Nursing shortage

[ordinaryguy]

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I saw on the news recently that there still is a nursing shortage in hospitals throughout the nation and in schools. Do any of you have any ideas why there still is a shortage? A university near my home has a nursing program, which is impacted every year. I think anyone choosing nursing as a career will have no problems finding a job anywhere.

 

[EMRrn]

I am not sure there is an actual shortage of nurses rather there is a shortage of "working nurses". Many are leaving the profession. I agree though, wouldn't be hard to get a job!!

 

[Califlower]

The nursing shortage also affected the number of instructors available to train future nurses. That might be the reason why there is less seats available than the demand in your local nursing programs (i.e. impacted). The problem is that the average age of RN's working is pretty high, and it will probably get higher with more and more RN's retiring. Also, the age at which new RN's enter the profession is higher, which means they will be practicing for a less amount of years. Also, nurses are quickly getting burned out with overtime and a physically stressed job, further adding onto the shortage.

 

[fab4fan]

No shortage of nurses, just a shortage of nurses willing to put up with the crap that hospitals give them.

Getting a job shouldn't be difficult...finding a job you want to keep, that's the trickier issue.

Once hospitals figure out that it's not about $$, it's about safe staffing, safe work environment, zero tolerance for abuse from docs...and that's just scratching the surface.

So now we have a lot of experienced, skilled nurses who have found work outside of hospitals, and they are far happier. Some have left nursing altogether, taking with them their years of experience and expertise.

Other factors are mentioned in previous posts...what it adds up to is scary times for the future when we need care.

 

[Luanne123]

fab4fan you are soooo right.

 

[EMRrn]

Fab4

And with the boomers right around around the corner (both retiring and becoming pts) not to mention the problems with healthcare coverage in our country, things are only going to go down hill..agree?

 

[fab4fan]

You'd better believe I agree. You know the "Who" song, "My Generation"? There's a line that goes, "Hope I die before I get old." That is how I feel when I think about what kind of healthcare will be available for me in 20-30y.

Sometimes I get frustrated that docs don't seem to have a clue about how bad this situation is, but ultimately, we as nurses need to save our profession. It has to be under our direction. I think what is happening in CA is a good step, but there are so many disenfranchised nurses out there that I doubt safe ratios will be enough to bring them back.

 

[lloydchristmas]

It's a bad shortage, and only getting worse. I am a relatively new RN and can't wait to get out of the "trenches" of staff nursing. I'm counting down the minutes (492,479) till I graduate from grad school and move out of that **** hole I work in.