The one thing that most people count on when entering a hospital is that there are going to be nurses to take care of them. Yes, we do see a doctor when we are there, but doctors come and go intermittently. Nurses are the people we rely on. They check us into the hospital, take our vitals, and ensure we are comfortable while we are there. Imagine walking into a hospital and discovering that there are only 2 nurses for an entire floor. This is a reality that the nursing community is preparing for, as the predicted nursing shortage is looming whether the USA is prepared or not.

There are many factors that have caused alarm within the nursing profession and have resulted in the prediction of a massive shortage of nurses by the year 2020. Nursing enrollment in Universities is not growing fast enough, and there is a severe shortage of faculty to teach those already enrolled. As learning institutions require an adequate nursing degree teaching staff to be in place prior to accepting students for enrollment, there has been a lower acceptance rate for those applying.

Nursing has maintained it's popularity as a career since the 1950's, but there has a been a decline over the years from the height of the baby boomers entrance into the profession. As these individuals grow older and move into retirement, there are fewer younger nurses to fill their shoes. Without a steady influx of students into the schools, the numbers of nurses leaving the profession cannot balance out with the number of students entering. As well, the nurses who are currently working in the profession have a high rate of burnout, which results in them leaving earlier than retirement ages.

The bottom line is that a lower nurse to patient ratio means that more people will be inadequately cared for and perhaps even die in emergency situations. The main strategies that are being put into place focus on education. The recently introduced NEED Act for example, will access Capital Grants to expand nursing school faulty and enrollment. Nursing schools are seeking partnerships with private sector companies in order to boost funds to create enrollment and offset the costs of running the programs. On a statewide level, Governments are looking for private sector funds to match the amount that the state can invest in nursing programs. A Nursing Education Capacity Summit took place in February of 2009, and health leaders from 47 states came together to rewrite policy on nursing education, retaining faculty, and curriculum.

It is truly frightening to think of what could possibly happen within our health care system if the current policy makers and educational institutions cannot come up with ways to combat the rising nursing shortage. Nurses are the backbone of our health care system, and without an adequate number of them in hospitals, care homes, and public health units, our growing population will suffer.

Labels: Healthcare, Nurse Educator, Nursing Career, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Shortage, Recruit Nurses

Nursing school graduates face a sparse job market in California despite projections for a massive nursing shortage in the state.

Before the recession brand new nurses could find jobs wherever they wanted in California even in tough job markets like the Bay area.

Back in 2004 state labor affairs officials estimated that California would need at least 9,000 new nurses a year.

But over the past 18 months thousands of graduating nurses have found it almost impossible to land a job.

Many hospitals have set hiring freezes and closed down clinical services. In addition, a lot of nurses that were expected to retire have not chosen to do so. Many have decided that because of the recession they were no longer in a financial position to retire, or perhaps their spouse lost a job and they needed to remain employed.

So a lot of reasons are related to the economy is why we have this temporary lift is what we still believe is a long term shortage of nurses.

Most economists agree that as soon as the economy turns around nurses will again begin retiring and there will be jobs for all of this year's 10,000+ graduates and many more.

In the meantime though, professionals in the healthcare field are taking action to keep trained nurses in California by either encouraging continuing education with an RN to MSN degree or by offering hands-on clinical training so they can compete with experienced nurses for roles that do open up.

Deloras Jones, president and executive director of the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care worries that this economic blip could threaten statewide efforts to build a stable long term nursing workforce. "We're concerned about nurses leaving, going to other states definitely or worse, leaving nursing altogether and going into some other field. The longer they're away from school they are at greater risk of losing what they have learned and that's why it would make it more difficult for them to be employed."

Relief for New RN's looking for work
Even where there are jobs available, hospitals would rather hire an experienced nurse over a new graduate.

New RN's can't expect to immediately graduate and go onto the floor and handle very complex medical patients. There needs to be an opportunity for those nurses to be mentored by experienced nurses and give them time to really get their clinical expertise up to a level that many hospitals need.

Graduates must also learn to be open to job opportunities outside of their first choice markets and might consider getting jobs out of state.

