Who will take care of us?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting any younger.

If you’re under 50, you probably don’t even think about your possible future as an incapacitated older person in need of caretakers. I never used to, but now, as older friends fall ill and need help, I can’t help but think about what my circumstances might be. It doesn’t help that there is a huge shortage of nurses and that experts predict it will only get worse.

As we speak, there are an estimated 118,000 nursing jobs in want of applicants. By 2020, the prognosticators think that number will grow to one million.

That number is difficult to imagine and who’d have guessed 25 years ago that such a shortage might happen? It was the beginning of the era of managed care, and hospitals and other facilities were laying off nurses like crazy. The targets more often than not were the ones with the most experience because they were the most highly paid. Everyone in those days feared for their employment longevity.

How times have changed.

Salaries for nurses are up, there are often multiple perks, signing bonuses and more bonuses if you can get your best friend to come and work at the same hospital. Nursing has become a desirable profession, but one factor that is keeping the numbers down is the shortage of nursing schools and faculty. Teachers aren’t paid that well and few want those jobs when more money can be made elsewhere.

So besides higher salaries for nursing school instructors, how else do we fill the need for nurses?

How do we attract more men and women to the profession?

What would you say to convince them that nursing is a worthwhile career?

What do you think?