Nursing Industry Desperate For New Hires

With Applicants Scarce, Recruiters Turn To Creative Means To End Chronic Understaffing

(AP)  Please, please accept a high-paying job with us. In fact, just swing by for an interview and we'll give you a chance to win cash and prizes.

Sounds too good to be true, especially in an economy riddled with job cuts in nearly every industry. But applicants for nursing jobs are still so scarce that recruiters have been forced to get increasingly inventive.

One Michigan company literally rolled out a red carpet at a recent hiring event. Residential Home Health, which provides in-home nursing for seniors on Medicare, lavished registered nurses and other health care workers with free champagne and a trivia contest hosted by game-show veteran Chuck Woolery. Prizes included a one-year lease for a 2009 SUV, hotel stays and dinners.

"We're committed to finding ways to creatively engage with passive job seekers," said David Curtis, president of the Madison Heights-based company.

Recruiters like Curtis may have little choice. The long-standing U.S. nurse shortage has led to chronic understaffing that can threaten patient care and nurses' job satisfaction, and the problem is expected to worsen.

The shortage has been operating since World War II on an eight- to 10-year cycle, industry experts say. Each time the number of nurses reaches a critical low, the government adds funding and hospitals upgrade working conditions. But as the deficit eases, those retention efforts fade and eventually the old conditions return, often driving nurses into other professions.

"We recently had a hiring event where, for experienced nurses to interview - just to interview - we gave them $50 gas cards," said Tom Zinda, the director of recruitment at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare in the Milwaukee-area city of Glendale. "We really try to get as creative as we can. It's a tough position to fill."

Recruiters across the country have tried similar techniques, offering chair massages, lavish catering and contests for flat-screen TVs, GPS devices and shopping sprees worth as much as $1,000.

Even strong salaries aren't doing the trick. Registered nurses made an average of $62,480 in 2007, ranging from a mean of $78,550 in California to $49,140 in Iowa, according to government statistics. Including overtime, usually abundantly available, the most experienced nurses can earn more than $100,000.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts about 233,000 additional jobs will open for registered nurses each year through 2016, on top of about 2.5 million existing positions. But only about 200,000 candidates passed the Registered Nurse licensing exam last year, and thousands of nurses leave the profession each year.

Several factors are in play: a lack of qualified instructors to staff training programs, lack of funding for training programs, difficult working conditions and the need for expertise in many key nursing positions.

Cheryl Peterson, the director of nursing practice and policy for the American Nurses Association in Silver Spring, Md., said employers must raise salaries and improve working conditions.

"The wages haven't kept up with the level of responsibility and accountability nurses have," said Peterson, whose organization represents nurses' interests. Chronic understaffing means nurses are overworked, she said, and as burned-out nurses leave the situation spirals for the colleagues they leave behind.

Some hospital departments where experience is vital, such as the emergency room or intensive-care unit, simply cannot hire newly minted nurses. So managers in those areas have even fewer staffing choices.

Nurses qualified to teach aspiring nurses are scarce chiefly because they can make at least 20 percent more working at a hospital, experts said.

"It can be hard to turn down that extra money," said Robert Rosseter, the associate executive director of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in Washington, D.C.

Many recruiters have looked for employees overseas, and about one-fourth of the nurses who earned their licenses in 2007 were educated internationally, most in the Philippines and India.

Some health organizations go out of their way to recruit as many nurses as possible even when they're overstaffed.

Residential Home Health, the home-nursing company in Michigan, is always looking to hire, Curtis said. Even with 375 clinical professionals on staff, his recruiters are eager to sign up as many as 50 more nurses and therapists, hence the Chuck Woolery event.

Zinda, the Milwaukee-area recruiter, said creative recruiting helps to introduce nurses to his hospital. Besides offering interviewees $50 gas cards, he has provided $100 gift cards to the local mall, and created a Facebook page to target younger nurses.

Attracting good candidates is about offering good working conditions, he said, but creative recruiting goes a long way in generating a buzz.

