I'm curious to know if people really think that nursing will be in demand again, or are we just saying that it will get better to keep our spirits up?
I'm trying not to get discouraged, but I was just rejected again for a position out of state. I've had to take some time off that was unavoidable, so I think maybe I'm not as competitive as I would have been 2 years ago.
I just feel like I want to cry sometimes because I absolutely love nursing. There's no other profession I'd rather dedicate my life to, but I'm wondering if I should just give up and do something else if I'm unable to get a job, or if I should wait it out and things will get better.
Do you think things will get better? Sorry for the downer post, but I'm almost in tears and need some encouragement or some brutal honesty so that I can move on a different path.
Specializes in long term care, telemetry, primary care,.
I'm just curious where everyone is looking for jobs. I have heard it's tough to get into hospital right now because they are having hiring freezes but I think nursing homes are always hiring. I know around here (in NH) and when I lived in Virginia a year ago, most nursing homes are hiring. They are always looking for nurses. Maybe different states are different in their needs.
To answer your question though, I do think nurses will be back in demand soon. Especially after the new health care system gets going. There will be more patients insured therefore there will be a need for more providers, and nurses. Just my opinion.
Hello fellow nurses young and old, that includes all of you in healthcare. The question will nursing ever be in demand again? prompts me to write. Nurses have always been in demand from the dark age s when it was mostly done by men or poor women to present day. The problem as I see it is the present day idea of what nursing is all about. When I was a young girl their were books to read about growing up to be a nurse. Of course now the media has expanded and nursing is often protrayed as a fun job with lots of interaction between actractive men and women. Often the group meets at a club and discusses the day and the problems get resolved.
From where I am in Nursing I feel that more and more young people or middle age people are looking for jobs in the health care field, some start out as nurse aids and in many places they do become certified nurse aids others look for slightly different fields like medical tech or the like. What I see is a constant flood of people coming for short term training; they stay a while or never take a job; what ever. It must not be working for them because there are always more people coming to get the entry level job.
Not every one that thinks about nursing should be in nursing or healthcare at all. The people coming up now are smart and better educated for the most part than the older groups that came before them.
However healthcare is not a glamor job, it is dedicated hard work, show up on time, do the job even if you do not feel like it or want to that day. Many of us learned our job and put in extra effort to learn the job we wanted to do. We learned the jobs below us and above us. There are lots of nice people that think they want the job; but they need extra training, and someone to go behind them to check on what they did. Even if they do not want it Insurance and Big Business require it.
We in the older generation will need in home assistance, nursing home or short term help. The health care worker that does these chores need not be a BSN but there will be BSN s doing them or over seeing them.
The Insurance and big business have caused all of this. Maybe we nurses let it happen we were too busy trying to get the job done that day that we did not see who was looking over our shoulder.
As far levels of Nurses - in some places I see that the LPN or LVN may not be given a chance. However, there are still places that a ADN or LPN or LVN can be in charge and have as much responsibility as they want.
Nursing is not the field for everyone, we can not say that there will be a job for every one. The employer has a large supply to pick from. If the educated, trained, up to date health care worker is willing to take the less than desirable job at the less than desirable location, at the less than desirable time slot, then yes they should still get a chance at a job. If that does not fit you maybe you should keep looking for that job that gives you the warm feel good feeling.
I graduated March 2010 and the only nursing job I've had was for two months with one of the flu shot clinics. I live in the Baton Rouge, LA area and am starting to see a few more openings lately but not very many. Most of the nursing homes are only hiring for every other weekend, which is pointless. That's only four days out of the month. The hospitals want you to have at least one year of experience for everything, even areas that formerly required no experience. The clinics are phasing out RN's by going cheap and hiring lpn's & ma's. And the new healthcare reform is going to create a lot more patients but these patients are getting free healthcare, where is the money going to come from. That is the bottom line, it's all about the money. These new patients are just going to create a larger patient load and the pay is going to bottom out but they are not going to hire any new nurses. I am a single mom and I have a great part time job that I've have had while in nursing school but I am staring to look in areas other than nursing for something full time with benefits. It sucks because I have a child to support and everyone kept telling me that all my hard work was going to pay off when I earned my degree. Well, it hasn't.
Specializes in med-surg, post-partum, ER, psychiatric.
Like one individual posted, nursing (like with a lot of other jobs) has had its ups and downs. In the 80's (If memory serves me correctly), new grads had as difficult time in finding jobs as new grads are facing now. Then for whatever reasons, the nursing "shortage" came about. In some ways, there still is a shortage; however, it is in areas that demand high levels/years of expertise that even the most of experienced of RNs are not getting hired (unless they have that expertise). Once the economy turns back around (and who knows when that truly will happen), as one posted, there will be the "Demand" once again. I know it's not very encouraging at the moment, but if one wants to be a nurse badly enough, one will stick it out and pursue relentlessly. Also, to add to the mix of everything, a lot of facilities are not hiring unless one has their BSN (something of which I totally disagree with, but not going to go into that in this forum), but that is the reality of it. Well wishes to all the newly graduated RNs in hopes you will eventually get something. Keep the faith and continue pursuing..........it will happen..................Cheers!
I just try to combine part time work from more than one home health agency to get full time or close to full time. The more agencies I deal with, the better chance I have of coming up with full time hours. I would ride it out if I were you.
Specializes in ICU, APHERESIS, IV THERAPY, ONCOLOGY, BC.
