We’ve been hearing for years that nurses are in short supply.
But the economy has put a damper on that notion. Contrary to that popular belief, nurses looking for a job are having a hard time finding work. The recession has forced nurses close to retirement to keep on working, and part-timers looking for more work.
At one hospital near Washington DC, there were precisely zero openings, something that hasn’t been seen in 20 years.
The good news is that the recession will eventually end, and that the underlying shortage of nursing staff hasn’t changed. I suspect that within a year, we’ll see newspapers again trumpet how dire the nursing shortage really is.
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I’d like to see figures on people enrolling in nursing programs. I bet it has risen dramatically.
No, It’s the Economy Stupid! The nursing shortage is real and undeniable. The state of the economy is creating smoke and mirrors to make the shortage seem negligible. I can give you an anecdotal example of the state of nursing in the hospital where I work. I consider it a dichotomy of the nursing situation in general. On the day shift alone we have at least 10 nurses who are working past retirement age because their 401k’s are in the toilet. These are 65 year old plus nurses working 12 hour shifts on their feet 90% of the time. Our hospital has a hiring freeze. Even when we are extremely busy and need nurses, we work short staffed for budgetary reasons. It seems we just can’t win. Just because a hospital has zero nursing position open, does not mean the do not need nurses. They just can’t afford to hire them.
Dear Elderguru,
There may be more people applying to nursing school, but the shortage of nursing instructors is even more severe than that of staff nurses. Plus, I do not want to see any sucker applying to nursing school because they are desperate for a job. It reminds me of the Onion headline “Doctor Trying To Get Unemployed Friend a Doctor Job.” Become a nurse because you want to be one, not because you are desperate.
It’s quite true that the shortage is being masked by hospitals trying to make the most of the staff they have and NOT hiring.
Many hospitals are currently playing the “float pool” game. By eliminating overtime and hiring more per diem staff, they can have full time equivalents that cost the hospital a few dollars an hour less than a nurse with full benefits.
The real COST however is the lack of stability that the “nurse in the field” feels when they have to rely more and more on people that simply “float” into their departments.
Healthcare is a team sport and as anyone knows, any team member that is not taking the load OFF of you is putting the load ON you. Float staff relieve the work load more on paper than in real life leaving the “nurse in the field” with more on her plate at the end of the day than if she had a full time committed team member helping her out.
Sadly, management is almost always short sighted seeing dollar signs in one column and employee satisfaction (and patient outcomes) in another. The truth is, they are deeply interrelated.
But the topic is not the economy…is there really a shortage of nurses in the US? I suspect yes, but I would love to see the numbers. We here a lot about manpower shortages and I know the numbers for physicians will be outstripped by the growth of baby-boomers hitting Medicare, so I can only expect that we will not have enough nurses.
The economy is certainly forcing previously part-time nurses back into regular routines. Nursing is a career that provides a lot of flexibility and historically offers chances to work/earn under the nurses control. Now we are seeing more labor in the market AND the hospitals need to watch the bottom line.
But none of this answers the question about a shortage or a coming shortage…Anyone have numbers out there?
A couple people in my ER who just graduated nursing school couldn’t find jobs as nurses in my state–another found one in a clinic. One girl had 40 people in her class, and only 1 had a job anywhere in the state upon graduation. There are hundreds and hundreds of hospital nurses being laid off…
We get letters asking for volunteer reductions in hours or voluntary retirement…people are being canceled (mandatory canceling–no pay) left and right, and people are having to move outstate to find jobs.
No shortage in my state.
I recently changed jobs, and while the newspaper here in FL was going on about the nursing shortage, I was cooling my heels for two months before I found another position. I think the shortage, at least right now, is kaput.
Shortage is relitive. Eliminate positions and your vacancy rate drops.just make the nurses take more patients. The solution is ratios. Then you get a true picture of what the demand is rather than manupilation of your vacant positions.
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