"Bottom line, you need to get people excited about what you're offering," he said. "If you don't, they can easily go elsewhere."

[shanev137]

It''s really too bad that more colleges don''t offer nursing degree programs.

[cattiej]

this is what happens when hospitals, Dr''s offices, clinic,nursing home have paid nurses slave wages.
I am a retired nurse, I worked sometimes 2 shifts of 8 hours each, no extra pay, just a job. Housekeeping employee''s made more money than I did because they were union.
The cost of nursing schools has sky-rocketed. The vocational schools that push out so called medical techs charge thousands of dollars. These people are not nurses, but they will work for slave wages. They call in prescriptions, orders etc. but have little schooling to do so. But, they work cheap. They are a danger to patients everywhere because they have no idea the normal labs, x-rays, injectable meds, etc.
Nurses work 12 hours on and 12 hours off at our local hospital. How safe is that? There is a lot of stress now because there are fewer and fewer nurses. There are also fewer and fewer American doctors. Our medical system is in a mess. We hope Obama will see American''s going to medical school at a fair tuition or for free but they would have to work for at least 5 years in a urban or rural setting to pay back there tuition. We need more American students who want to be Dr''s have a way to get into medical school, we have foreign students who come here to go to medical school and they stay after they graduate instead of going back to there own countries. This is not good for our country and not good for our citixens.

[cattiej]

When you go to the hospital, you never would know if a person was a nurse who came into your room. Nurses (except for men) used to wear nursing caps, white uniforms, badges with there names on them. Now everyone that comes into your room has scrubs on, some of them are messy and dirty. Many of the nurses have long earrigs on, chewing gum, don''t even know how to help lift a patient out of bed. Also, they don''t wash there hands when they come into your room or when they leave. (many Dr''s don''t either) No wonder there are so many infections in the hosptial setting. I had abdominal surgery this past summer, I needed to use the bathroom and the nurse who finally came into my room was very pregnant. I asked her how she was going to help me out of bed and she told me that she would tell me how to help myself. She couldn''t help me because she was going to have her baby in 3 days (c-section). What kind of Director of Nurses would allow someone that pregnant to work on a surgical floor??? A desperate one, no matter how unsafe it was for the patients. Of course, I had to get out of bed myself, take my own IV, my abdominal tubing etc and she watched me all the time but never could actually help me. I will never be a patient in that hospital again.

[cattiej]

Before I close, as a retired nurse I just want to tell everyone...There are Patients Rights for all of us. If you feel you are not being taken care of properly or safely, voice you comments like I did. I wrote the hosptial director, the director of nursing and the personnal department and voice my displeasure. After all it is your life and your money that''s on the line.

[montlady-2009]

The nursing shortage will continue, despite TV''s, massage chairs, etc, as we are tired of being treated like *** by administration and physician. Oh yea, even the housekeepers feel more important. Doesn''t matter what no other department wants to do, everybody turfs it to the nurses. Nurses are supposed to save your life, give your medications correctly, on time and in the right combo''s, KEEP THE DOCTOR FROM KILLING YOU INADVERTENTLY, and THEN we get to dump the trash, haul the dirty linen to the laundry, pass out meal trays and pick them up while dealing with patient''s constant complaints about ''I need more butter/salt/coffee/this is icky/etc'', as no one wants to take any responsibility for their own healthier diet. Patient''s and family come in with weapons, demand sexual favors and hit us. Why would anybody sane want this job?

[ms1-1-1]

- ever go into a VA Hospital anywhere U.S.A., good luck if the Physicians speak ENGLISH, this is what it sounds like:

Isn''t there a manual on how to perofrn this surgery in the top right drawer somewhere over there,

How many hospitals get these so called Phillippine nurses its a joke, Oh hurry hurry I need an American Husband I can give Hiv / Aids and wipe out his bank account oh hurry hurry I need an American Husband ...

Mail order flukes ... but then if they are willing to pay the $180,000 right up front money who cares where it''s from any more in U.S.A., is good, I say put these mail order brides to work, they beg for American Husbands so they can become U.S.A., citizens then make em pay dearly for it...... anywhere U.S.A., they these mail order brides had no problems bilking American citizens, so no problems using them.

