Most people these days realize that there is a severe nursing shortage and that it’s only going to get worse, but not everyone realizes why this is so.
Here are five reasons why hospitals, doctor’s offices, schools, clinics, and other employers all across America, in small towns and big cities, are scrambling to find nurses:
1.) Nursing teachers aren’t paid well enough. This is one of the main causes of the nursing shortage. It’s hard to attract nurses into teaching positions because private employers such as hospitals and clinics pay much better. So colleges turn away many, many qualified nursing school candidates every year because they just don’t have enough nursing teachers.
2.) Nursing teachers are aging out and retiring. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, nursing school professors average age is 52 years. And when they retire, there will be even less nursing teachers, unless steps are taken to offer a considerably better salary.
3.) An aging baby boomer population creates a need for more nurses. As people age they obviously develop more health-care issues and need more healthcare assistance.
4.) Fairly high turnover in the nursing profession. Every year, a significant percentage of nurses leave the profession that they thought they’d love. The job is stressful, nurses are in constant fear of losing their licenses, and many states don’t have mandatory nurse-patient ratios which protect both the nurse and the patient.
5.) An aging nursing population. The present average age of registered nurses is 43.3 percent, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.