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Thread: Available nursing jobs shrink in 2009

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    Available nursing jobs shrink in 2009

    BUSINESS JOURNAL REPORT ON WZZM NEWS


    McCurren
    Available nursing jobs shrink in 2009
    Elizabeth Slowik
    After years of begging for applicants, nursing jobs this year have become tougher to find.

    Nursing leaders in West Michigan blame the economy for causing employers to pull back on hiring, leaving new nursing school graduates with fewer choices and experienced nurses lining up for work.

    “I don’t know that it’s unique to West Michigan,” said Shawn Ulreich, chief nursing executive at Spectrum Health and chair-elect of the West Michigan Nursing Council. “Across the country, demand is down a little bit.”

    Grand Valley State University’s Cynthia McCurren, dean of the Kirkhof College of Nursing, said she had no information about the number of GVSU nursing graduates with jobs this spring.

    At the University of Detroit Mercy’s McAuley School of Nursing at Aquinas College, Chair Robi Thomas said about half of this year’s graduates have jobs and the rest were still in the interview process.

    “The difference our seniors are finding is they don’t have multiple job offers and they don’t get to pick the shift they want to work on,” Thomas said. “The difference is they aren’t getting five or six job offers.”

    Experienced nurses are still needed, but hospitals and doctors’ groups just aren’t busy enough to hire as many as last year, added Charlie Ferro, president and owner of Diversified Medical Staffing, a company he moved to Grand Rapids last year to take advantage of the burgeoning health care sector here.

    Ferro said consumers are cutting back on health care and that has softened demand for nurses.

    “Most of the state is down,” said Ferro, who supplies health care personnel across Michigan and into northern Ohio. “People are not having scheduled surgeries. People are under insured or not insured, and they’re not going to the doctor, they’re not having things done. We have a surplus of staff right now to place in hospitals.”

    Hospital job growth slid nationwide in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hospitals created less than 6,200 new jobs during the first quarter of 2009, compared to 32,500 in the first quarter of 2008, according to the BLS.

    According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, nurses who had retired were forced back into the workplace because of the poor economy, and some who had been expected to retire are keeping their jobs instead.

    At Saint Mary’s Health Care, human resources leaders are trying to prop open the pipeline of talent at the same time that hiring is being trimmed to match patient volumes, Vice President Micki Benz said.

    “We did have a new grad day last Friday. Twenty-four new nursing grads met with our clinical people and talked about what openings there might be. We’re not sure what we’re going to have, but probably not as many as last year,” she said.

    Grand Rapids Community College Director of Nursing Programs Margaret Bowles said she is urging her students to be flexible.

    “We’re trying to encourage patience and flexibility,” she said of the 199 R.N. students.

    One set graduated in February and another group will graduate this summer. The new nurses are finding that they may not be able to pick shifts or specialties, and acute care settings may not be hiring at all, Bowles said. But plenty of opportunities exist outside of hospitals, such as home health care or long-term care, she said.

    About one-third of Michigan nurses are closing in on retirement age, Bowles said, and some of them are hanging on to their jobs because a spouse has lost a job or retirement savings have taken a hit. But the potential for openings in the future makes nursing still a good long-range bet for job-seekers.

    In a normal year, Spectrum Health hires 150 to 200 nurses, Ulreich said, including replacements and new positions.

    “I think it’s a blip, I really do,” she said of the current downturn in hiring. “I think the economy is driving this to a pretty significant degree.”

    Not long ago, the nursing shortage was on center stage, and Ulreich said the long-term trends are still there: The aging of the nursing work force, waiting lists for nursing schools and the sheer number of baby boomers needing services from hospitals, rehab centers and long-term care facilities. The BLS projected that there will be more than a half-million new nursing jobs created through 2016, the AACN stated.

    “Do I think everything has come to a head right now and demand is being met? It’s just not that simple,” Ulreich said. “It’s not that they’ve increased the number of students and now we have this plethora.”

    “We’re still going to have a shortage of nurses. Those trends aren’t going to be stopped,” Ferro added. “Hospitals will have their swings when they get busy again. They’ll bring back contract staff to get through the busy times.”

    The AACN recommends that new nursing graduates begin their job searches early and consider working in other states or outside of hospital settings. They should be willing to look at work outside the acute care setting and consider graduate school, either to improve patient care or to become educators.
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  2. #2
    Super Moderator cougarnurse's Avatar
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    Re: Available nursing jobs shrink in 2009

    Like I said here: http://www.ultimatenurse.com/forum/f...economy-36612/

    What a mess! It's all over, eh?

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    Moderator SoldierNurse's Avatar
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    Re: Available nursing jobs shrink in 2009

    Quote Originally Posted by cougarnurse View Post
    Like I said here: http://www.ultimatenurse.com/forum/f...economy-36612/

    What a mess! It's all over, eh?
    Hey Cat, you know these things go in cycles. The nursing profession is still one the most secure professions in these unstable times.
    Cary James Barrett, RN, BSN


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    Super Moderator cougarnurse's Avatar
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    Re: Available nursing jobs shrink in 2009

    I know, I know; heard about this cycle bit 20 + years ago. Here we go again with another one.

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