Hail, today everyone in Philippines alleges oh look I''m a nurse, I''m a doctor hury hurry find me an American Husband oh hurry I''m an abused wife, mistress the gigs go on shamelessly...

its a joke already ... no one is interrested in nursing due to the fact HIV-AIDs its that simple ... nurses are contracting the diesease dealing with transgenders, bi-sexuals, lesbians, g,a,y,s, et cet.,

you can have it.

[gramto8]

its a joke already ... no one is interrested in nursing due to the fact HIV-AIDs its that simple ... nurses are contracting the diesease dealing with transgenders, bi-sexuals, lesbians, g,a,y,s, et cet.,

you can have it.

Posted by ms1-1-1 at 11:16 PM : Jan 05, 2009

You are full of fecal material...
There has been only ONE case in the 20 plus years that HIV has been around that there was contamination of a healthcare worker and that was because the worker didn''t follow standard universal isolation protocol. There have been more people working in healthcare that have been exposed to and developed hepatitis than have developed HIV/AIDS due to their jobs. That is because hepatitis is easier to transmit. Why don''t you actually find out what you are spouting off about before you do so.

[gramto8]

ms1-1-1,

BTW, I have never seen or heard a nurse ask a patient about their sexual preferences in the many years that I worked in ICU and in the ER. Somehow that just isn''t part of their nursing assessment. Mind you, they can usually tell, but that never changes how a patient is treated. That patient would get the same care as any other patient with the same illness.

[rwsmith29456]

I think that nurses have been made to work too long and hard for their money, hence not being a popular job to go to college for. The same thing happened when pharmacists made great money, but were expected to work 80 hours a week and manage a store to boot. The company I worked for was hiring pharmacists as lab technicians. Even people that are challenged and motivated to pursue highly skilled jobs don''t won''t to get into a career that is going to work them to death.

[hissteps4u]

nursing can be a fulfiling vocation. i was a male nurse of of a wave of the first in florida. I retired from nursing in 1998. started as an LPN making less then $5 an hour to an LPN making over $25 an hour. It is a hard job and one which requires attention to detail and the ability to act at a moments notice based on signs and symptoms of distress.

I was stuck by a contaminated needle in 1985 when a patient who was delerious jumped off the bed when receiving an injection. He was HIV full blown Aids and I was most fortunate to have not developed the condition but was started on Retrovere imeadiately for a year as a preventive protocol.

Yes things happen even when you are as cautious as can be and follow all procedures stuff happens... Just have to be mindful and be careful.

I am now retired and operate my own company.

I would still works with Aids Patients or any patient for that matter who was ill. I still maintain my license and if timesw were bad enough i would not hesitate to re-enter the workforce as a Nurse bUt frankly it would not be worth it. I make to much with my company 3 times what I made as a nurse...

[yongamerica]

Hospitals treat nurses like illegal immigrant fruit pickers. No wonder they are having a hard time finding recruits. Who in their right mind is willing to spend 4 years of college following the same track as doctors, only to find themselves emptying bedpans and changing nasty linen more often than actually applying their 4 years of college education to help patients.

[cgc1234]

I''ve been an RN for 24 years. If I had it to do all over again would I? HELL NO!!! I''ve worked in various settings over the years & by far the hospitals are the worst. Many mornings after leaving my "wonderful" 12 hr shift I wondered if I had missed something vital to my patient''s care. Too much time spent on a buttload of paperwork and not enough time to adequately care for patients. You have to chart like you are writing a letter to a lawyer. Some nights with 30 patients on a surgical floor and only 2 RN''s, a CNA if you were lucky and an LPN for meds, (no IV push meds though and there are a lot on a surgical floor)and if you were real lucky, a unit secretary to answer the phone! Did I forget to mention the arrogant docs that treat you like dirt when they come in to do rounds?? Contact the nursing supervisor about more staffing?? "We''re real sorry, we don''t have anyone to send you, try to make it the best you know how." I work in home health now which is somewhat better. Still not enough staff, pay is way less than a hospital, doctors still treat you like you''re an idiot when you call them. Their answer when you call is "Send them to the ER".

