Recession Ending Nursing Shortage?
Here’s a tiny silver lining in the bad economic news that’s been smacking us in the face almost every day for the past year. The recession apparently has solved a problem in the healthcare industry, at least temporarily. A study out of Vanderbilt University shows that a decade-long nursing shortage has nearly disappeared in the past year. Researchers found that more nurses are delaying retirement or coming out of retirement because of demolished 401K’s and partners who have lost their job. The nursing shortage might be over for now, but experts warn as the economy recovers and baby boomers age we could see an even worse shortage over the next decade. Check out the story that we shot at Vanderbilt Univeristy Medical Center and Emory University Healthcare.
done
Brooks Blanton has been with FOX News since July of 2006 as a producer based out of the Network's southeast bureau in Atlanta. Prior to working for Fox he was a senior producer, investigative producer and assignment editor for stations in Phoenix, Arizona. He has covered many impacting stories such as the deadly track of the Super Tuesday storms that ripped across Arkansas and Tennessee in February 2008, the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech and the celebrations in Miami when Fidel Castro gave up power over Cuba. 
What are you, nuts? This is a disaster. That has not ended the nursing shortage… only made it worse.
Lord, do you not know any of the facts? The nursing shortage is in it’s infancy. It has only begun. Good lord. We are short 100,000 nurses… and all hospitals are doing is putting on hiring freezes and cutting hours, eliminating overtime. All this is going to cause nurses to LEAVE the business.
So, what we will have is an accelaration of nurses exciting the business, adding to the shortage that still looms there….
What, are babyboomers going to stop aging? Is the average age of a nurse going to magically regress to 27 instead of 47? Are we going to actually, due to the recession, NOT going to need medical procedures in the coming 10-15 years?
Hmmm… what I suspect will happen is that Americans will grow older. They will need more services right when what nurses we have left, are retiring.
And then where will we be?
Todd
thanx alot .
They should have Bridge Programs for LPN’s to become RN’s. LPN’s have more Clinical hours than RN’s. If they had more Bridge Program’s available in each State then they wouldn’t have such a shortage.
A lot of women have chosen to become CNA because it is a rewarding job from the spiritual point of view, so in the long run I don’t think we might face a nursing shortage. Anyway we can implement an emergency plan to form health care tecnicians; it has worked successfully in other countries. It can also work perfectly well here.
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I am a LPN of 27 years experience. We do work short handed but it is generally a matter of facilities hiring and paying an appropriate wage for the many hats we wear. There are nurses out there, they just decide it is not worth it. Patient/nurse ratio needs are not always taken into consideration.
We care for pople with contagious diseases, nasty vile wounds. We are hit, kicked, slapped, scratched, spit up-on, cursed,Urinated, deficated, bled and vomited on. We see some of the worst cases of the dying that are not pretty. Dying is not just a person laying in bed and drawing a last sighing breath. We watch people rot to death and dye piece by piece and I’m not talking about arms and legs.
Ourhands are tied by the government and insurance companies as to the amount of time and money spent on care of the patient and treatments needed. Health care is not always an exact science. What works for one patient will not work for everyone as many conditions conflict with the usual treatments.
Many nurses leave nursing for less back breaking/abusive jobs. Nurses are expected to catch the mistakes of others as we are the final go-through before other services reach the patient. We Require ongoing education to keep liceanses &certificates current. Not cheap.
Our jobs are very hazardous. Health care is very much like a hazardous landfield. A very physically, mentally & emotionally exhausting career.
The United States is at 11 trillion dollars of deficit. However, I would not think nursing would have a major effect of the deficit. This is quite amazing because people are dying every day and babies are being born every day. Not to mention, the ones that are being injured in car accidents that need s to be treated by a nurse. By any means, I think the nursing industry should increase. Having a shortage in the nursing industry can affect a person health
The United States is at 11 trillion dollars of deficit. However, I would not think nursing would have a major effect of the deficit. This is quite amazing because people are dying every day and babies are being born every day. Not to mention, the ones that are being injured in car accidents that need s to be treated by a nurse. By any means, I think the nursing industry should increase. Having a shortage in the nursing industry can affect a person health.