The "Nursing Shortage" - it's a myth!

There is no shortage of nurses in the United States. What we have here is a shortage of experienced nurses...and believe me, the difference is GINORMOUS!

Here is our experience (I say "our" because Tall is not going through this alone, I am suffering right alongside him as is our two girls, Lu and Birdie):  Tall was laid off from his job in 2005...a job he'd been at for over 10 years! Then one day, "thank you for everything you've done, it doesn't matter, here's a severance package. Be gone!"

Fortunately, his package included re-education. After many discussions and much research, Tall decided that nursing was it - the perfect blend of compassionate/logical/technical work.  He aspires to be a Nurse Anesthetist and he already had a good head start with a Bachelor's degree in his pocket - all he had to do was add the necessary medical prerequisites, apply and be accepted into the local nursing program (which is a national OCNE program and the nations standard for training), complete the two year program and then...after all that...pass the state boards to get his license!

And getting into the program isn't easy! There were over 400 applications alone to our little community college!  And only 72 were accepted (Tall being one of them, yeah!)!  Fast forward two years of non-stop studying, classes, clinicals, practicums (not to mention the extra practicums he took for the extra experience!), tests, studying for tests...I mean, Tall went through HELL and then, graduated WITH HONORS!!  Then he spent the next couple of months studying for the state boards, which he passed!  Then...THEN!! after all of this....nothing.

There is not one new-grad program locally or abroad that is available.  Not one job that wants him or any of the other graduates, except 4 which were lucky enough to have already been working in the department they wanted to be a nurse in before they started school.  There are no jobs! NO JOBS!!  And this is not a local problem!  It is NATIONAL!  Message board after message board of appeals to career nurses "where are the jobs?", "why can't I find work?" and all they say is "get work anywhere you can! The market sucks right now."

Talk about a let down!

Of course, you know that the economic collapse in 2008 played a big part in what is happening now. You see, when that tanked, taking all those 401k's with it, all those career nurses who were set to retire? Suddenly...didn't, because they couldn't afford to.  And then those same nurses yanked whatever was left of their 401k out before the rebound (Tall left his alone and it rebounded though it isn't much help to us right now) and so they got a double whammy and now they're hanging onto their jobs with bleeding nail marks!

And it doesn't end there...hospitals are not really there to help people heal...they are there to make money. That is the bottom line. So, when the collapse happened, among other business issues, people stopped coming in for treatment because, of course, they couldn't afford it.  And suddenly, you have a glut of staff on the books so, goodbye extra staff!  And now, the bean counters (who care nothing for actually helping people and everything for fattening the pockets of the shareholders) have their knives out and start hacking away at "non-essential programs", like...training new-grad nurses.

So now, if you are a new grad who watched the previous class (2008) graduate with 3-5 job offers in their pockets plus sign-on bonuses and tuition reimbursements, you are now in a situation where you can't even get into a program that will give you the necessary training so you can qualify for ANY nursing job, let alone the specialization you were hoping to pursue, like Acute Care.

And it gets even worse.  If a whole year goes by and you still can't find employment? Well guess what...you lose your "new grad" status and any programs (if there were any) you would have qualified for, you don't anymore because you've been "lapped" by the next graduating class (2010) and they're the new grads now, baby!

Here's the real blow to the gutt:  yes, there are jobs available.  In nursing homes, rehab centers, etc.  BUT!  Those places are under-staffed (again, thanks to bean counters and greedy shareholders) to the point of negligence!  There is NO WAY anyone can expect ONE NURSE to care for 30 - 45 patients at a time!  NO FREAKING WAY! and...AND!..because there is no "new grad" training, you walk in cold and hope to God you don't make a mistake that costs someone their life...AND if you DO make a mistake...GUESS WHAT!!!?  YOU LOSE YOUR LICENSE!!!  So all those years of work...are for NOTHING.  And you hope you don't get thrown in jail for negligence as well.  It's a set up for total and complete failure for the new grad and there isn't one. damn. thing. being done to fix it.

I do not blame Tall one freaking bit for being as careful as he's had to be in his job search.  ONE MISSTEP and it is OVER. So yeah.  Me and Tall, we feel pretty damn helpless! "Shove your foot in the door and get anything you can"...great advice except we're locked in a room WITHOUT ANY DOORS!!!!

And to add insult to injury? Hospitals would rather hire foreign nurses than expend just a little bit and train the glut of new grads eager and waiting to take any legitimate job available.

Nursing shortage?  HAH!  What we have in this country is a training/experience crisis that would be solved if hospitals actually would HIRE THE NURSES THAT ARE ALREADY HERE!!!!!

I need a drink.

If you don't believe me: RNs Find It Difficult To Find Jobs Despite Nursing Shortage