[cgc1234]

I''ve been an RN for 24 years. If I had it to do all over again would I? HELL NO!!! I''ve worked in various settings over the years & by far the hospitals are the worst. Many mornings after leaving my "wonderful" 12 hr shift I wondered if I had missed something vital to my patient''s care. Too much time spent on a buttload of paperwork and not enough time to adequately care for patients. You have to chart like you are writing a letter to a lawyer. Some nights with 30 patients on a surgical floor and only 2 RN''s, a CNA if you were lucky and an LPN for meds, (no IV push meds though and there are a lot on a surgical floor)and if you were real lucky, a unit secretary to answer the phone! Did I forget to mention the arrogant docs that treat you like dirt when they come in to do rounds?? Contact the nursing supervisor about more staffing?? "We''re real sorry, we don''t have anyone to send you, try to make it the best you know how." I work in home health now which is somewhat better. Still not enough staff, pay is way less than a hospital, doctors still treat you like you''re an idiot when you call them. Their answer when you call is "Send them to the ER".

[perk235]

Who in their right mind is willing to spend 4 years of college following the same track as doctors......
Posted by yongamerica at 02:22 AM : Jan 06, 2009
------------
Actually nursing students often (not always) take a different track than doctors even in 4 years of college. Doctors then continue for 4 years of medical school, 3 years of residency and then an internship.

This is nothing against the training of nurses, but it is very different from the training of a doctor.

The market obviously supports higher wages for nurses based on supply and demand.

[perk235]

its a joke already ... no one is interrested in nursing due to the fact HIV-AIDs its that simple ... nurses are contracting the diesease dealing with transgenders, bi-sexuals, lesbians, g,a,y,s, et cet.,
Posted by ms1-1-1 at 11:16 PM : Jan 05, 2009
----------------

The fastest growing cases of HIV are in elderly white males who have discovered Viagra.

[whatchange09]

Just who is going to take a pay cut to go and teach in the local university. Not me. Why would any nurse worth her/his salt take a pay cut of almost 2/3 to teach illiterate kids how to nurse. Then when those kids finally get into the pits to work are worth beans for the first year as we attempt to teach them how medicine to teach them how this job "really" works. Med schools and Universities are 5 to 10 yrs behind in technology and basics to the industry. However, with the right proctoring can make themselves a decent member of the medical community, at large, if you''re careful enough to not let that degree go to your head.

It''s not uncommon to have any hospital offer a sign on bonus of $10K for a new nurse then another $3K to the slave trader who sent them to the hospital for the 1 yr. contract for their servitude to the hospital.

As a qualified USA nurse you can travel the world and stay in places you could only dream of as any other profession. I''ve been paid top dollars to work in Hawaii with paid housing and an automobile at my disposal. Then off to Cairo for a year where the money was far better but the social amenities really sucked as their culture far more reserved than that of America. There''s still no place like home. Once you get passed the arrogant Dr''s and Hosp. Admins., of course

[jgjbcmi]

Okay, here goes...

It would be very nice if the Associated Press (the source of this article) would remember that nursing is NOT and industry. We are a PROFESSION!! And believe me, we work hard every day of our lives to earn that designation. Frankly the headline of this article is offensive as hell to me.

Nursing wouldn''t HAVE a shortage if they took advantage of the experience base out there. In the past year and a half, I have been turned down for several jobs because I have 25 years experience and I''m too expensive for their BUDGETS. Have they told me that...no...but I HAVE had it confirmed.

I moved from Portland, OR to the midwest only to be told by a smarmy little nurse manager that I wasn''t a fit for her telemetry unit. (Sorry, that''s my bitterness coming out) Even though I''d worked 25 years in telemetry/progressive care. So I ended up in a job making $20,000 a year less that I had been in Portland....and am going BACK to Portland this spring....and thank God I can do that. But it will be interesting if my former employer will hire me...because in Portland, I''d make $42.00 and hour.

