Category: Nursing Shortage

Why There Is A Nursing Shortage In Texas

If you have decided to become a health care professional, such as a nurse, you may wonder why there is a nursing shortage in Texas, or anywhere else. There are many answers to this question, and these answers are as diverse and varied as the population of this great state.

To begin the exploration of why there is a nursing shortage in Texas, you must first understand that Texas is big, and the different areas of Texas vary greatly. There are areas where there are about five people per square mile and there are areas that are very densely populated. There are boarder areas that it may seem more like you live in Mexico rather than the US where not many people want to live, and there are areas that everyone wants to live in.

Average age limits for Americans are now 75 years. This average age has been increased 5 more years than last 10 years. So lots of retired aged people are living longer and they require more  nurses aides for their daily routine. The other issue to look at as it pertains to why there is a nursing shortage in Texas is the different types of facilities, hospitals, nursing homes, doctor’s offices, all have different demands because not everyone wants to work in the different places.

The answer to why there is a nursing shortage in Texas really comes down to what a nurse is looking for. If a nurse wants to move to the Dallas Fort Worth area and work in a high demand hospital, there may not seem like there is a nursing shortage.

However if a nurse travels to a more rural or border area, there may not be enough nurses to give basic shift coverage. The least desirable areas are always going to have a harder time staying fully staffed, and this is why there is a nursing shortage in Texas.

If a nurse wants to easily get employment, these less desirable areas are why there is a nursing shortage in Texas, and a nurse can become part of the solution to the nursing shortage. If a nurse wants to live and work in a place where everyone wants to be then it will be somewhat harder to find employment and no shortage will seem apparent.

Why is there a nursing shortage in Texas? It depends on where you go, and where you want to work. The answer is simple, the nursing shortage is in the places people may not find the most desirable.

So decide if you would like to be a part of the solution to why there is a nursing shortage in Texas, and then do something about it.

Effects of nursing shortage

The national nursing shortage has been responsible for helping drive the pay for nurses up over the past decade. Today there is an even greater need for nurses and many of the nurses with special skills and training can ask for even higher salaries. You can step into a nursing career and now expect to make a starting salary up to 3 times greater than those who were graduating in the 1980s.

If you have wanted a respected career with a good future and high pay, nursing is a field that can offer you all this and more. The nursing shortage has created an unprecedented demand for qualified nurses and employers are willing to pay well to fill their positions. As a nurse you can find jobs in any area of the country and you have the opportunity to work in many different settings. Economic downturns will not result in layoffs and there is no shortage of available hours for you to work. Overtime is in plentiful supply for those nurses who want to take advantage of extra pay and extra hours.

Benefits of nursing shortage

The benefits of nursing shortage are that it has created a market where nurses can pick and choose from available jobs. This has made employers eager to offer tempting salaries and benefits packages in an attempt to attract more workers to their own institutions. Experienced and new graduate nurses can both take advantage of the higher pay that has been a result of the nursing shortage.

This open job market is making it possible for nurses to walk into high paying jobs in nursing straight out of school. Starting pay and benefits have been increased dramatically in an effort to attract more workers. Hospitals find themselves having to compete for qualified nurses with doctor’s offices, outpatient clinics, schools and industries. New graduates are now able to pick and choose the jobs in nursing that they want and they are well aware of the power this is giving them. 20 years ago, new nurses without experience were glad to get jobs, even though the nursing shortage was present then as well. Now that the shortage has reached critical proportions, employers are glad to find qualified nurses, experienced or not.

For experienced individuals, they have their choice among the best jobs in nursing and can expect to receive high pay and a good benefits package as part of the deal. They can even return to school to obtain advanced degrees and have this paid for as long as they agree to work for their employer for at least one extra year.

You no longer have to stay with a job that offers you minimum wage because one of the benefits of nursing shortage is that it has created thousands of opportunities. If you apply now to a nursing program you can be a highly paid professional nurse in as little as two years. There are community college programs and online nursing programs that are open to you now and you can fit the programs and courses into your busy schedule. So enroll in nursing today.

The Impact of the Global Nursing Shortage

Despite the fact that the world boasts a nursing population of somewhere around 12 million, there is a chronic shortage of nurses all over the world. This lack of skilled medical care is felt distinctly in third world countries, especially.

Causes of the Nursing Shortage

There are a number of reasons for the global nursing shortage. First of all, there is a lack of good training resources for the nursing profession. Often the conditions that nurses have to work in are exceedingly poor, as well. Additionally, there is a significantly large portion of the nursing population that is aging, which means that older nurses are leaving the profession through retirement, leaving behind a void that is not being filled as quickly by those new to the nursing profession.

