Will the nursing shortage ever end?

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Hello I am taking courses at my college and I am very interested in nursing as a career. I did some research and bls.gov estimates a 22% increase for the demand of nurses through 2018. My question is after 2018 will there no longer be a demand for nurses? Thanks

Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
Maybe they can't afford more school. Or take off more time to go to school. Plus I just read that the dental field is saturated too.

This is very true...before I became a RN, I practiced as a Registered Dental Hygienist. I have been licensed since 1975. The job market is getting tight for Hygienists now b/c the dentists are trying to cost contain...they can save money by doing their own scaling and having dental assistants polish teeth (don't need to be licensed to polish)...dentists run small practices and have large overheads and make far far less than MDs do. They are also notoriously cheap to work for...I know, I worked in the field for years, and I was married to one for years as well...there used to be many openings for RDHs and not enough to fill...now the market is almost as flooded as the nursing market. The economy has really hurt the health care field. It may be worse for hygienists than nurses ultimately because nurses can work in so many aspects of the health care field. Hygienist are really confined to the office setting and maybe public health, far fewer opportunities...one of the reasons I gave it up and switched to nursing.

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what about hospitals "trying to control expenses", blaming the "health reform" because they have to "wait and see" so even if is a need of a nurse in the floor they "manage" to wait, they just post the job forever... or change the date of the posting. i went to this ltc where they have 30 patients per nurse!!! is that safe?? is that legal?... money talks.

i agree with caroladybelle and missbrahmsrn.

in another hand you have some other professionals looking for alternative paths since you can't find job in those areas, example teaching, tourism, marketing, etc. for example, if you have bachelors in tourism you can transfer and do bsn in 18 months. result you have a new load of professionals from those online schools.

is a way to stop that??? i am not sure.

that happen to the teachers, now there are 1000's of teachers in texas without a job. as result, is difficult for students in education who did all those years in a university to find a decent job.

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
what about hospitals trying to control expenses, so even if is a need of a nurse in the floor they "manage" to wait, they just post the job forever... or change the date of the posting. i went to this ltc where they have 30 patients per nurse!!! is that safe?? is that legal?... money talks.

unfortunately it is legal...it is certainly not safe, unless it is an alf where everyone is a walkie talkie and does not require much care...but i am sure that's not what you are referring to. i usually is 30 pt's per nurse, however that nurse does have cnas to help with care. usually the nurse is dispensing meds and doing treatments...but no, it's still outrageous.

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Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

Perhaps people are still flocking to nursing because they believe their is a shortage. It's unbelievable how many people,ie; neighbors, family, friends, strangers at the grocery store etc... still believe their is a shortage. They always comment about how many job offers I must have gotten last year when I passed the nclex. They get a good dose of reality when I tell them I got nothing for a few months and then just one. I was happy to get that!

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The confusion comes because the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is still projecting a huge nursing shortage NATIONALLY. That has nothing to do, of course, with what is happening locally. According to the bls there will be many more nursing jobs by 2018 than there are actual nurses. But, if you are in an area that is saturated, then that doesn't mean a whole lot to you.

I am in an area where there is still a need for nurses and grads are finding jobs. The statistics for job placement for the last 3 years from two of the nursing schools that I am applying to are: 98, 100, 99, and 90, 98 and 100 respectively. So that averages out between the two schools to be 97.5% job placement within 0-6 months of graduating. That's pretty good. But that's here. Across the state, new grads are going months and months and months with no offers in sight.

So, I think there is a nursing shortage nationally - and the statistics back me up on that - but there are also many parts of the country that are over saturated. So, in the end, as with most things, it comes down to location, location, location.

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Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.

