This is an interesting thread on allnurses.com, that flies in the face of the usual “we need more nurses,” whimpering. One nurse started the thread by writing about how her hospital is cutting back on the use of travelers and that there is obvious “wage-fixing” in the area. How’s that for trying to entice nurses to work at your facility, or making an effort to “reduce” the shortage.

I will say it again- there are too many nurses in this country. Too many nurses being churned out every six months from ABC Community College. Hospitals count on nurses getting burned out and leaving after 2- 3 years. Then they can bring in another group of new grads and pay them several dollars less than they are paying you.

Sounds like a clear notion of what is really going on. There are almost 3 million RNs in the U.S., and new grads are churned out every six months from community colleges and BSN programs. The idea is that if enough new grads are pushed into the profession, then wages can be lowered because it will become a seller’s market. Too many nurses grabbing for the same miserable jobs.

Of course, the spinning heads don’t realize that has already happened. Back in the early-mid 1990s, when they were laying off nurses and it was virtually impossible for a new grad to get a job, nurses didn’t sit around and clamor for the jobs available. Or take cuts in pay. Or take impossible patient loads. They left the profession entirely, or entered non-hospital positions.