To help nurses wade through the recession, the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care is sponsoring community based programs that give new grads an opportunity to work in the field and pick up some of the skills they would normally get in an entry level nursing job. One of those new programs is a partnership between Kaiser Permanente in Northern California and Samuel Merritt University in Oakland.

Graduating students who pass their RN exams are placed with nurse precepts and Kaiser hospitals. This program is offering them a structured clinical practice environment which includes classes and also time in a clinical setting so they can gain a deeper understanding of the healthcare environment in which nurses work.
The free 15 week program is the first of its kind in the nation. It expects to turn out 250 trainees this year and the CINH hopes to get funding to train another 1300 nurses.

Now is the time for continuing education
Some nursing schools are encouraging graduates to ride out the recession by continuing their education. UC-San Francisco School of Nursing as a 1-year RN program, but many students are opting to stay on.

Said Dean Kathleen Dracup, "About half our graduates used to leave an work for a couple of years as a nurse just to get that experience and then come back for their masters, and now they’re all just going straight through. With the idea that by the time they get their masters which is a two to three year program, then they will be ready."

Labels: Nursing Career, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Scholarships, Nursing School, Nursing Shortage, Recruit Nurses

Thank you to nurse educators and to Johnson and Johnson for a tribute to Nurse Educators.


Finding qualified Nurse Educators that are willing to take a decrease in salary to teach becomes a challenge for many nursing schools. Nurses with education degrees can sometimes make 3 times the salary if they elect to work in a hospital over working in a classroom. These days, it is quite common for Nurse Educators to work fulltime in a hospital and take a nursing college faculty position as a part time endeavor.

Nursing schools that can be flexible with instructor schedules will likely have a better recruitment rate and secure more specialized instructors.

Take the time to shape 1 mind and you might inspire 1,000 more.

Right now, all over America, understanding is breaking through. Techniques are being perfected. Hearts touched. Lives saved. All because one nurse educator took the time to shape one mind.

In huge lecture halls and tiny hospital corridors, at the end of an exhausting shift. And in the seconds between life and death knowledge is being shared, offered, planted, driven into eager minds that will take it and run and pass it on.

Light new fires and inspire others. Do you have it in you to become a Nurse Educator, willing to share all you've seen, what you've learned, your proudest achievements and most painful moments. Do you have what it takes to fan a spark into a flame? To inspire a new generation?

Behind every nurse who touches a life, there's a nurse educator who first touched them. Behind every life saved, a lifetime of experience shared. And when you see that flicker of comprehension, or watch one of your students succeed, there is no greater feeling in the world.

Not everyone has what it takes to be a nurse educator. It is an elite group comprised on the best and the brightest. The ones who want to give back and have the skills to do it, the medical instincts and training. Academic achievement, perseverance and compassion.

If you're one of the lucky few who has these gifts and you have what it takes to pass on your knowledge and inspire you may touch hearts you have never seen. Save lives long after you're gone. Impact generations you'll never meet.

One nurse educator can shape a mind. Her's shapes another and another. One mind can inspire 1,000 more. Maybe it will be yours. Shape the minds that save lives. Be a Nurse Educator.

Explore theses accredited online nursing degree opportunities below and request free no obligation information from any that interest you.

We recommend getting information from several schools so you can compare the programs, costs, time commitments and financial aid options.

Labels: Career Profiles, In the Hospital, Nurse Educator, Nursing School, Nursing Shortage, Nursing Student, Online Nursing Degree

No matter what you think of healthcare reform and whether you back President Obama's plan, one thing is for certain: The introduction of a new healthcare bill has brought the entire US medical system to the forefront of the media in a way that it has never been before. In light of such a drastic change, the medical profession has found their voices and has stepped up to be heard. No one is more willing to accept change than US nurses, and there are many issues on the radar for RN's in the next year.

Until recently, there has never been change in Washington that so directly affected a profession as the new healthcare reform bill will affect nurses. Politics and the nursing profession will go hand and hand in 2010, as many realize that they can affect change for citizens in their communities. Nurses will begin speaking out to their members of Congress and participating in debates as the voice of experience.

In addition, the health care reform has brought to light the need for nurses to be ready to deal with the thousands of individuals who never previously had health care. Nurses will no longer be on the sidelines; they will play a broad leadership role in developing new types of health care and promoting prevention within local communities.

