Nursing Job Shortage Will Abate

Experienced Nurses Will Continue to be in Demand

By Joyce Routson

A job shortage for nurses has even experienced ones asking, "When will this be over?"

An 18-month-long economic crisis has created a tight job market for newly graduated nurses and those re-entering the workforce. It's meant senior nurses who might otherwise have retired continuing to work and it's kept experienced staffers from picking up any extra shifts. In rare cases, it's meant layoffs and cutbacks.

While nursing employment tends to be cyclical – and veteran RNs have faced tight job markets before – the current situation has had recruiters and hospital managers scrambling to figure out what happens next.

Just a couple of years ago, nursing was touted as a recession-proof profession. With projections that the nation would face a severe shortage of 800,000 nurses by 2020, nursing schools ramped up to admit more students. Today those students are finding it difficult to land a job, as tough economic times have meant there are few openings.

"Typically when the economy turns down, nurses who work part-time or are close to retiring continue to work because they need to – to cope with their husband's loss of a job or because they need the money," says Aline Holmes, MSN, RN, and an executive with the New Jersey Hospital Association.

In addition, people are putting off elective procedures, which mean fewer admissions and patients – and no need to add staff. "Our vacancy rate is at an all-time low," said Lydia Ostermeier, MSN, RN, CHCR, a director of nurse recruitment at Clarian Health in Indianapolis.

On the whole, the situation is positive for employed nurses – after all they have jobs. Ostermeier says nurses at the Clarian hospitals are "very happy" with the fact units are fully staffed, although "there's not a whole lot of overtime" available. At Children's Hospital Central California in Madera, Calif., there is little movement among nurses, says Dennis Yee, CHCR, recruitment consultant. "Most of the nurses employed have made the decision to stay with their current employer. They're saying, 'Let's ride out the storm through this difficult economy.'"

Yee said his hospital is adding 30 new nursing positions in the new fiscal year, "not a large number." At Clarian's six hospitals, Ostermeier said, "managers are being more selective. They're really looking for experienced RNs."

Yet both Yee and Ostermeier, who are officers with the National Association for Health Care Recruitment, are busily preparing training  – and retention – programs for nurses.

Why? They say a turnaround is coming – perhaps as soon as the first quarter. "When a turnaround starts to occur, it tends to go in the other direction," Yee says, meaning experienced nurses may be looking to jump ship. "All of the sudden you've alienated a group of new grad nurses and taken them out of the job market. Now where are they when we need them?"

His answer lies in a comprehensive development program for staff nurses, designed to keep them with the hospital. "We get them on a career path," he says. "If they're not and are still in the same RN position and we've not given them any opportunities, they'll look elsewhere when the economy changes."

At Clarian, Ostermeier says the organization has a career advancement program that  allows the bedside nurse, called a "partner," to advance to the next level of associate partner, where he or she is involved in departmental committees or with the charge nurse, and gets a pay increase. That in turns leads to senior partner status, which again comes with additional pay and more responsibility including hospital-wide or system-wide committee decision-making.

Clarian also has on-site education programs leading to master's degrees, continuing education courses, and tuition reimbursement.

The New Jersey Hospital Association was just awarded a $732,000 grant for a program to train and support nurses so they can spend more time with their patients while increasing job satisfaction. Forty-seven hospitals will take part in the program, said Holmes, director of the association's Institute for Quality and Patient Safety.

"We plan to measure the effectiveness of the Transforming Care at the Bedside initiative by monitoring nursing retention and turnover rates, patient safety and by surveying staff, manager and chief nurse executives," said Holmes.

Meanwhile, new nurses are being urged to stay in touch with potential employers. Hospitals don't want to lose them, Yee says, after this "temporary" setback. "We want to be prepared."