Nursing Retirements Have Critical Implications - Blogs - Nurse.Com Forums, terri_g:"An article in the today’s Washington Post, written by Darryl Fears, states, “Health-care economists and other experts say retirements in that group [nurses] over the next 10 to 15 years will greatly weaken the health-care workforce...” I am glad to see more attention being paid to the implications of losing our most experienced nurses.
Several years ago, I heard David DeLong, an expert on the aging workforce; speak about the notion of lost knowledge. He remarked that as highly experienced workers retire, companies lose critical information that resides deep within their minds. This concept resonated with me and I set out to learn how it applied to the aging nursing workforce."
http://forums.nurse.com/entry.php?714-Nursing-Retirements-Have-Critical-Implications&bt=2274#comment2274
Don't know about you, but I know a lotta nurses who are looking to retire as soon as the economy turns around. It isn't that far away.
How are we going to fare once we've lost our most experienced nurses?
Andrew Lopez, RN
Let's Connect!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/social/Nursing retirement is really inevitable, which is why the healthcare industry should also pay particular attention in training/honing the skills of new nurses! But I don't see that is happening now as hospitals and healthcare institutions are not that willing to hire new RN's!How then can we have the much needed skill of a nurse, if no one is willing to train us?? They should take advantage of the opportunity while expert nurses are still there to train novice nurses, so that they can hand down their practices to them.
The exclusive focus on economics is what has corrupted the operation of hospital-based medicine because staff is classified in terms of cost centers and not revenue generators. I understand the concept but disagree with it's application because from the bedside, I see the flaw in the reasoning. New grads are not the only nurses having trouble getting hired in hospitals. Seasoned staff are expensive because they have experience and certifications which command higher pay so despite their value, they are usually turned down in favor of applicants with lesser experience who command lesser pay. New staff are expensive because they require back up and mentoring for a long time before becoming independent. Increasingly greater numbers of increasingly sicker people are being admitted to hospitals that are staffed with fewer well experienced nurses and more having lesser experience. Sadly, allowing economics to drive the decision to hire staff with specialized training and insist that the lesser or least skilled professional be hired is leading health care institutions into a collision course with disaster.
In closing my diatribe; we are discussing highly trained professionals charged with the care of people suffering from a wide array of complicated disease processes, not entry level workers whose job is to keep the eggs and bread on top of the cans and boxes.
Interesting inquiry, Amy. I know many "retired" nurses who have become instructors and educators because they have found the transition from active clinical nursing to no clinical nursing too drastic. They are using their years of experience to teach new skills or update old skills which works for them because they stay in the game and augment their retirement income.
I'm sure you will be great.
Good luck.
Ricu,
This is a great Idea for those who are retiring to go into teaching if they want to gently transition away from nursing.
All to often they go back to work "perdium" in the exact position they retired from. Effectivly doubling their takehome pay.
Retirment is designed to free up jobs for the next generation.
They would be helping to foster the future generation of incoming nurses instead of taking jobs away from them.
NOW, all we have to do is convince the retiries in my area that this is a good idea.
It is beter to be a part of the solution than to be the cause of the problem.
Ricu wrote:Interesting inquiry, Amy. I know many "retired" nurses who have become instructors and educators because they have found the transition from active clinical nursing to no clinical nursing too drastic. They are using their years of experience to teach new skills or update old skills which works for them because they stay in the game and augment their retirement income.
Orion,
It is definitely better to be part of the solution. More than retirees hanging onto clinical jobs is a lack of clinical jobs in the first place. Legislators and policymakers insist that certain requirements must be met for places of medical care to be considered "adequate" and those requirements largely have to do with nursing presence however, since there is little $$ available to secure nursing staff, many medical care facilities remain substandard. Perhaps those regulators aught to turn their attention to this bigger problem and a lot of the other nagging issues of "overall satisfaction" would disappear.
