NPs will "pick up the slack"

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I laugh everytime I read something that states nurses will fill the docs gap. I laugh because nurses have a bigger gap to fill in their own profession than MD's.

So then who's going to fill the worsening nursing gap? MA's?
 
At this point in time, there is NO nursing shortage. There is actually a glut of RNs coming out of school, many of whom cannot find work.
 
PICUPNP said:
At this point in time, there is NO nursing shortage. There is actually a glut of RNs coming out of school, many of whom cannot find work.
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There never was a nursing shortage. There was a shortage of nurses willing to work in certain settings for a given amount of pay (or under certain conditions for a given amount of pay). Even before the "nursing shortage more than 40% of RNs were not working in the field. The current economic conditions changed this somewhat (people were willing to move to undesirable areas or work under conditions they normally wouldn't). Once the economy picks up many of the senior RNs that held off retirement will retire, while the new grad RNs will continue to leave the field at their previous rate (greater than 20% in the first year). We will continue to train lots of nurses and will still have isolated "shortages".

In the physician world its the same way. There has never been a shortage of physicians. What is present is a combination of geographic maldistribution and unwillingness to work in certain places (conditions) for a given amount of pay. Since the pay in these places is largely driven by Medicare/caid payments its unlikely that these shortages will be filled NPs. If a physician couldn't make a go of it with 100% reimbursement how is an NP going to do so at 85%? The "shortage" will continue until the government fundamentally changes the way that primary care is reimbursed.

David Carpenter, PA-C
 
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