Will there ever be a surplus of nursing jobs again?!

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

Just wondering what everyone's perspective is on this. The average RN is 45 y/o, and shortages seem to be cyclical. Do you believe that over-saturation of the market with new grad nurses will obliterate the long-term shortage? OR..as the economy continues to show signs of improvement (slowly, but surely..it is), will nurses leave the profession like they did before the economy tanked?

This article does a good job of putting things into perspective:

http://www.nursetogether.com/Career/Career-Article/itemid/2325/Misreading-the-Current-RN-Labor-Market.aspx

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They've been screaming "shortage" since 1983 when I started nursing school.... I'm still waiting for that racket to officially shut down :D

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No there will never be.

With all the cutbacks in healthcare (even higher ratios and layoffs to come), as well as the thousands of unemployed nurses in-country and the secure philippine pipeline, I'd even go out on a limb and say we could shut down every single nursing college for years and be well supplied with the nurses that we have. Forget that whole deal that all the nurses are old. There are just as many unemployed little chicklets out there too.

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There are tons of RN jobs in West Virginia. Even with a new nursing school, there are openings.

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I think there will be more openings once the older RN's backs start giving out :-).. yes the medicare cuts are going to be a hit, but Nurses are still needed, sure people wont be giving sign on bonuses as they used to, but there still will be a need...

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Specializes in LTC, Nursing Management, WCC.

Just leave retirement brochures in the break rooms and every hospital and clinic you go to.

We did have a minor shortage. When I started nursing school in '02, there were over 100 positions between the 2 major systems. I would check several times throughout my semesters. Then I got in, the following semester.... hiring freezes ALL OVER. Then hospitals started jacking up the "experience" preferred. Now the jobs posted, very few are benefited positions and the majority is part time, or flex and PRN status. But we have 3 nursing schools in a 30 to 45 mile radius, just pumping them out.

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someday, then there will be cutbacks again, then shortages, then cutbacks, then shortages, and the cycle will continue until nurses become obsolete to robots with big boobs who don't mind also being waitresses.

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I believe we are still in a shortage. Many of the nurses who are unable to find jobs seem to be new grads. Unfortunately the economy is in the slumps and hospital are not willing to pay for training at this time which is killing new grads. We just hired around 15 nurses at a small 100 bed hospital here in TX

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I believe we are still in a shortage. Many of the nurses who are unable to find jobs seem to be new grads. Unfortunately the economy is in the slumps and hospital are not willing to pay for training at this time which is killing new grads. We just hired around 15 nurses at a small 100 bed hospital here in TX

I worked in the Hill Country- they were always looking for nurses.... GREAT place to work :)

Rural hospitals hurt the entire 17 years I lived there.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/minnecon/archive/2010/06/nursing-supply-and-demand-out-of-whack.shtml

This article shows the amount of new grads vs the amount of jobs.

The comments below the article are interesting.

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http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/minnecon/archive/2010/06/nursing-supply-and-demand-out-of-whack.shtml

This article shows the amount of new grads vs the amount of jobs.

The comments below the article are interesting.

As it states in the article.... data is not always accurate and these are projected numbers 6 years in the future. Also, people who graduate dont always pass their licensing exams. Also, is there a segregation between LVN and RN graduations and jobs? Lots of technical schools are cranking out LVNs to find out that jobs are scare for them.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I once read that 92% of test takers pass the NCLEX on their first try, so I'm not sure that that's a huge issue. My main point is that market saturation is a valid concern at this point. My school churns out at least 180 ADN grads/year. We have 1 other ADN program in our area along with three other BSN programs. One of the BSN programs is a for-profit RN mill that costs 120k and produces around 300 RNs/year. We DO have a good amount of hospitals/LTCs/HH agencies in the area (southern CA), but I don't think nurses will retire/quit at the same rate that new nurses are graduating.

I think allowing trade schools to get involved in LVN and RN training is a disservice to nursing as a profession, and contributes to the argument that nursing is not a profession.

LVN school is another story. I did my LVN at a community college prior to bridging over to RN, and I'd say half of our graduates went straight into the bridge program. About 95% of the other half were able to gain employment fairly easily as our program is respected in our area. I'm currently precepting a new grad VN from a trade school, and she said more than half of her class have not been able to find nursing jobs.

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