R
This is a real cyclical problem that occurs regularly in any industry that relies heavily on Govt reinbursment. Like it or not healthcare/medicine is a multi-billion dollar industry that relies on Govt reimbursment to function. The out of pocket cash spend by the average consumer doesn't come near to covering the cost expended by institutions. The govt wants hospital's to do the same for more with less and in 5 to 10 years they will see that it doesn't work and hopefully fix it for real this time. Right now with healthcare reform the foreseeable future is dim for rank and file nurses. I never thought I would see the time when I would discourage people from going into nursing but right now I wouldn't recomend it. Nursing has been very good to me - but even my end is suffering severe cuts and I haven't had a raise in years. My job has other compensations that make it worth the effort like free gass for my car and very flexible working hours but I will most likely retire as soon as I can. Maybe I will go on to teach. Who knows.
Peace
Hppy
The problem with doing more for less has hit home for several small town hospitals recently.
The hospital in my town has just recently "ASKED" its employies to accept a 40% pay cut.
IE: if you were making $20:00 per hour it will soon be cut to $12:00.
Oh yea, pool LPN's start at $17:00 per hour so they can expect to go down to $11:20 per hour. Thats less than the CNA's made at my first nursing home gig.
Now some of our local Nurses have to sign up for food assistance programs.
We should all be ashamed for paying a sports figure who chases a ball around to entertain us more than we are willing to pay someone who will be there to save our lives.
Kind of related, kind of not off topic... I've not been active here for a very long time. My apologies. We all have many twist & turns in life. I am retired but not by choice. Little bit of a bad left shoulder. The Army Medical Dept Orthopods decided after three failed L RTC repairs... sorry, nothing else can be done, so live with it. Little bit of a bad R elbow... hey, it will get better over time, just needs rest. Hellooo, can't rest right arm d/t L shoulder. Last but not least, a little bit of PTSD, a la 15 months Iraq. I'll just say I'm no longer a fan of thunderstorms.
Last OCT, I was medically retired out of the Army Nurse Corps. Recently, I've thought about seeking civilian nurse employment. Problem, my experience is Telemetry Med/Surg, OR & ICU. These are a no go on my nurse job search list. LOL, RN since '98 but either over or under qualified. Anyway, I'm retired...
Ive read articles about older nurses that no longer consider retirement because of the unstable economy, how true is this?
Very true...... If I can find some articles, will post 'em.
Update to my previous post; I start my new [full-time] job next Monday. It's a small hospital about a quick 15 min drive from my house. Going back to the OR, where I started my healthcare career over 15yrs ago. Most likely I'll re-retire in another 15yrs.
Cary,
Good to see you out there. Just curious, have you checked into your local VA? There may not be a "paying" position for this, but you have a lot to offer. I think your heart is heavy and hurting. Giving to your brethren in a way that only veterans experienced in combat can understand could be therapeutic to both parties however, only you know if you're ready for this. I believe that your experience and background are invaluable to all of us but particularly to the returning vets.
R
cougarnurse wrote:Very true...... If I can find some articles, will post 'em.
thanks! it is very clear that, with few nurses considering retirement and a large number of new nursing graduates, there are a lot of unemployed nurses every year and some nurses will be taking jobs far from their educational backgrounds.
Ricu wrote:Cary,
Good to see you out there. Just curious, have you checked into your local VA? There may not be a "paying" position for this, but you have a lot to offer. I think your heart is heavy and hurting. Giving to your brethren in a way that only veterans experienced in combat can understand could be therapeutic to both parties however, only you know if you're ready for this. I believe that your experience and background are invaluable to all of us but particularly to the returning vets.
R
Ricu, appreciate the kind words. You hit the nail on the head... I'm not ready for such a position as Vets helping Vets. Except, I did volunteer for out-patient group therapy, two different 12 week programs. In the past (while on active duty), my preference was always 1:1 therapy. I have a new perspective on the value of Group Therapy at the VA. We all understand what the other is talking about [Combat, in one form or another].
I'm very thankfull of this new opportunity to rejoin civilian nursing.
My job description not only includes Circulator but Scrub Nurse & PACU RN. I love it!
