Wisconsin is currently experiencing a hold on shortages in nursing due to the recession as well as the ongoing economic difficulties, but it is something that is expected not to last.
For the time being, there appears to be stability in Northeaster Wisconsin between the nursing graduates and jobs that are available.
Apparently, 95% placement ratios for newly graduates have each been reported by Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay and Bellin College in Bellevue.
While it could take a bit longer to get an employment, and while it could not be the ideal type or work shift, but the work is there, stated the dean of Health Science at NWTC Kay Tupala.
Vice president of development and public relations at Bellin College Matt Rentmeester stated that they are not hit just as hard by the shortage of nursing as people can observe in other urban areas allover the United States.
150 students graduate from NWTC yearly, while in Bellin College there are about 90, and in the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay 70, although its latest class held 83 graduates.
Graduates from NWTC and Bellin particularly dislike going away from the place for work. That has been the scenario for a couple of years, however, a raise in the amount of older, second-career nurses – persons with families and homes – makes it much more so, the schools stated.
Rentmeester declared that the regular age of students at Belin has risen in the past number of years from 18-20 years up to 26 years, mostly because of those students who are starting second careers. NWTC has always had an older regular age, Tupala stated.
There are those who have gone to Milwaukee, a place with a lot of recruitments, but non-traditional students are quite unshakeable, Rentmeester said. They cannot move on and head to Madison or the Twin Cities, he continued.
Fresh graduates from Bellin more often than not found work in emergency rooms, long-term care settings, and medical surgery.
Long-term care establishments have not always been the first option of nursing graduates, however, Tupala stated that they are now turning into the new medical surgery field.
The break from the shortage in nursing is not anticipated to continue; a lot of nurses who were projected to retire did not do due to the recession; age or a strengthening economy will sooner or later produce openings, Tupala stated. She went on to say that some older nurses are shifting to less stressful health care work.
The challenge they deal with is that when retirement comes, it’s going to hit tough and will have a major effect on shortages, Tupala continued, and in 10 years, more than a third will have retired.
There are restrictions to the amount of new nurses that can be trained, which include the amount of teachers as well as the sites where they can accomplish clinical training.
More students are opting to become as nurse practitioners instead of becoming nurse educators, and a survey done on 77,500 nurses showed that 36% intend to get away from direct patient care in about 5 to 9 years, Tupala said. She also said that it’s the type of thing that they are going to have to be ready for.
A definite sign that shortages are rising is when employers start to offer signing bonuses as well as some other incentives, as they have done in the latter part of the 1990’s, Tupala said.
