will nursing shortage ever become a nursing job shortage

[emmycRN]

I recently read an article on allnurses about a shortage of nursing jobs in the UK. Do you all think this will ever happen in the US. I may be totally off base, but sometimes I worry that we will overcompensate for the shortage and end up with too many nurses and not enough positions.

For example, I have heard the government gives special immigration assistance to nurses from other countries. Also, I have noticed a plethora of "accelerated" degree programs for nursing at community colleges and other institutions. These programs advertise a nursing degree in 15 months!!! Also, the BSN program I graduated from is taking classes of over 100 students, and this is in a relatively small metro area. So what do you all think? Any chance we could ever overcompensate for the so-called shortage?

[llg, PhD, RN]

I doubt that there will truly be a true "over-supply" of RN's in the foreseeable future. However, that doesn't mean that the exact jobs that we have now and the exact same functioning of RN's in all settings will always be there.

The health care job market is evolving constantly -- and nursing will continue to evolve within it. While a particular job as it is now practiced may disappear, there will always be a need for people with a solid, broad education who is capable of assessing health care needs, providing care, and evaluating care. Good nurses who update their education regularly and remain flexible should always be able to support themselves by adapting their practice to meet the health care needs of their community.

Those nurses who don't continually update (and upgrade) their qualifications may find themselves left behind --seeking jobs that no longer exist. That's true of any career field. Don't let those fears drive you away from nursing. Maintain your knowledge and skills at the highest levels and be flexible in your job expectations and you will be able to find work. Plan your career to include on-going education and be open to the possibililties that the many changes in health care will bring during your lifetime.

llg

[aggieamy5]

It would be extremely difficult for me to ever imagine a nursing job shortage in my area of Houston. There are countless jobs for RNs here and the number of jobs is expected to only increase (many nurses retiring; not enough teachers/professors to teach, etc.). In my area, the pay is very good for nurses, especially considering the cost of living is so low here. In the Houston area, it appears that there are more nursing jobs out there than any other profession I can think of.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i recently read an article on allnurses about a shortage of nursing jobs in the uk. do you all think this will ever happen in the us. i may be totally off base, but sometimes i worry that we will overcompensate for the shortage and end up with too many nurses and not enough positions.

i've lived through several "nursing job shortages." they appear to be local and cyclical in nature. they come and they go. i've seen years when new grads couldn't get a job other than in a nursing home, and years where large numbers of nurses were laid off. so far, every job shortage seems to end in six months to a year. although they're pumping plenty of new nurses into the system in some areas, they don't all last in nursing.

[swatch007]

Whether we like it or not our profession is affected by economic cycle: supply and demand. Because of aging baby boomers, we need more nurses; however, our workload is also affected by those political leaders who decide how much fund they allocate for health care. CEO of hospitals -most of them don't even have health care related college degrees- constantly looking for ways to lower the cost of hospital services by using UAPs and assigning more pts to a nurse.

Poor us, we are beaten by the constant pressure from hospital management which is trying to cut the budget, from the the family members of our patients who are ready to sue us for our potential mistake/s and from the BON to take away our license if we screw up because we didn't follow the standard of practice.

Nowadays, I have seen many fellows who are getting in the profession because of financial security comes with the job. I have also seen many nurses coming from another countries to supply the U.S. workforce needs --nothing wrong with that.

I won't be surprised one day if many of us won't have jobs because of surplus of nurses and those greedy CEO would finally find out ways to run their hospitals like a circus with few nurses and lots of lots of patients --hopefully I'll hit a lottery jackpot so I don't have to be part of the circus by that time.

:beercuphe:beercuphe:beercuphe Burp!! excuse me..

[hope3456, ASN, RN]

Where are these pockets where nursing jobs are already in short supply? This is news too me and I am highly curious. Also getting a little more nervous than when I started this thread. I was hoping this fear was all in my head and far from becoming a reality.

Northern Colorado. Reason - very attractive place to live. Ft. Collins was voted recently as the #1 small city in America. For this reason, lots of nurses have moved here from other locations making it somewhat competitive to get jobs around here. Oh, and FC has one of the only magnet hosp in CO.

I agree that there are LOTS of new nursing schools popping up all over the place. It seems that EVERYONE I run into wants to be a nurse.