Even with the success of accredited online nursing programs to train nurses, staffing will be a major issue in 2010. As the economy continues to recover, the need for nurses will grow but the amount of actual registered nurses will decrease as many leave the profession once their own economic situation stabilizes. The US has been looming on the cusp of a nursing shortage for many years, and with the baby boomers preparing to retire, the focus will continue to remain on massive hiring. It will be difficult to keep up with the demand for new recruits.

The entire model of how nurses perform their job must change, and the focus will be on organizing specific tasks and attempting to reprioritize so that nurses are not torn between many different tasks at once. New students who have recently taken the RN career path will be the leaders in new and innovative change to both quality and safety in the profession.

For those entering educational institutions to pursue nursing, the current employment situation is one of good prospects. Most students are able to secure employment immediately, although some have predicted that the application process will drop slightly as finding a job becomes more difficult. The desire for more academic faculty in Universities is a growing concern, as an influx of students requiring teachers will become a prominent concern.

The economic crisis and health care reform has caused true concern and the desire for change within the nursing profession in 2010. As more nurses stand up and make their voices heard with regard to the politics of health care, they are positioning the profession and the country on the path to a strong future.

Labels: Healthcare, Nursing Shortage, Obama, Online Nursing Programs, Universal Healthcare

People now have longer lives compared to generations ago. The explosion of the baby population will need vast medical care but nurses are insufficient

The scarcity of nurses may have a negative effect on medical care. It means an increase to the ratio of the number of patients per nurse, resulting to less attention to each patient. There will be fewer nurses to monitor the patient's vital signs and administer necessary medications. Nurses also offer a human face to a cold and sterile environment.

Based on a study on nursing made by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), there were 1,891,000 full-time equivalent licensed nurses on year 2000 but there was a demand for them to nearly 2,001,500. By 2020, it was seen that there will be less FTE nurses at an estimate of 1,808,000, yet the need increases to 2,824,900. It is estimated that the country could lack nurses close to 500,000 or even 1 million. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) made a similar projection in April 2006. In a report entitled "What is Behind HRSA's Projected Supply, Demand, and Shortage of Registered Nurses?" analysts show that shortage of nurses in varying degrees will be experienced by all 50 states.

Statistics also confirmed that the number of nursing school graduates has declined significantly. The Council on Physician and Nurse Supply, an independent group of health care leaders based on University of Pennsylvania, released a statement last March 2008. They concluded that that to meet the needs of the nation's health care, there should be 30,000 additional nurses to graduate annually either from traditional campus colleges or online nursing programs. This is a 30% increase compared to the present number of annual nurse graduates.

Additionally, fewer nurses choose to teach due to low income, which also affects the figure of new nurses. More nurses prefer to work for pharmaceutical companies because they offer higher salary than hospitals, clinics, emergency rooms, and other health care facilities.

Salaries and wages vary, depending on your location and specialization. To give you an idea, we listed below the median of annual salary figures from CBSalary.com.

• Registered nurse: $66,427
• Intensive care unit (ICU) nurse: $67,548
• Head nurse: $85,967
• Critical care unit (CCU) nurse: $67,016
• Nurse midwife: $98,008
• Home-care nurse: $65,507

Just like other professions, the nursing job is not for everyone. But if it appeals to you, this could be the right moment to take a look into it. The call for nurses will continue to increase in the coming years, so you will definitely be in demand.

Labels: Nursing Career, Nursing Jobs, Nursing School, Nursing Shortage, Nursing Student, Online Degree

One of the biggest problems facing healthcare today is the nursing shortage. There are at least 100,000 nursing vacancies across the country, but 500,000 registered nurses aren't working in their field due to dissatisfaction and a number of other causes. Combined with aging baby boomers who will need assistance in the coming years, America simply doesn't have the healthcare infrastructure to support the demand.

The Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence is doing their part to help right the shortage. The primary goal of the Jonas Center is to increase nursing recruitment and retention in New York City hospitals, but they hope to expand the limits of their philanthropy. The Center is funded in part by the Barbara and Donald Jonas Family Fund.

