Nursing Industry Desperate to Find New Hires
This chronically understaffed field isn't being affected by down economy. Applicants for nursing jobs are still so scarce that recruiters have been forced to get increasingly inventive. The long-standing U.S. nurse shortage has led to chronic understaffing that can threaten patient care and nurses' job satisfaction.
Recruiters across the country have tried similar techniques, offering chair massages, lavish catering and contests for flat-screen TVs, GPS devices and shopping sprees worth as much as $1,000.
Even strong salaries aren't doing the trick. Registered nurses made an average of $62,480 in 2007, ranging from a mean of $78,550 in California to $49,140 in Iowa, according to government statistics. Including overtime, usually abundantly available, the most experienced nurses can earn more than $100,000.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts about 233,000 additional jobs will open for registered nurses each year through 2016, on top of about 2.5 million existing positions. But only about 200,000 candidates passed the Registered Nurse licensing exam last year, and thousands of nurses leave the profession each year.
Some hospital departments where experience is vital, such as the emergency room or intensive-care unit, simply cannot hire newly minted nurses. So managers in those areas have even fewer staffing choices.
Nurses qualified to teach aspiring nurses are scarce chiefly because they can make at least 20 percent more working at a hospital, experts said. "It can be hard to turn down that extra money," said Robert Rosseter, the associate executive director of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in Washington, D.C.
Attracting good candidates is about offering good working conditions, he said, but creative recruiting goes a long way in generating a buzz. "Bottom line, you need to get people excited about what you're offering," he said. "If you don't, they can easily go elsewhere."
(MFW note: This is becoming a tricky field to publicize. The Sunday Star Tribune article on a recently laid-off nurse showed some of the nuances--most openings are for specialties, such as OB or surgery. Hospitals are cutting staff due to lower numbers of patients who have lost health insurance coverage or are postponing elective surgeries. Generally, though, the shortage will be around for a while. The Occupations in Demand ranking for RNs is #1 and LPNs #11.)
Source: Associated Press, 1/5/09
