It focuses on Texas, but the reasons behind it definitely affect the entire nation too. It has good statistics and research to back up why we still face a long-term nursing shortage and currently not a short-term one.
Here are some quotes directly from the article I found interesting:
"Of the 355 (out of 592) Texas hospitals participating in the survey, the reported overall position vacancy rate for RNs was 6.7% and the median facility vacancy rate was 6.2% (range of 4.7% in the Panhandle Region to 7.5% in the Rio Grande Valley Region). The overall position vacancy rate compares of 6.7% compares with a 2008 vacancy rate of 11.2% and a 2006 vacancy rate of 10.2% - a significant drop! Findings seem consistent with what many newly graduated nurses and hospitals have anecdotally reported: the nursing shortage that has plagued the country for the last decade, and was projected to get much worse, has abated. What?!!! No nursing shortage?"
"Analyzing data from 1973 through 2008, Peter Buerhaus, PhD, RN, FAAN and colleagues discovered an important pattern: whenever the economy went from boom to bust, RN hospital employment increased more than five times the annual rate of employment. When unemployment rates increase due to an economic recession, nonworking RNs return to the labor market, and those already working increase their hours worked. This trend has intensified during the current recession where RN hospital employment has increased by 18% in 2007 and 2008. No wonder hospital vacancy rates are down!"
"But the nursing shortage is not over. Nurses over 50 years of age comprise the majority of RN employment growth recently experienced. These nurses are Baby Boomers themselves and once the economy stabilizes, they will likely resume retirement plans, leaving a gap in the nursing workforce."
"The number of RN graduates increased from 4,500 in 2001 to 7,000 in 2007."
"Retention is reflected in in turnover rates and while Texas hospitals currently enjoy relatively low RN vacancy rates, the median RN turnover rate reported in the Hospital Nurse Staffing Survey was 20%!"
Hospitals are still as desperate for staff as they used to be, they are not as smart as they used to be about recruiting and retaining.
It's simply not good business to treat staff and potential employees like surplus goods.
The amount of extra time expected by a hospital in staff meetings, mandatory classes and inservices can be brutal. Don't expect people to be grateful because they HAVE a job. Especially when they are constantly scrutinized, evaluated and forced to comply with policies they KNOW to be wrongheaded and ineffective.
i agree w/you, however when i was a new grad in 2003 there were sign on bonuses and new grads had their pick of just about any nurisng job they wanted in my area. now i see these same hospitals are not hiring like they used to and new grads are not getting hired as quick as before. but again i think it has a lot to do w/where you live/work.
Just saw a posting on our state nursing association for a NURSE RECRUITER at one of my states major healthcare systems(hospital). Qualifications: BA/BS in a 'HEALTH' related field. How much comprehension does some one in a 'HEALTH' related field other than NURSING, have about the needs and qualifications of hiring a NURSE. Health related field can be some one who is not a nurse with a BA degree in health education- no where near a comprhension of what a nurse does. I know, I worked with one of the majors and it wasn't in a clinical position. She didn't know a bedpan from a top sheet. Boy, was she good with Microsoft EXCEL and general OFFICE tasks. This is an example of who is picking and sorting through the NURSING applications. Making judgements as to which nurse is qualified for which position. I wonder if one of these "recruiters" get to recruit physicians?
I think this is were the problems in nursing start and just go down hill from there.
Nursing administration nursing education and nursing policy makers are so far removed from the day to day hands on and have been for too long( all those years they spend getting the higher degrees in non clinical areas- MBA, MHA, Phd's even non clinical DSN's), that they aren't even qualified. How can you know when you haven see a patients backside in 10-20 yrs?
angel337, MSN, RN
899 Posts
i agree w/you, however when i was a new grad in 2003 there were sign on bonuses and new grads had their pick of just about any nurisng job they wanted in my area. now i see these same hospitals are not hiring like they used to and new grads are not getting hired as quick as before. but again i think it has a lot to do w/where you live/work.