Another cause of the shortage in nursing has developed due to the fact that there are a greater number of differing and unique employment opportunities for women nowadays. Since women comprise the majority of nurses, this has impacted the field greatly.

In the United States, the rise of managed care was a large contributor to the nursing shortage. Insurance companies were not reimbursing for nursing expenses, and so nurses were having difficulty working in the industry that sometimes thwarted their involvement.

Problem Areas

Globally, the hardest hit areas include both Africa and Southeast Asia. The surge of people becoming infected with HIV/AIDS has created difficulty in finding enough nurses to care for those sick and dying individuals in endemic areas.

Another issue globally is the migration of skilled nurses from hard hit areas in third world countries moving to better locations in first world countries. These positions pay better and the areas provide a better quality of living for the nurses, so it is understandable that they would want to migrate in large numbers to conceivably better places.

Some locations, such as Central and South America, actually have more physicians than nurses. This can be devastating to local populations, as doctors rely greatly on the medical support of nurses in their fields to care for patients. Without skilled nurses, the incidences of morbidity increase greatly. In Central and South America as well, there are so many populations in remote areas that are difficult to access, and it is even harder for nurses to work there or get there.

One of the biggest problems internationally with the nursing population and shortage is that nurses, being predominantly female, are often discriminated against for being female. Nursing is considered to be “women’s work” and beneath most males. This cultural phenomenon is absolutely a worldwide one, and until ideas about women in the workforce and nursing change, it is likely that this will continue to prevent women from becoming nurses and keep contributing to the global shortage of nurses.

When you combine all of these factors together, you can see that because there are so many, it is understandable that there is and continues to be a global nursing shortage. Hopefully as more time passes, this may begin to change.

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1). Nursing shortage in the united states

The Nursing Shortage In America Could Be Hazardous To Your Health

Nurses make up the largest group of medical professionals in health care today. Everyone has required the services of a nurse at least once in their lifetime. Nurses are present during a birth, and in every other aspect of our lives. There’s the school nurse you saw because you were pancaked on the asphalt by an overeager eighth grader during a game of keep away, there’s the nurse who comes to see you right before the doctor does, the one who takes your vitals and chats with you about your family. Nurses are in every aspect of our lives, ready to assist us in getting back on our feet when we need it.

There will be 1.1 million job openings next year in the field of nursing. A recent report notes with some alarm that the United States is suffering from a critical shortage of nursing professionals. Nurse to patient ratios are plummeting in thirty states, forcing many institutions to either close or run seriously understaffed. Neither choice is viable, and facilities have been turning people away.

While most emergency rooms have been so far able to keep this problem at bay, other parts of the medical profession suffer as nurses turn to specialties, and other more profitable careers. A lot of students entering college do not even consider nursing a viable career choice anymore.

Only the very dedicated take up the profession anymore. Unless something is done to change the status quot, this problem is only going to get worse for all of us. So much of our lives would change if there weren’t nurses available. The quality of medical care will continue to worsen.

Considering the demands of their careers, nurses should be paid much more for what they do. A country that can pay some guy a million dollars to hit a baseball, should be able to offer more to the people who do more for them. It is a sad thing to see, and something should be done to change it.

What this country should be doing instead of fighting wars, is trying to find a way to make the nursing profession more attractive to students considering college. As stated before, nurses don’t get nearly enough for what they do. It’s time America started appreciating her nurses before the nursing shortage in America becomes an epidemic.

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1). Nursing shortage by state

Jobless New RN’s, Immigration And The Global Nursing Shortage

Despite global nursing shortage, the new nursing graduates in the US often find it difficult to get hired. Most of the nursing jobs which are open require that candidates have at least one year of nursing experience – something which new graduate nurses do not have. Although there are plenty of jobs waiting to be filled, new graduate nurses aren’t qualified for most of them.

Very few employers are willing to hire new grads because they are more expensive to train. Their lack of experience requires they be supervised by a preceptor, and with the current global nursing shortage and the high turnover rate of staff, rarely is an experienced nurse available to take on the additional duties of training a new nurse.

Rather than investing the time and resources in these newly minted nursing graduates from US schools, many cost-conscious employers are opting to hire foreign trained nurses who already have experience in the field. Despite there being a global nursing shortage, employers are willing to recruit nurses from other countries to help meet the demand for nurses who already have experience.

Foreign nurses who migrate to the US site the higher salaries being offered to them as compared to what they are making in their native countries and the wider range of job opportunities for both themselves and their families as reasons for making the move. Immigration of foreign nurses is a side effect of the global nursing shortage which leads to a phenomenon referred to as “brain drain,” where those with the best education are leaving their native countries.

There are no easy solutions to the global nursing shortage. As schools in the US are increasing enrollment and educating more nurses, if new graduates are unable to gain on-the-job experience, the demand for professionally trained candidates who are eligible to fill the job openings available will continue to be greater than the supply.