And for all of those of you who want to whine about how much we get paid....get over it. We''ve worked hard, we put up with almost daily changes in technology, paper work, and yes, rude patients.

My point is, nursing needs to look to ITSELF to solve its problems...since THAT''S where they began.

[longtree-2009]

why not import nurses? we outsource so much why not import them? not many want to be around nothing but sick people for 8+ hours a day, having to see people at their worst, the smells, the pain, the futile state of patients, painful deaths, sudden deaths, burnt victims, crushed victims, and etc. it is awful, dirty, unpleasant work no matter the pay.

[babooph]

Hospital administrators treated them horribly for years ,while sucking up huge salries for themselves& spending on fancy lobbies & facades for the hospitals ,now this ,no surprise.

[ozarkbard]

Take away all the mega-money insurances, hospital administrators, and doctors... leave just nurses performing the service... and I would bet my soul that healthcare would drastically improve in the US - in both affordability AND effective treatment.

[rbburnerjr]

One of the major problems of the nursing profession is the lack of nursing instructors. My daughter graduated from a junior college with a nursing major with a 4.0 average. She was told after graduation there was a three year wait to get her clinicals. She is now a physical therapist. Where have all the nursing schools gone that were attached to hospitals? The major health corporations closed them because they cut down on profits. Health care is its own worst enemy!

[xlib]

jgjbcmi-as a fellow nurse you took the words right out of my mouth. This is not a new issue by any means. The nursing shortage is at least 20 years old. What the purpose of this article is to push for nationalized health care. Talk to any Canadian nurses and just see how well they do.
As for "importing" nurses, done to the max

[interobserv]

My wife has been in nursing for over 30 years. Her employer (a major NJ hospital) cut back on 401(k) contributions, eliminated the pension plan, cut back on health insurance, and reduced staff. They rely on "temps" and "registry" nurses to fill the gaps. When they can''t, they "encourage" (read that as threaten and force) current nursing staff to work double and even triple shifts. Al the while crying poverty about raises.

Compensate nurses the way you compensate doctors and "hospital administration" and there''d be no nursing shortage!!

IT IS ABOUT THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mswolfestock]

Maybe we wouldn''t have such a shortage of nurses if people would take better care of themselves in the first place.

People need to quit relying on "modern medicine" to make up for their poor lifestyle choices (gluttony, smoking, drinking too much, avoiding exercise) and take more personal responsibility for maintaining good health.

The last time I went for a pap smear and mammogram, 80 percent of the people I saw in the hospital were grossly over weight. The little "smoker''s shack" off to the side of the parking lot was full of people trying their darndest to get lung cancer. It was disgusting.

Health care professionals do not "give" good health, and I couldn''t blame any of them for becoming burned out by having to save people who refuse to save themselves.

[hologram5]

Maybe we wouldn''''t have such a shortage of nurses if people would take better care of themselves in the first place.
Posted by mswolfestock at 02:15 PM : Jan 06, 2009
_____________________________________
We wouldn''t have this issue if our health industry wasn''t in such shambles either. Most doctors are cheap and don''t want to put money back into their practice or update the equipment or conditions.

[jgjbcmi]

To LONGTREE: Yes, all of the things you say are true. But don''t presume to answer for ANY of us. Unless your a nurse, there is no way you can really know what we go through on a daily basis. If you are a nurse, you need to get some counseling.

What difference does it make if the nurses are imported or US citizens? There''s the same rate of burnout in either group.

My point is, that those of us in nursing (SHOULD) have known the game plan from the very beginning, but we became nurses anyway. Yes I want a good salary/compensation for the work that I do, but that''s NOT the only reason I''m a nurse. I''m a nurse because I enjoy working with patients and teaching the patients how to get better and stay better. The thing that makes me feel better than anything else? When a patient says "Thank You" as they''re wheeled out the door to go home!