The Jonas Center aspires to reward and promote effective nursing programs and leadership. By signing grants to and acknowledging hospitals that meet and exceed the expectations of the center, the group hopes to decrease nursing vacancies and improve the diversity among nurses. Though the Jonas Center focuses on New York City, they recognize hospitals elsewhere as well.

One of the most important aspects of the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence's nursing recruitment and retention programs is their intermediary function. Representatives of the Jonas Center help to facilitate discussion between nurses, healthcare workers, lobbyists and business owners. These discussions can greatly improve nursing conditions by raising awareness of problems in the workplace and drawing attention to funding concerns. Furthermore, by involving lobbyists and policy makers, the Jonas Center helps to bring small scale changes to the national level.

Another impact of the Jonas Center is their work with grant-makers. Many fully-deserving hospitals and nursing programs miss out on excellent opportunities for funding because of simple ignorance. The Jonas Center fosters relationships between hospitals and the academic world, which helps to bring changes where they need to be brought. This connects the hospital directly with grant benefactors, greatly increasing their chances of getting the funds they need.

Furthermore, the Jonas Center brings even more grants to the market by encouraging donors to create grants for hospitals. By interacting with numerous philanthropic groups and donors, the Jonas Center is making it easier than ever for hospitals to find the funding they've lacked over the years.

The Jonas Center works personally with nursing leaders to improve conditions both in the workplace and in the entire hospital as well. The Center supports and provides leadership that works toward the betterment of everyone involved in New York City healthcare. By presenting the findings from these changes to medical journals and practices, the Jonas Center is creating a working healthcare model, an example to hospitals across the country.

This year, the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence gave four grants to institutions that met the standards for their Jonas Nursing Scholars program. The entire program is awarding $2.5 million to deserving nursing schools. The Columbia University School of Nursing was one of the beneficiaries.

Labels: Healthcare, Nursing Career, Nursing Shortage, Stimulus

When you enter the hospital to have a baby, who greets you? Although we associate our doctors with delivering our babies, often it's a nurse who walks us through labor and is with us from the first cramp until we wave goodbye with our newborn in our arms. Not every hospital stay is as happy as delivering a child, but the one constant throughout each and every visit we have to a hospital is the presence of nurses. Who then, can the general public rely on during a nursing shortage crisis? Although new graduates are entering the hospital workforce daily, they are struggling with the demand and overload of nursing shortage. The United States is in a clear nursing shortage crisis for many reasons.

Although there are many qualified students entering traditional campus and online nursing degree programs, there simply isn't enough instructors nor are there enough spaces to fulfill the current nursing shortage. This is due to the current economic crisis and lack of funding in schools, as well as fewer students willing to take on the financial burden of student loans and the credit card debt that they would incur to further their education. Even if there were enough spaces for interested nursing applicants, instructors are not as readily available as they have been in years past. Nursing instructors need to have a Bachelors degree at a minimum, with a Masters degree being preferable, in order to instruct. There are not enough nurses pursuing their higher degrees to overcome the demand.

New nursing grads are almost guaranteed to go through long periods of exhaustion and burn out. They work tremendous hours, and have the added stress of being the full support team for their patients. Whereas doctors simply examine and move on, nurses are required to be dedicated to the care of their patients. New nurses find that they have a very high patient to nurse ratio, and it would almost seem impossible to keep up with the demands of each patient over your shift if you have 5 people ailing to 1 nurse. Not only do they juggle many patients, they provide more over all care to their patients than physicians. The job is all encompassing, and put together with long hours and 2 week long stints without a day off, our new nurses are experiencing tremendous stress and pressure from the nursing shortage.

Extra burden is placed on nursing graduates, as their aging supervisors get ready for retirement. It's no secret in the US that the retirement of the large majority of baby boomers will put a huge strain on health care. Nurses getting ready to retire don’t have ready replacements in new graduates.

How do we lessen the burden on our new fleet of nurses? The only solution is to educate more nurses. In order to do so, we need to free up more spots in educational institutions. Our aging nurse population needs to focus on fulfilling educational supervisory roles as opposed to maintaining employment in the hospitals. Hospitals themselves need to put a heavy focus on restructuring within the hospital to diminish the impact of the shortage on individual nurses.

