Inspiration

Why Registered Nurses Are Becoming (Even More) Valuable

Given the events of the pandemic over the last year and the mass movement of nurses stepping away from the bedside, registered nurses are becoming an issue of supply and demand. Despite 2020 being the ‘year of the nurse’, employers were suffering from huge financial losses and couldn’t do much to incentivize their nurses to stay. COVID-19 drew attention to a healthcare system that was already suffering from a lack of experienced nurses. Nursing students can’t get through school fast enough to fill jobs, yet many employers are demanding experience to be eligible. Practicing RNs are in a position to change their careers in ways that have never been available to them before. 

RN Job Growth

Whether registered nurses want to change specialties or are looking for a raise in their current specialty, now is the time to negotiate with facilities to build their careers in the direction of their choosing. According to bls.gov, the employment need for RNs is expected to grow 7% by 2029. This is faster than the average for all occupations. That means there will be over 220,000 new job openings in addition to the ones that already exist.  Experienced nurses are going to be a commodity as schools graduate new nurses that will flood the market. 

Nursing Pay and Experience

Some facilities are offering sign-on bonuses of up to $25,000 to attract experienced nurses to their open positions. Administrators know that a hospital cannot be run by brand new nurses. They need experienced RNs to provide leadership and guidance to the new graduates. Having an RN license in the coming years will open doors for nurses as the ever-changing and increasingly demanding healthcare system continues to grow into something that can accommodate an aging population.

In addition to the aging population, hospitals are being pressed to shorten their length of stays, which can possibly result in larger censuses in long-term acute care centers (LTACS) and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Early discharges are going to increase the need for home health care to reduce the costs of hospital stays. Home health nursing is also a great way for RNs who are burnt out at the bedside to find a new way to connect with patients in a less intense environment. 

Are There Enough Nurses?

The COVID pandemic inspired a huge amount of people to apply to nursing school, but any nurse will tell you- nothing compares to experience. RNs hone their assessment skills over the years and become experts in their ability to identify and resolve patients’ problems. As mentioned above, hospitals are already starting to increase their compensation levels to try and entice experienced RNs. The RN license is going to become more valuable in the next few years as hospitals struggle to keep up with their staffing shortages, and this puts nurses in an excellent position to have the job of their dreams and contribute to positive change in healthcare.

rachel-nurseflygmail-com
Rachel Norton BSN, RN

Rachel Norton became an RN in 2007 and has been part of the Vivian team since 2019. She has always worked in critical care, and spent the first 12 years of her career working in a surgical neuroscience trauma ICU. She's also worked as a flight nurse, started travel nursing in 2010 and continued working in the ICU until joining Vivian full-time in 2022. As a user researcher, Rachel advocates for healthcare workers to help bridge the gap between employee and employer expectations.

Comments (3)

This is why there’s a shortage. Hospitals need to hire nurses to recruit nurses, not a recent college graduate who knows nothing about the job.

Also a lot of employers let a computer pull the resumes, which means if the key words for the job are not on your resume, it will be passed up. I dealt wirh this when I was recruiting for a recovery unit. I had nurses calling about my jobs posted, but received no resumes. I finally called HR and told them to send me the resumes for my posted jobs. I was in shock by the resumes that were being turned away.

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I agree with the previous comment. I have 26 years experience with LTC nursing and have tried more than once to break into acute care. The answer is always no acute care experience. I’ve also worked on the hiring end of LTC and hospital nurses literally run out the door when they hear how many patients we provide direct care to in a shift. That being said not as an insult. At the height of covid, on a covid positive unit, at night there were shifts we had 42 direct care patients with one CNA and oversight of 120 as the supervisor. Assessment, prioritizing and to be quite frank sheer will got us through those days but I feel the experience should carry over to any nursing. I’m honestly surprised that a new grad has more appeal than someone with a skill set and experience.

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What about Nurse Practitioners? We are RN’s too, but with more education and experience? Our salaries are NOT increasing, despite the responsibilities. I tried to apply for a RN job in the ED, Mind you I spend 20 years in the ED as an RN , AND I am still an RN! Worked in the ED and UC (urgent care) as a NP, and they STILL will not take me. I still put in IVs all the other skills, I also have my doctorate. I don’t have recent 1 year of RN experience. Really? I am open and ready to work. Can’t work because of no RN experience. I have over 20 years of RN experience in the ED!!
Their loss I guess. Someone has to wake these recruiters and hospitals up if they are that short. I am not working as an NP right now, because there are no jobs in my specialty and really I could be making WAY more as an RN to help pay off my student loans.

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