Will there be too many nurses in the near future?

[DCubed]

Will there be too many nurses in the near future? I read an article quoting the US Health Resources Services Division that there would be an excess of nurses in some parts of the country in the not too distant future. Kind of makes sense, because in my area alone some of the universities have accelerated programs pumping out new grads like it's going out of style, and some of these programs are high capacity cohorts forming three times a year with a 90 student capacity for each cohort. Not to mention all of the nursing programs in my area. There are too many to count. Read the same thing about nurse practitioners...too many in the near future. Some nurse practitioner programs don't even require applicants to have an RN license to apply, and I've know some nurses who have jumped right into NP school with so little experience as an RN. It's just a bit scary since I'm contemplating going to nursing school. I don't want to spend a ton of money if the market is going to be saturated with nurses scrambling to find jobs. Have nursing degrees become cash cows for universities, so much so that the drive for revenue is setting up the profession for a bleak near future? How is saturation not inevitable?

[FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN]

That's what some people say on this site.

Honestly, I don't see it. I live in an area with a lot of nursing schools and I still have my choice of jobs. It's hard to get into certain specialties here, and if you don't have a bsn, it's harder to get into the hospital. But you will not be unable to find work as a nurse. Nursing homes are desperate for nurses. Home health is burgeoning also.

[beekee]

Nursing has many variables. There will likely always be a shortage of nurses willing to work in the less desirable locations in the less desirable positions (think rural, economically disadvantaged areas in a rundown nursing home). On the other hand, more desirable locations and positions (think urban coastal cities in an ICU) will likely have a surplus of nurses who want to work there (but necessarily a surplus of nurses with experience in those areas).

Obviously, this is a generalization. A rural run down nursing home might be the only employer for miles, so it might be highly sought after position.

You need to look at your locale and career goals. If you are willing to move and work in any type of environment, there are jobs. You probably don’t even need to move if you are willing to do nursing home, home care or, often, dialysis

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

My personal opinion is that floor nurses will always be in demand, but career growth is going to slow dramatically. Most people don't want to work in floor nursing conditions for very long. Therefore they advance their degrees to try and find positions that pay well away from the bedside. There are only so many of those to go around. In my area (DFW), FNPs are already finding it difficult to find a job.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with the above posters. Nurses today and nurses in the future will have to compete for the most popular jobs. To get one of the best jobs, you need to be a strong candidate and play your cards right.

But there will usually be some type of job available for a reasonably good nurse. It might not be the job you want -- or located exactly where you want it to be -- or have the perfect schedule -- or pay well -- but it is rare that there are not some types of nursing jobs available. The only times that there have NO jobs available for reasonably good nurses have been times of severe, general economic downturns -- and in those types of conditions, jobs are scarce in just about every field, not just nursing.

If nursing is the type of work you really want to do ... then become a nurse. Be a smart nurse and become well-qualified for the types of jobs that most interest you. Pay attention to career issues and put yourself in the best position to be successful regardless of the economic conditions. If you are only interested in nursing because you are looking for a type of job that is always going to be guaranteed, then you are bound to be disappointed in any field you choose.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

It is already the case

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

As I told my son the great thing about nursing is that it is a miserable job in many ways. Because of that there will always be demand "at the bedside" for a stressful, intellectually demanding, back breaking job especially at my hospital. I would say that staff turnover year to year at bedside makes jobs nearly always available. Also, I would say that it helps to be flexible with where you live. If you are will to be "a travel nurse" then you can have additional assurance of having a position, along with the extra pay that goes with the position.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

On 6/11/2019 at 10:04 AM, ThePrincessBride said:

It is already the case

I get at least two calls per day from someone trying to "sell me" a travel nurse position, and all I did was express an interest to one or two companies maybe six years ago. I think if you are willing to relocate to where the demand is that there is still abundant demand. Also, during "strong" economies such as we are currently experiencing nursing demand tends to increase, because people flock to jobs that promise better pay and benefits. It is during the economic downturns that people tend to flock to nursing for security.

[Daisy Joyce]

It doesn’t matter if there’s a glut of nurses if bosses won’t staff properly.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

Many of the nurses I work with hold multiple jobs (meaning less available jobs in the future for all of these nurses being pumped out of schools) and as the previous poster mentioned, we will still work short staffed.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

Keep in mind that we have the largest, sickest, longest lived individuals in history brewing. Plus we have record immigration fueling demand for healthcare services. I believe there will be plenty of jobs. They will of course continue to be largely miserable and underpaid for the work that is rendered, but they will be there all the same.

[MunoRN, RN]

It's important not to confuse the nursing job vacancy rate with a nursing shortage. There are nurses who will claim there is no nursing shortage, but they're idiots.

Just because an employer chooses not to hire sufficient nurses to properly care for their patients, that doesn't mean that the number of nurses an employer chooses to hire defines the number of nurses those particular patients need. Employers define the vacancy rate, not the number of additional nurses required to properly care for a patient population.

So in terms of vacancy rate, I'd say we're already into a bit of a nursing glut, in terms of a nursing shortage, we're a few hundred thousand short of what we need.