Nurses and their ability to control their working environment inclusive of the hiring policies is more than mind baffling, - the issue underscores the lack of power and control from a well educated profession and the lack of consideration and respect of the impact upon health status of the entire population.
From my perspective, the great divide between political bodies in collusion with financial giants has closed ranks against nursing. We have never been part of the process, and a depressing reality is that apart from a politically minded few nurses, we will not be encouraged to question the process, simply because we need to survive economically. Whatever the level of knowledge background, competence- this simply means that nurses are moved around as in a game of chess - which can also influence the healthcare outcome for the patient/client. In times of economic downturn, who are truly profiting? Money does not technically dissapear down a black hole!!! It is usually re routed expediently and in times of need like now, no one has the energy to research or challenge events.
Will nurses be needed? Yes, nurses will always be needed - that implies a lot of power and ability for us to better control events, and above all, insist on the need to adhere to quality of care in a "civilised world" - so chin up and take a good look around before allowing despondency to control your destiny. Keep well and strong
It does suck. I just wonder if there's hope in sight. That maybe in a year or so, new grads will be able to find work.
Perhaps, but meanwhile what the new grads supposed to do. Sit home and stale. By then, fresh crop with fresh ideas will hit the market and the 'stale' crop will be where?
I am a new nursing grad and have had a few job offers already, just waiting to test & get licensed. I don't know if the economy really has anything to do with it, because whether you have insurancce or not generally isn't going to keep people away from seeking medical attention when they really need it. As far as hospitals go, they are either cutting costs by limiting # of staff, fully staffed; however, I have been doing some research on the nursing field & believe that, from what I've gathered, there will be a nursing shortage in the next few years. The baby boomers, and let me tell ya there's a lot of them, will be retiring soon. This is where the economy could play a part: the baby boomers are working longer before retiring because of the economy, but eventually there will be a huge shortage again. Do some research yourself, just use a search engine & type in "Nursing Shortage" & I'm sure you'll find some convincing evidence that will sway you one way or the other. If you are serious about the field, don't let possible setbacks hold you back, the sky's the limit, never stop dreaming big. There are so many different opportunities out there, then all the opportunities that are more "unconventional". Will this career give you a sense of worth? Will it be rewarding enough? Will it make you happy? Weigh that against "GIVING UP" and ask yourself if this is what you've always wanted, why even ask yourself that question. If you're not willing to put in a little extra work, and maybe some heartache, perhaps you should consider another field because you're gonna get these things anyway. I'm not trying to be mean or insensitive, but one thing that has stuck in my life since 1999 (& I know this may seem a little cheesy) is a quote from 10 things I hate about you" when Patrick (the late Heath Ledger) says "Don't let anyone ever tell you, you don't deserve what you want."
I have an idea, how about sending all the international nurses back to their own countries.. especially the ones who wouldn't even speak english on the floor when I started as a new grad. Seriously would be nice to fill those positions with new nurses from here.
Specializes in med-surg, post-partum, ER, psychiatric.
Yes, it is true from what the predictions are, once the economy stabilizes, that "baby boomers" will plan to retire and there will be a return to the major nursing shortage; however, the real question comes into play as to WHEN? For now, it is not very helpful for the newly graduated RNs or those about to graduate soon. Travel Nursing companies rarely take (the reputable ones at least) new RNs without a minimum of ONE year experience in a specific specialty area. Some staffing agencies, similar to travel nursing companies, might, but it depends and where. THere are companies like CNS who do the annual immunizations (influenza et al) who will hire temporarily RNs for that period of time (generally Oct-Dec) and some have been hired on full time. I know this doesn't pay, but volunteering at various clinics that service the homeless, et al..........that is a fantastic way to also get your foot into the door and also meet your various state RN board requirements to maintain your RN license. In some ways, I agree with lsvalliant's post of about the international RNs. I have seen where they have been getting hired but yet an American citizen RN has not been hired. I have had patient's complain with having a non-American RN attend to them due to not being able to understand them. I have seen some that are not very competent but there are also some very dynamic and awesome ones out there as well. I do feel priority is taking care of our own first and foremost; however, I see this in other areas (especially the tourist industry, i.e., ski resorts where VISA employees get priority over citizens due to their VISA criteria............the defense is that an American can get a job anywhere/any place else but the VISA employee cannot.............you get the picture)...........At any rate..........it will be a matter of time and jobs will be opening back up. Nursing is a cyclic profession.............we went through something similar back in the 80's (if memory serves me correctly) and it was very difficult for a newly graduated RN to find a job and took multiple applications/interviews to get on somewhere...............then we went into the huge nursing shortage................now, due to the economy, we still have the shortage, but to due cut backs, et al..........jobs are very hard to come by. The shortages in are specialty areas of which several years of experience in that specialty is required. Even very experienced RNs are having a hard time finding jobs. At any rate, all in due time...........where there is a will there is a way. I have heard that NV is in dire need of RNs.........just a thought! Best of luck to all of you new RNs.................I wish you all well! :-)
crissy rn
8 Posts
I'm just curious where everyone is looking for jobs. I have heard it's tough to get into hospital right now because they are having hiring freezes but I think nursing homes are always hiring. I know around here (in NH) and when I lived in Virginia a year ago, most nursing homes are hiring. They are always looking for nurses. Maybe different states are different in their needs.
To answer your question though, I do think nurses will be back in demand soon. Especially after the new health care system gets going. There will be more patients insured therefore there will be a need for more providers, and nurses. Just my opinion.