Why Is There A Shortage?

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Hello all. Newbie here. :-) I've got a question for those of you who have been in the profession for a while.

Question: If nursing is such a good profession to be in, why is there a shortage?

Hi!

Until when do you think there would be a shortage of nurses? :confused:

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Is it just me or does anyone else find it odd that we live in a country where professional sports, modeling, and acting pay million dollar yearly salaries but professions like teaching, nursing, etc. get paid a mere fraction of that? Just a thought.

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Possibly because its not ever been easy to get into, its a tough learning process, classes are tough, clinical takes a lot of time and commitment, getting the job you want may take 3 to 10 years and finally....nursing is really a tough profession.

We save, preserve, protect, potentiate and really love lives. Without nurses a lot of people wouldn't be here today, tomorrow or yesterday either.

Doctors depend on us to carry out their orders and patients and their families need us to educate them on what the heck the doctor wrote those prescriptions for. The docs also need us to look at their orders and question what dosen't look quite right for each patient.

It gets more complicated in each unit and in each facility but the medical field wouldn't be the same without really good nurses.

Nursing is a team based system with a lot of educated people who are trying to work within a changing environment and there are human lives involved.

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Enjoyed both your posts immensely and my friends who have left bedside nursing are saying exactly what you are.

Now if TPTB will only listen and act on this knowledge??? Or will they continue to ignore the facts?? There is no pressure for them to do anything other than 'business as usual', unfortunately.

My opinion is it will take nurses joining together in order to effect positive changes for nurse...we will not effect positive change til we demand it en mass.

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I agree with so many of the posters on this thread, high patient acuity, high patient/nurse ratios, high stress levels, and lack of respect have sent many nurses, both experienced and new, running to other fields of employment.

I agree that until we band together, en mass, to demand better working conditions in the nations hospitals, demand respect for our hard won knowledge and experience from TPTB there will continue to be a shortage.

I am having a difficult time finding a job, it seems like my asking price is a little high, but when I see what they are quoting, I am wondering, "what is the problem?" Maybe they know from my honest answers in some of my interviews that I am no longer willing to be pushed around and told "do this or else".

My main objective each day on the job is "to do no harm and take care of my patients to best of my ability", unfortuniately, being a good and caring nurse and being a good employee are at odds these days.

So many of the posters on these threads have my utmost respect and admiration, you are in the trenches everyday, doing a job that needs doing but getting little respect and recognition for the hard work you do.

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Here are the reasons for the nursing shortage in a nutshell:

From 1996-2000, the number of licensed RNs not employed in the profession soared from 52,000 to 490,000. While a good bit were probably retirements (nearly 70 percent were over age 50), poor working conditions were also probably a major factor.

While average RN wages did increase by 9 percent in 2002, long term they have barely kept up with inflation and have even gone down in some years.

At least 80 percent of students flunk pre-requisite classes required for nursing school. The problem isn't just available slots, but quality students, and the schools have to be selective to keep their NCLEX pass rates high to maintain accreditation.

Less working nurses + Less nursing grads = Shortage

Add the aging baby boom generation, with increasing demand for RNs, and you have even more of a shortage.

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Government stats and studies prove that there is no nursing shortage, yet the myth persists.

I will post this again-

Almost 500,000 licensed registered nurses were not employed as nurses in 2000.*

Data from the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA's) 2000 national sample survey of RNs shows that more than 500,000 licensed nurses (more than 18% of the national nurse workforce) have chosen not to work in nursing. This available labor pool could be drawn back into nursing if they found the employment opportunities attractive enough**

The ANA maintains that the deterioration in the working conditions for nurses is the primary cause for the staff vacancies being reported by hospitals and nursing facilities - not a systemic nursing shortage. Nurses are opting not to take these nursing jobs because they are not attracted to positions where they will be confronted by mandatory overtime and short staffing. **

76.6% (of) Licensed RNs (in The U.S. are) Employed in Nursing***

* Projected Supply, Demand and Shortages of Registered Nurses: 2000-2020 (released on 7/30/03 by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in an earlier report, predicted that that we will need one million new nurses by 2010 (Monthly Labor Review - November 2001) to cover new positions and replace the nurses who have retired.

**http://www.nursingworld.org/gova/fe.../107/ovrtme.htm

***https://www.aacn.org/aacn/practice....a6?OpenDocument

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Originally posted by barefootlady

I agree with so many of the posters on this thread, high patient acuity, high patient/nurse ratios, high stress levels, and lack of respect have sent many nurses, both experienced and new, running to other fields of employment.

I agree that until we band together, en mass, to demand better working conditions in the nations hospitals, demand respect for our hard won knowledge and experience from TPTB there will continue to be a shortage.

I am having a difficult time finding a job, it seems like my asking price is a little high, but when I see what they are quoting, I am wondering, "what is the problem?" Maybe they know from my honest answers in some of my interviews that I am no longer willing to be pushed around and told "do this or else".

My main objective each day on the job is "to do no harm and take care of my patients to best of my ability", unfortuniately, being a good and caring nurse and being a good employee are at odds these days.

So many of the posters on these threads have my utmost respect and admiration, you are in the trenches everyday, doing a job that needs doing but getting little respect and recognition for the hard work you do.

Exactly.

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Originally posted by Hellllllo Nurse

Government stats and studies prove that there is no nursing shortage, yet the myth persists.

I will post this again-

Almost 500,000 licensed registered nurses were not employed as nurses in 2000.*

Funny, I just posted this. Although let's put these numbers into perspective. Almost 70 percent of those nurses were over age 50. We don't know how many retirements were in there versus those who left because of poor working conditions, although I'm sure that was a significant factor.

I also think there's a shortage of quality of students who can make it through a tough nursing programs.

As far as the word "shortage," OK, I see your point. But that's how it's commonly referred to and I don't see how you're going to change that. Even the above mentioned report says "shortage."

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I see your point about students flunking, and the difficulty of nursing school contributing to the "shortage."

However- med school and law school are very tough, no doubt tougher than nursing school in certain ways.

Yet, there are no shortages in these professions.

People don't leave these areas before retirment age, unless they are so well off finacially that they retire early.

My husband has a PhD in engineering. There is a surplus of PhDs in science and engineering. No doubt those programs are extremly hard to get through.

I believe it's the working conditions that caused the nursing "shortage".

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Originally posted by Hellllllo Nurse

I see your point about students flunking, and the difficulty of nursing school contributing to the "shortage."

However- med school and law school are very tough, no doubt tougher than nursing school in certain ways. Yet, there are no shortages in these professions.

I believe it's the working conditions that caused the nursing "shortage".

True. Although I doubt the aging baby boom generation has the same impact on lawyers as it does on nurses. I agree that working conditions are probably a big problem, but you also have to look at the demand side of the equation too.

My point is that there are any number of things that can contribute to phenomenon like this, not just one factor.

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curious kid here...

do bad working conditions include the problems between nurses in a shift? or does bad working conditions automatically imply bad managament and low pay?

in my student rotations thru the hospital i have definitely seen areas where nurses cooperate and work together...and areas where this is a good days behavior but not the average days behavior.

they ran a nurse short the last two weeks on med/surg...the charge nurse had a load...but if everyone isn't pulling their full weight...it can make for a rougher day for the others.

so what constitutes poor/bad working conditions? do other nurses play into this or is it just the folks doing the schedules?

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