Nurses, students worry about their future in healthcare

Declining admissions and falling revenue are leading hospitals to cut nursing jobs around the country, adding to the 41,000 healthcare industry jobs lost this year alone, the Associated Press reported.

Despite a recent report from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing that nursing school graduates with advanced degrees are finding jobs shortly after graduation, nursing students report they are having a hard time finding work. Meanwhile, nursing veterans are uncertain about what the future holds for the industry, once thought to be one of the most stable careers around.

"I knew going into school I was choosing a safe major, because all you heard is how badly hospitals needed nurses," Lily Bush of Irvine, Calif., a junior at Indiana University's School of Nursing, told the AP.

But recent graduates are searching for a job as long as six months after receiving their diplomas, where in the past, they may have had multiple offers before graduation, according to the article. Now nurses are turning to work outside hospitals to pay the bills, such as walk-in clinics, outpatient care and rehabilitation centers--jobs that often pay less than hospitals.

In Indiana alone, IU Health, St. Vincent Health and Franciscan Alliance have cut nearly 2,000 jobs this year, according to the AP. But some industry experts think the shift will create new opportunities that weren't there before, and the change in the industry is similar to those seen in the past.

"We have been through this before in the nursing profession," Marion Broome, dean of the IU School of Nursing, told the AP. "Every time there's a change in the way healthcare is financed, there's usually some repositioning of health systems, and a portion of that always affects nurses."

However, experts expect the demand for nurses to rebound due to baby boomers aging and a new generation retiring, raising the demand for care, according to the article.

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