Not Enough Nurses

But the public’s perception of the possibilities in nursing hasn’t kept pace. Jobs Rated Almanac ranked registered nurse 143 out of 250 professions for job desirability, factoring in such things as stress, salary, perks, and future prospects. Nurse ranked just behind forklift operator and two spots ahead of fashion model—a job with an even more infamous burnout rate. Hospital dramas in which nurses are only supporting players, and never the stars, have even been blamed for creating the notion that nursing is a noble profession that no one really notices. (Not to mention those ugly uniforms . . . ) Fueling fears about where the next crop of new nurses is likely to come from, one recent study found that only 5 percent of high school students surveyed said they’d consider becoming a nurse.

Doug Flashinski admits he was not in that 5 percent when he was in high school. Not only would his friends have given him a hard time for being interested in a “girl job,” but enthusiastic recommendations from his mother—who returned to nursing after raising her five kids—only steeled his resistance. “You don’t necessarily want to do everything your mom tells you to,” says Flashinski, 29, who majored in psychology instead.

However, a day he spent in high school shadowing a nurse anesthetist stayed with him. “Just seeing how closely you’re working with families—and then literally holding someone’s life in your hands during the operation,” he says, helped him get over the razzing his friends gave him when he applied to the U’s master’s in nursing program. He graduated in December, along with more than 30 other classmates with previous degrees in everything from French to fisheries. Though these have not been the traditional paths into health care, second-career nurses are now considered critical to solving the nursing shortage. A recent report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that nurses who come from unrelated fields tend to be older and more motivated than first-degree nurses, and better able to cope with stress.

Helping new nurses deal with a steep early learning curve has become another new strategy for attracting and retaining nurses—and a good economic move, since replacing a nurse who can’t cut it is estimated to cost between $30,000 and $50,000. As a result, some hospitals are experimenting with nursing residency programs, based on the same mentoring model physicians undergo at the beginning of their careers. And here in Minnesota, legislators held a hearing last year to consider a bill that would limit the number of patients a nurse could care for in a hospital unit. (One study found that each additional patient added to a nurse’s four-patient load increased a surgical patient’s risk of dying by 7 percent.)

Emma Beecher knows there will be challenges ahead as she begins her new career in a Twin Cities hospital, but right now she’s enjoying the flush of seeing the letters “RN” on her name badge. “I feel like I finally found the job for me,” says Beecher, 30, who graduated from Macalester College with a bachelor’s degree in studio arts and tried everything from massage therapy to bartending before earning her master’s in nursing in December. While she once thought of nursing as “just too traditional,” researching the new roles ahead for nurses assured her that her passion for public health wouldn’t have to limit her to a hospital setting or even 9-to-5 hours. “There are so many needs, so many ways I know I can help, that I wake up every day grateful to be a member of this profession,” says Beecher.

She also has a career marketing tip that might steer more young people to nursing: “Everyone thinks the uniforms are terrible,” she says. “But the truth is, they’re unbelievably comfortable.”