Recruiting foreign trained nurses may be a temporary, less expensive solution in the short-term, but the resulting “brain drain” of the nurses’ native countries will likely exacerbate the international nursing shortage further.

Nursing shortage by state data

A shortage of nurses exists when the demand for nurses and nursing professionals exceeds the state’s ability to supply nursing staff. Often the demand is measured by the number of registered nurses per 100,000 people in the state. The shortage can also be calculated by the number of jobs in nursing available or the number of nurses per patient.

Shortages in nursing are not always due to a shortage of trained nurses in a state. Sometimes shortages occur because of an increased rate of hospital admittances, or the decreased number of students entering the medical field as nurses. Another factor that implies a shortage could be inadequate staffing ratios in health care facilities. Shortages also arise because of discontinued programs for trained nurses, or poor retention incentives for nurses already on the job.

The shortage of nurses has become a serious issue in the United States, and in some states in particular. The state of Alabama has the lowest ratio of nurses, with only 621 nurses per 100,000 persons. Wyoming has the largest share of nurses per capita, with an estimated 1580 per 100,000 people. While the national average is 860 nurses per capita, there are 18 states below the national mark.

The United States has had a long standing problem with nursing shortage, but the problem will soon get worse. Nursing educators cannot keep up with the growing demand. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates a need for approximately 233,000 additional registered nurses per year through 2016. This comes at a time when fewer candidates can pass the licensing requirements, and when thousands of nurses are leaving the profession each year.

Some nurses are leaving the field, causing shortages, due to insubordination of lesser workers, difficult working conditions and over regulation. Other reasons for dissatisfaction in the working environment include frequent schedule changes, overloaded staff, and not being appreciated by superiors. The difficulty in finding childcare adds to these other issues.

In addition to the problem of the shortage in nursing, Patient care has also decreased. Poor patient care arises due to overloaded patient to nurse assignments, and massive paperwork, coupled with short staffing.

In many states, health policies and practices have not changed for decades. Shortages due to cost is still the priority of the administrators. Nurses are rarely if ever consulted in reviewing and/or revising health policy. Health care reform is already rare, and the recommendations made by those who are actually providing the care, is almost never considered. Working conditions without any hope of policy changes is the major reason why nurses are leaving the field.

The trend in nursing shortage, already on the decline, along with the high turnover rate, means that the problem will decrease the morale of the already frustrated staff. Add to this, the failure of hospitals and medical administrators to attract the younger generation to enter the nursing field. Colleges have noticed a decline among students to consider nursing as a potential career. Many nurses already working would probably not recommend the career to their own children, and some would actually encourage them to avoid it altogether.

Hospitals who put finances above patient care frustrate those who’s calling and emotions tend to lean toward helping the patient, rather than insisting on the patient’s ability to pay. Nurses desperately need encouragement, support and counseling on a regular basis. But administrators see these “extras” as non-justifiable costs. Only clinical responsibilities, such as medicinal administration, dressing changes, catheter insertions, are qualified and included in the budget toward the care of the patient.

Retention of nurses should be an important consideration of medical administrators. Improving job satisfaction, the inclusion of counseling, and the verbal appreciation by superiors must be something that is addressed in order to keep the nurses already in staff. The shortage of nurses is a monumental problem that cannot be fixed easily or quickly. Nor can the problems be addressed when state budgets are severely cutting spending. Still states must consider the future of nursing staff requirements, and adopt plans that will improve the long-term picture.

The following chart lists the state by state registered nurses per 100,000 population:
Nursing shortage statistics by state

Alabama	644	Missouri	927
Alaska	653	Montana	930
Arizona	660	Nebraska	930
Arkansas	669	Nevada	942
California	675	New Hampshire	950
Colorado	690	New Jersey	951
Connecticut	690	New Mexico	953
Washington DC	725	New York	956
Delaware	701	North Carolina	975
Florida	753	North Dakota	984
Georgia	775	Ohio	988
Hawaii	781	Oklahoma	1,023
Idaho	814	Oregon	1,028
Illinois	834	Pennsylvania	1,031
Indiana	834	Rhode Island	1,035
Iowa	842	South Carolina	1,052
Kansas	850	South Dakota	1,053
Kentucky	859	Tennessee	1,056
Louisiana	860	Texas	1,060
Maine	871	Utah	1,103
Maryland	872	Vermont	1,109
Massachusetts	874	Virginia	1,116
Michigan	876	Washington	1,181
Minnesota	876	West Virginia	1,300
Mississippi	900	Wisconsin	1,313
Virgin Islands	635	Wyoming	1,580

So nurse shortage will not be filled until 2020 according to private study.
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