nursing shortage, my eye

So, this whole bit about there being a nationwide nursing shortage is baloney. (Aside: the food item is bologna; the ridiculous piece of information is baloney. Weird, huh?) I mean, I can't tell you about even one nurse who has benefited from this alleged lack of manpower. It does make for some pretty fun recruitment events, but after all the cheesecake and chocolate mousse is gone, there are no jobs to be had. I take that back; there are many jobs to be had. It's just that no one is getting hired.

Here are two examples of this nursing shortage insanity: I recently shadowed a friend of mine in her job as a dialysis nurse. She is among the few I've heard say positive things about her job, so I wanted to take a look and figure out if dialysis might be the place for me. While I was 'visiting,' one of the dialysis techs pulled me aside and asked me if I might be looking for a job. I said that I would love to find an aide position for the summer, to kind of get my foot in the door for when I graduate this December. She said I ought to look for a tech position. It pays a lot more and requires no more experience. So, they were hiring two techs in dialysis, and I applied and interviewed. The nurse manager excitedly informed me that I would have a job just as soon as she called human resources, as long as they were allowed to make the position per diem (it kind of has to be for me to finish school).

Needless to say, it is weeks later, and I have no tech position. Let me add that the tech positions were created to ease the burden of hiring so many nurses. These people do many of the tasks a nurse would do, without the educational requirements.

Example #2: This one is from an area in the country similar to mine; there are basically two major hospitals in the area, and both are crying "Shortage!" Yet neither one is hiring. One of the hospitals has begun to pay agency/traveling nurses eighty dollars an hour just to fill the spots! Why, I ask myself, WHY?! Why on earth would you choose to pay an agency nurse quadruple what you would pay your staff nurses, when there are nurses out there looking for jobs? I just don't get it.

Let's just hope this doesn't turn into the boy who cried wolf.