Why do people insist that there is a nursing shortage?

CrazyGoonRN · Mar 21, 2012

It depends on where you are located in the country. For example, in the Nashville area (middle TN) there are several nursing schools continously putting out new graduates. Therefore, there is not a nursing shortage in this area and it is not easy to find a nursing job. However, there are other parts of the country where nursing programs are few and far inbetween. In those areas there are not very many new graduates located there or moving there and and there is a nursing shortage in that area.

Here's an example: West TN is a rural area and there are very few nursing programs located there. A friend of mine graduated last year with her BSN from the University of TN at Martin (located in west TN). After graduation she moved to Nashville to find a job. She struggled and eventually settled on a skilled nursing facility (not where she wanted to be). However, all of her fellow graduates stayed in west TN after graduation and were immediatly offered jobs in the local hospitals.

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Mar 21, 2012

I dont get it, everywhere I've seen they said there is one. All my friends think so too...

Because for a short time there was a shortage of new grad nurses and the people who advertise for nursing schools found out they could sell a LOT of ads by perpetuating the idea whether it was true or not.

WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN · Mar 21, 2012

In some areas there still is a nursing shortage. In my area, hospitals have been piling patients on RN's and CNA's while they cut down the LPN staff. There are always openings for RN's and at the schools in my area, most students leave school with a job in hand. I am in an area, where talk of baby boomers entering long term care and hospital settings is actually happening. It all depends on where you live.

mazy · Mar 21, 2012

It's a bad economy, people are desperate for solutions. There are a lot of predatory schools that are selling a bucket full of dreams to people who are willing to pay upwards of $30,000 to get that degree, no matter what they have to do to get it.

Snake oil salesman.

WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN · Mar 21, 2012

It's a bad economy, people are desperate for solutions. There are a lot of predatory schools that are selling a bucket full of dreams to people who are willing to pay upwards of $30,000 to get that degree, no matter what they have to do to get it.
Snake oil salesman.

lol, I almost went for one of these when I thought I couldn't get into one of my community colleges. They are predators! I simply stated that I was interested and that was enough to give them the go-ahead to call me non-stop.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Mar 21, 2012

again, depends on where you are. We are not hiring many new grads but anticipate we will be in another 1-3 years as more nurses retire.

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 21, 2012

Another thing ... one that I ran into while reading a student paper recently ... People read old journal articles and quote the statistics from 2004 as if they were current. Research done in that time period reflected a shortage, but by the time that research was published it was perhaps 2006. Then some other writer picked up on those published findings and incorporated into their writings in 2009.

Someone reads it in 2012 and doesn't analyze what they read well enough to realize that the information was generated 7 years ago -- when the situation was very different.

kaycedee · Mar 21, 2012

I agree llg. I also think that some schools are at fault for not accurately representing the job market. For example, I took an intro to nursing class that had a "nursing shortage" video that referred to 2003 as being in the future. The old data from the video was used to bolster the argument that it is desperately important for as many people as possible to get into the field NOW, NOW, NOW. They are at worst purposefully misleading students and at best too complacent to keep their curriculum up to date. Either way that experience was enough to make me look elsewhere for nursing school.

MissNancy · Mar 21, 2012

Yes, I mean I'm getting my bachelors in something else (I live in NorCal) first just in case I dont actually want to be a nurse, so I would be able to get a masters degree in something. Or if I really wanted to be a nurse, I could turn back and become one. Originally I really want to be a counselor, I love counseling, but the job prospects are next to none.

When I ask my friends and teachers I ask them if this is a good idea to be a nurse, they say NURSE, they make so much money and they all say I will always have a job.

allnurses Guide · Mar 21, 2012

Another thing ... one that I ran into while reading a student paper recently ... People read old journal articles and quote the statistics from 2004 as if they were current. Research done in that time period reflected a shortage, but by the time that research was published it was perhaps 2006. Then some other writer picked up on those published findings and incorporated into their writings in 2009.
Someone reads it in 2012 and doesn't analyze what they read well enough to realize that the information was generated 7 years ago -- when the situation was very different.

I've seen the same thing. In one sentence they referenced the recent study results showing an influx of young people they didn't anticipate and shortage predictions from 2004 when the newer article also included revised shortage predictions.

mazy · Mar 21, 2012

I've seen the same thing. In one sentence they referenced the recent study results showing an influx of young people they didn't anticipate and shortage predictions from 2004 when the newer article also included revised shortage predictions.

Really makes you think twice about all the "research" articles you see in the news about everything from cancer to dandruff to free radicals.

The other thing is that a lot of these stories appear on the Internet to drive traffic to certain sites. No one is going to click on a story about how there are NO jobs, but a whole bunch of people are going to be reading about where there ARE jobs; lots of page views = lots of money.

It's a win-win except for that poor individual who's just trying to make a better life.