Younger Nurses Feel Positive About the Future of Nurse Employment

In a recovering economy, many older nurses are considering retirement or have plans to pursue another career. Although the job market still hasn’t full recovered, a recent survey shows that many younger nurses hold a positive outlook for their profession and plan on pursuing higher education in the field.

According to the 2013 Survey of Registered Nurses conducted by AMN Healthcare, nearly 190,000 nurses admitted that they were thinking about leaving nursing or retiring as the economy continues to improve. Additionally, one in four nurses age 55 and up said they would change their career paths entirely by searching for work in other industries.

When it comes to furthering education, less than half of the nurses who held an associate degree or diploma said they were planning to pursue higher education in the field of nursing. Conversely, younger nurses are more likely to be interested in additional education. The landmark Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, advises that 80 percent of nurses in the U.S. should hold a BSN or higher degree by the year 2020.

Although nurses among all age groups reported that they were highly satisfied with their profession, the survey found that younger nurses (19-39) held a more positive outlook than nurses 55 and older in regards to the current quality of nursing. Furthermore, 66 percent of nurses 55 and older believe that the quality of nursing care has declined.

As a result, a generational gap exists among nurses in regards to their overall perspective of their practice. The survey revealed that younger RNs often hold a positive opinion of the nurse supply. Regardless of shortages in the industry, nurses between the ages of 19-39 said they remain positive about the supply of nurses, and believe that they are capable of meeting the expectations brought on by the new healthcare initiative. Additionally, while 45 percent of younger nurses said the shortage has improved throughout the past five years, 41 percent of older RNs between the ages of 40-54 held the same belief.

The survey also measured nurses’ overall satisfaction with their current jobs. Among the respondents, 90 percent of nurses reported that they were happy with their careers, while 73 percent said they were satisfied with their current profession.

Peter McMenamin, healthcare economist and senior policy fellow for the American Nurses Association, said that this survey projects an optimistic future for nursing. Additionally, he said that the findings revealed from the survey are consistent with research conducted by the ANA.

The future of nurse staffing looks promising. Is your nurse staffing agency primed for growth? PRN Funding offers accounts receivable factoring programs designed exclusively for the nurse staffing industry. Cash flow can get tight during times of growth, but nurse staffing factoring provides a steady source of working capital to cover payroll and other expenses. Learn more about factoring for nurse staffing.


Temp Nurse Staffing Agency Settles Wage Claims

A temp staffing agency for nurses, U.S. Nursing Corp. agreed to pay $1.77 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by California employees.

More than 2,500 nurses were involved in the suit that alleged the nursing staffing agency violated California labor law by taking out 30-minute meal breaks from its nurses’ time sheets. The break time was deducted whether or not the nurses took a break or recorded a break on their time sheets. The suit also claimed the staffing company paid nurses weekly instead of daily, and failed to pay them for travel time. The California Labor Code requires the nurses to be paid daily.

U.S. Nursing admitted no liability. The affected nurses received an average settlement award of $645 each. The staffing company must also pay $15,000 to the California Labor and Workforce Agency and $77,000 in back payroll taxes.

Nursing Makes CareerBuilder’s List of Hardest-to-Fill Jobs

Even though the job market has been less than stellar, a new study from CareerBuilder found that 35 percent of hiring managers have positions that sat unfilled for over 12 weeks. Jobs in health care, sales and technology are the hardest to fill according to their online survey of more than 2,000 hiring managers.

The hardest to fill jobs (in order of jobs added between 2010 -2013) include:

Sales representative

Machine operator/Assembler/Production

Nurse

Truck Driver

Software Developer

Engineer

Marketing professional

Accountant

Mechanic

IT manager/Network administrator

Each of these hard-to-fill positions are experiencing positive job growth.