I wish I knew where these fabled lands where they need nurses bad are. ;);)

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
I wish I knew where these fabled lands where they need nurses bad are. ;);)

I believe it's called OZ and it's located somewhere over the Rainbow...:)

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You know what I am doing working as a topless maid. I don't care if I get kicked off the site for pouring salt on the wound. Tried everything for 3 years to get work. Long list of excuses... not good enough, travel nursing made you a job hopper, degree not high enough, broken promises on hours, scam jobs, on-site interview cancelled, mentors and previous instructors tried, I have an Unemployment Rep, tried applying at McDonald's, Admin Asst., you name it I have heard and tried it. I need to make one of those Teddy Bear You Tube videos.

Funny never thought I would take my clothes off for money. Life isn't fair though and call me a whore. Not going to collect welfare. Oh yeah that works people might not even get their checks in August. My bills are behind 3 months, waiting for an eviction notice, and sitting here hoping for a job isn't working. My son is Autistic and needs a roof over his head for services. These days getting an education does not mean you get a job.

Who knows what is going to happen to nursing jobs. It seems like you need to be Miss America, a Stepford Wife, or a Noble Peace Prize winner to get one. I see posts of people in my area getting jobs or maybe even friends who have been out of nursing for years landing them. Or, even in other areas. I like the ones who were drug addicts or criminals getting hired. That is nice. I haven't done any of those things where is my job? Seems good things only happen to bad people too. I guess it all depends on who you know because I don't get it. Didn't deserve this.

Probably can't get my NP now either not with my new job selection. Seriously, what is the point those jobs will be gone too by the time I am finished. Totally, agree that the colleges just want money.

I shouldn't say anything on this site anymore as I am now a sour apple RN, or possibly rotten.

Everyone is different some of us are just not as lucky as the rest.

I went a long time working jobs that I was to embarassed to tell anyone about because I couldn't find a nursing job. Oh well, bills have to be paid somehow................. If you still want a nursing job have you tried applying to rural areas?

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my hospital system definitely underhires! if you dig enough you can find several articles where hospital execs freely state that it's cheaper to offer your current staff overtime rather than hire more staff. it sounds good to lots of people, i have plenty of coworkers who make tons of money working 12-24 hrs OT each week but they burn out pretty quick like that..the hospital system doesnt care, for each 2-5 year burnt out RN there are like 11 new grads right behind him/her. they are cheaper and in debt from schooling so they love OT...and so it goes round and round:uhoh3:

YES !!!! we must work at the same place or one of hundreds with this motto.................... where nurses work 12-36 hours OT, burn out, and another new grad is there to pick of that hole by the end of the week. lol

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Specializes in Med/Surg Oncology.

Diva I life on the space coast. True fact from "just a CNA", new nurse graduated in August 09 after being "just a CNA"..........was immediately hired by the hospital she worked at. Eight months later she was hired by the hospital I work for and has been with us 16 months. She was just hired as a RN at a gulf coast hospital. This past month they have hired 2 new nurses and our hospital chain is opening a new grad floor for the GRN program so the nurses can train before being placed on their new floors. There also are many listings for school nurses, VA hospital nurses, home health agencies and on and on.

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Hope63, I agree completely. Where I live (definitely not OZ) they are building new hospitals, not closing others down. New grads are getting hired and my friends who are nurses are able to easily change jobs.

There are definitely places where there are a glut of nurses and not enough jobs, but not everyone lives in those areas. But it seems very politically incorrect, at least here, to suggest that the nursing shortage is real in some Areas. I can understand the feeling...if you are struggling to find work, the last person you want to hear from is a Pollyanna spouting the good news that there is work somewhere other than where you live. That doesn't make it any less true, however.

I hope that the economy improves in all areas so that nurses all over can more easily find jobs.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I don't think anyone has said there are no jobs for new grads anywhere. I would never say that because someone is a CNA or a pre-nursing student they can't comment on the new grad RN employment market. That would be sort of ridiculous considering the scale of the question. There is a tone to some of these answers that sounds like maybe you wonder what all the fuss is about with all these people arriving on allnurses to ask questions or vent about this?

Instead of doing that why not post exactly where this booming area is here:

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/no-nursing-shortage-596899.html

If you don't want to disclose your location you could offer to PM people. People are really hurting out there.

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