The nursing shortage is a vicious circle of stress, fatigue, and an overwhelming sense of helplessness at never quite being enough for their patients. Although many will say they are fulfilled by their careers, the sense that the job is never quite complete may never leave them. Perhaps with the new Government health care initiatives, the solution to the crisis is right around the corner.

Labels: Nursing Career, Nursing Shortage

Despite concerns about employment as a consequence of the recession, nursing vacancies grow steadily everyday. Over the course of the last ten years, Americans have experienced a nursing shortage the likes of which had not been seen since the 1960s. Despite attempts at righting the shortage, America is still looking at a gap of over 100,000 nursing positions nationwide.

It is almost impossible for the need for nurses created by aging baby boomers to be satisfied with current resources. Without major changes made soon by legislators, the vacancy rate could as much as quadruple. Obama's healthcare reforms could only exacerbate the problem by increasing the number of insured Americans by millions, without a healthcare infrastructure in place to take on the burden. There simply aren't enough nurses who to fill the demands.

Floridian Representative Robert Wexler has proposed a bill to help fill in the short term nursing crisis. The Democrat announced in May of 2009 that his bill would allow for the extension of 20,000 visas to foreign nurses every year for the next three years, bringing in 60,000 nurses total, and providing for 60% of today's shortage. Should the bill in its current form not pass through the Senate, legislators plan to add an immigration reform package to the bill. Obama spoke to the legislators about the bill this summer in order to discuss even further immigration reform.

Many proponents of the bill to allow immigrants to fill positions in American hospitals are looking for temporary relief. Unpopular areas have a difficult time attracting qualified nurses, and the bill would help to assuage this problem. Dozens of nurses from Canada, the Philippines and Mexico would be eager to take any position, regardless of the area. Though these visas would eventually expire, sending the nurses back to their nations of origin, hospitals currently undergoing shortages of registered nurses would be helped quickly.

Labor unions disagree. Unions are arguing that providing a foreign labor source would limit the incentive of hospital administrators to create more pleasant working environments because they know that their positions will be filled no matter how they treat their employees. Labor unions are afraid that removing such a significant number of nurses from other countries could cause nursing shortages overseas. Bringing in already accredited registered nurses who have been driven from the field by stagnant pay and poor work conditions is the favored plan, as it brings experience back to the field.

Supporters of Obama's healthcare reforms also reject Representative Wexler's Bill, hoping that Obama's economic stimulus does enough to promote a long term solution to the nursing shortage. Obama included $500 million to benefit healthcare workers, by increasing education and encouraging students to pursue the field either at traditional universities or via distance learning with an online nursing degree. Additionally, Obama hopes to cut down on the effects of the recession by increasing the capacity at nursing schools, allowing workers from other industries to gain the education they need to become nurses. This would cut down on unemployment while closing the nursing gap, simultaneously.

Labels: Government, Immigration, Nursing Shortage, Obama, Recruit Nurses

As one of the few remaining United States industries with any growth, the health care sector is becoming an attractive option for American workers. With more gainful employees being fired by the day, these workers are looking to the future for other opportunities.

While America has been laying off its workers, hospitals have been hiring them. Today's vacancy rate of 16% reflects the constant shortage of American nurses in hospitals.3% as noted by the American Health Care Association in 2008, is the worst reported since the sixties. This shortage, according to Health Affairs, a policy journal, started about a decade ago in 1998 and peaked in 2001 with an average vacancy rate of 13%. This shortage can only increase in the upcoming years, as older generations require medical care that cannot be provided by current hospitals.

The nursing shortage itself has been driving nurses out of the workforce. Dissatisfaction with long hours and understaffing has caused many nurses to look into alternate employment opportunities. This has exacerbated the problem even further, as the nurses that make it through crowded nursing schools don't necessarily enter hospitals after graduation.

Lay offs and cut backs are sending these nurses back to hospitals. Most nurses think of hospitals as being recession-proof due to the need for the procession, keeping the workers in the industry. Sadly, the recession may be responsible for the filling in of the nursing shortage in the short term, since nurses of retirement age are forced to continue working in order to provide income and health benefits for their families. Long term effects will doubtlessly show a shortage increase again when these nurses are finally able to resign.

