“Nursing field strong in DeKalb” |
| Nursing field strong in DeKalb Posted: 16 Jul 2010 02:16 PM PDT DeKalb students seeking careers in health care once counted on a hot job market friendly to young graduates, but they may find a softer economy and fewer places to work. "This year doesn't look quite as promising for nursing graduates as last year did," said Joe Burke, vice-president and dean of instruction at Northeast Alabama Community College. Northeast offers an LPN degree attainable in three months, an associate's in nursing and other nursing-related career tracks. A recent article in USA Today warns that even though a national nursing shortage is likely on the horizon, a lot of freshly graduated nurses aren't able to find jobs because the national recession is delaying retirement plans for experienced nurses. "We're seeing a lot of nurses staying in the field longer, and even some nurses who have retired or going into other fields go back into nursing," Burke said. "So, there's sort of a backwash out there right now." The USA Today article quotes a recent advisory for new nursing graduates, published by the National Student Nurses' Association, warning that the health care market is "flooded" with such experienced registered nurses who have either come out of retirement, delayed it or gone from part-time to full-time employment to earn more money. Burke said some nursing students unable to get positions in hospitals are finding work elsewhere, in nursing homes or with home health organizations, for example. A June 2009 NSNA survey of more than 2,000 RN graduates found that 44 percent had failed to find a job in the nursing field. However, Burke said even though the local market for nurses might drop off some, the area is sill well-poised to accommodate nursing graduates – he said, in his opinion, the field remains competitive and a viable choice for a major. He said Northeast surveys its nursing students six months after graduation to find out whether or not they've found employment. It's too early for the numbers for this year, but said the market was kind to last spring's graduates. He said, after six months, 90 percent of Northeast's RNs and 100 percent of LPNs were hired. He said that one thing that's helpful to Northeast graduates, the bulk of whom are from DeKalb County, is the areas relative proximity to several larger metropolitan areas, including Gadsden, Huntsville and Chattanooga, Tenn., which increases the pool of available nursing jobs. "Our nursing department has job fairs every year and employers come from outside the area to recruit," Burke said. "And, our nursing program has a great reputation." Additionally, in an effort to avoid a "glut" of nursing graduates, he said Northeast limits the number of students annually admitted to the nursing programs – about 80 for the RN program and 40 for the LPN program. "This area has been good for nursing graduates and hopefully it will continue to be," he said. "Some of our students do go to work after graduation but many of them transfer to universities because they are interested in four-year degrees." Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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