me a chance to see things from a brighter perspective. I'm back to f/t but I now realize that when I feel like I don't have time enough to do everything my patient deserve, I know at least I tried.

I'm in my last semester of an RN to BSN program and we are talking about this topic as well. In middle Tennessee, there is no nursing shortage. Even the recruiters at the major Nashville hospitals will tell you that. There are *jobs* for RNs out there, but these jobs are for experienced RNs and the field is specific (ICU, CCU, OR). Still, the schools are pumping out plenty of new graduates twice a year, so, in spite of high turnover, the hospitals always have a fresh supply of nurses for new graduate positions.

Also, the hospitals are downsizing in certain areas, which means fewer jobs. Some rural hospitals are closing down altogether. Many factory workers who have lost their jobs are going to nursing school. There is actually a glut of nurses in this area, made worse by the "shortage" of nursing instructors (in case you don't get the irony, we are taught we need more programs and teachers, but if you stop and look around you, it seems pretty obvious this is not true.) I propose to decrease the number of nursing programs and focus on quality rather than quantity.

I'm in Colorado and I'm not really seeing that a shortage exists, I wonder if the subject is a little outdated.

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

I think the nursing shortage exists more in the minds of the general public and the nurses than anywhere else.

The problem is, the "minimal level" of acceptable care is very different when you compare the public/nurses and hospital administration's point of views. People expect MUCH more than they will ever get, and administration expects MUCH more compensation than they will ever get. So, what we see as a shortage, they see as "the best we can do under the current compensation."

A handfull of what you do outweighs a truck load of what you say. Hosptials say they realize there is a shortage and want to give top quality care, but they are using hiring freezes and wage freezes to keep the bottom line where they like it. Those are not the actions of a facility that has care on its mind.

In short, from the publics viewpoint, yes there is a shortage. From the hospital administration's viewpoint, no, no need for more workers right now.

Nursing shortage needs to be mitigated. I suppose US RN would not want immigrants to solve the problem for them. Understandably especially during these times, however the fact remains that the US could not meet its needs. The recession has prompted many former nurses to work again thus easing the need for now. How about the need after 2-3 years when the economy improves. I have seen how many of my former colleagues were more mature as compared to other country like the Philippines. I agree to the suggestion to raise the pay and hire more instructors. If a MSN with years of experience will be given $100,000 as starting pay, I am sure a lot of my more mature co workers with MSN would be enticed to teach. I have seen them and even benefited from their teachings in the unit. I guess it would help them lessen the strain on their back. I was agashed to see many 55+ nurses still working on the bedside lifting 200 lbs patients. I admire their tenacity and wisdom. Im thinking if they leave in a few years, who will fill in the vacuum? Teachers paid well=more RN willing to do graduate studies = more teachers= more capacity in nursing school = more US nurses.

Specializes in Cardiac, Hospice, Float pool, Med/Peds.

I think that people will always be sick, need surgery and by dying... There is not going to be a shortage of RN's...

Specializes in med/surg, ortho, rehab, ltc.
I'm in my last semester of an RN to BSN program and we are talking about this topic as well. In middle Tennessee, there is no nursing shortage. Even the recruiters at the major Nashville hospitals will tell you that. There are *jobs* for RNs out there, but these jobs are for experienced RNs and the field is specific (ICU, CCU, OR). Still, the schools are pumping out plenty of new graduates twice a year, so, in spite of high turnover, the hospitals always have a fresh supply of nurses for new graduate positions.

Also, the hospitals are downsizing in certain areas, which means fewer jobs. Some rural hospitals are closing down altogether. Many factory workers who have lost their jobs are going to nursing school. There is actually a glut of nurses in this area, made worse by the "shortage" of nursing instructors (in case you don't get the irony, we are taught we need more programs and teachers, but if you stop and look around you, it seems pretty obvious this is not true.) I propose to decrease the number of nursing programs and focus on quality rather than quantity.

I can only speak for what's happening in my area. What GoLytely said about downsizing sadly holds true here. We have 3 nursing schools in my college town (and 4 other programs within a 100 mile radius) cranking out new RN's. Because the hospital's are cutting positions we have many new grads looking for work. At times it seems the 2 largest local hospitals hire the newbies and put them in a "sink or swim" situation way before they have the skills. The only shortage here is for experienced RN's in all areas of critical care. Yet I keep meeting people around town who say they're starting to take pre-reqs and planning on applying to nursing school.

To me it seems nursing has never been good at synchronizing training and recruitment to avoid shortage/glut cycles. People hear there is a demand and suddenly there are government incentives to open schools and hire RN's from abroad. I think they need to look at the situation first. The main demand in my area is for experienced ICU RN's. Many of our new grads who aren't tied down are starting to think about leaving the state for better job opportunities.

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