Researchers are finding that the nursing shortage has decreased slightly, as nurses reenter the workforce, and current nurses work more hours to increase pay and work for years rather than retiring, due to spouse's lost job and a lack of health insurance. This could actually conclude the nursing shortage in some parts of the United States, as small towns and rural areas are hardest hit by the shortage.

A little less than a quarter of a billion nurses joined the health care workforce in the last year, which represents a greater jump than any other in the last twenty years, says Health Affairs. For example, Truman Medical Centers has seen a 13% drop in vacancy rates from 20% to 7% in the last year alone. Using techniques that maximize recruitment and retention, such as funding for continuing education and online nursing degree programs, can be a deciding factor in the success of a hospital.

The recession favors older nurses over young nurses, which can be disappointing for new graduates. Though positions in hospitals are open, many administrators prefer experienced workers, and will wait to hire a nurse reentering the field, rather than a new nurse on his or her first assignment. These hires will eventually find placements, but the process may take longer than they had originally expected based on the economic climate.

The majority of nurses hired in the last year are already approaching retirement age, with only a third between 21 and 34. Recruitment in other countries will help bridge the nursing gap in the short run. Almost twice as many nurses are foreign born today compared to the numbers from twenty years ago, and 10% of these foreign born nurses moved to the United States in the years since the shortage peaked.

Labels: Healthcare, Nursing Career, Nursing Shortage, Online Nursing Degree

Across our nation, healthcare facilities are dealing with the most severe deficiency of qualified nurses in over 50 years. All types of agencies are now involved with their attempts to infuse nurses into the system, be it funding, legislation or volunteerism. While the recent efforts have move things in the right direction with a 2% increase in the number of working nurses last year, the reality is that hospitals need to hire 95% more nurses over the next 15 years to fill the demand.

When ads for nurses are in trade magazines and newspapers, you have the first signs of a regional shortage. When salaries rise, this is indicative of a larger shortage, following the rules of supply and demand. However, today's economy has nurses being laid off, and overstaffing is driving nurses out of the work force as a consequence of dissatisfaction.

The recent recession has had a negative impact on funding for recruitment as well. Money spent on advertising and wage increases has diminished, which limits recruitment to some of the lesser effective forms of recruitment.

Support for pro-nurse legislation is an effective means of recruiting nurses to your hospital. Showing that you care about nurse-to-patient ratios intimates care for the nurses, as both a group of workers, and as individuals.

Hospitals that provide sign-on bonuses for specialized nursing, like labor and delivery, or undesirable positions, like night shifts, do well in attracting applicants. Because studies are showing that specialized nursing fields are getting the worst of the nursing shortage, some hospitals are offering the nurses already on staff scholarships and other opportunities to be trained in these areas, like emergency room and critical care.

Billboards, commercials, website ads and other means of advertisements have continued to be proven method for nurse recruitment. Public service announcements provide valuable information about one of the only remaining American industries experiencing growth. One of the biggest untapped resources in the nursing field is man. Advertisements that appeal to men, rather than women, can help bring in both jobs and diversity in the workplace.

Increased salaries is a significant factor in advertising for applicants. Yet wage increases and increases in non-wage benefits, like health club memberships, benefits currently employed nurses more than the new nurses. Over time, the nation will experience the challenge of nursing shortages as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age.

International recruitment provides short-term relief of the nursing shortage. International advertising for nursing roles has increased recently hoping that qualified applicants will make the move and immigrate to America knowing that there are many openings. While this is often the case, the long-term benefit is not there since these nurses will eventually go back to their country of citizenship, leaving the hospital with the same vacancies.

Increased focus on programs that offer financial aid for nursing degree programs can have a positive impact on the number of healthcare workers that can feel these vacancies in the near future. As more financial aid is available for prospective nursing students, the number of graduates will increase and fill the open roles in the heathcare facilities across the country. Affordable schooling can open a lot of doors for hospitals.

Lastly, a hospital's ability to retain their staff for long periods of time can be their best asset when recruiting nurses. Offering benefits and education opportunities makes for a happier staff, and one that would be more likely to advertise your hospital by word of mouth.

Labels: Nursing Shortage