It’s a little messed up to put it this way, but disasters create opportunity. When a community is in trouble, it needs help. Help for better or worse costs money. The people who can alleviate the problem get the money.
Aspiring nurses are well positioned in that regard. Communities need more healthcare workers. Many people who might become nurses are reluctant to do so because of the prohibitive costs of college education.
Consequently, many schools and state agencies are developing specialized opportunities to help reduce the cost of nursing school and get more people into the profession.
In this article, we take a look at how nursing shortages are creating unique opportunities for future healthcare professionals.
Why You Should Think About Becoming a Nurse
Getting a cheap education is nice, but if the degree just gets your foot in the door for a career everyone seems to want out of, is it really worthwhile?
The high rates of healthcare turnover paint a lopsided picture of what it is like to be a nurse. Yes, the job is hard. Yes, many people leave.
However, it is important to call a spade a spade: many of the people who quit the job weren’t a great fit for it in the first place. Many others might have been happy if only they could have looked for other ways to work as a nurse that allowed them to focus on areas of medicine that interest them the most.
For example, forensic nurses work with law enforcement. Travel nurses get to explore the world. Neonoatal nurse practitioners help save babies every day.
Bottom line? There are tons of awesome ways to enjoy a career in nursing. Find the path that makes the most sense to you.
Grants and Scholarships
Because most states need more nurses there is an increasing trend toward grants and scholarships that are designed to alleviate the shortages. These opportunities provide higher levels of tuition assistance than would otherwise be possible.
You don’t have to have a killer high school transcript to take advantage of these opportunities either. Grants are particularly designed to add diversity to the field and generally fill in gaps regardless of academic achievement.
No, you can’t take a 2.0 GPA and turn it into a degree in nursing, but those who are willing to work hard will find a receptive healthcare industry waiting for them.
When looking for scholarship opportunities, it’s always a good idea to identify aspects of yourself that distinguish you from other applicants. For example, if you are a first-generation college student or a minority, you will probably find many grant and scholarship opportunities that are specific to those criteria.
The healthcare industry is particularly focused on recruiting minority applicants as there are significant employment discrepancies taking place in hospitals.
Unfortunately, these discrepancies consistently result in poor healthcare outcomes for minority patients. Studies show that majority group doctors and nurses often struggle to relate to patients who come from a different background than them. African Americans— particularly African-American women— are often the most impacted by these discrepancies.
As a result, many state and private organizations are offering money to people from minority backgrounds. It is a bad situation, but for certain healthcare applicants, it can be a good opportunity to both make a difference and save money in the process.
Conditional Scholarships
Healthcare shortages have also created a rise in conditional scholarships. These opportunities may offer grant or scholarship money to students on the condition that they go to work in a hospital that meets certain criteria after they graduate. That might mean an understaffed urban or rural hospital.
If the student decides not to work in the hospital that meets this criteria the grant or scholarship will then become a loan that they have to pay back.
You might be reluctant to limit your future career options but keep in mind that most hospitals are experiencing shortages anyway. Chances are regardless of whether you take the scholarship or not he will wind up working in the hospital that meets the criteria.
Other Forms of Opportunity
Thinking beyond the world of tuition assistance, there are also newly developing opportunities for people who have already taken on healthcare careers. As hospitals experience increasingly high rates of turnover, they naturally look for ways to make their employees happier.
This is taking several different shapes. Some healthcare systems are working on increasing compensation while others are focused on quality-of-life considerations.
Historically, for example, nurses have worked 12-hour shifts. It’s simply easier to organize a working schedule around two shifts rather than three or four. There are benefits to this schedule, but it is also hard on people. A twelve-hour shift is grueling in any context, but especially so for people working evenings, holidays, and weekends.
Maybe there aren’t a ton of nurses who are outwardly stating that they left the profession because they were sick of working for 12 hours at a time but certainly, it contributes to burnout.
Some hospitals are consequently working on developing three or even four daily rotations. This is slightly harder to accomplish in a world of shortages, but it does contribute to a more positive environment in some cases.
Many hospitals are also developing ways to support the emotional wellness of their employees. For example, some offer free mental health and wellness services. Therapy. Meditation. Gym memberships. Benefits that allow employees to focus on their overall wellness.
Some hospitals have social features that are designed to empower nurses as they work to support one another. This could take the form of communication platforms that make it easy for nurses to interact, trade advice, and offer support as well as cover one another shifts. Some hospitals might even launch mentorship programs that connect experienced nurses with new hires.
These services, though not in their own right enticing enough to alleviate the shortage problem can go a long way toward improving healthcare workers' overall experience with the system.
Conclusion
Being a nurse is not easy. It never will be. But despite high rates of turnover and constant news stories about healthcare worker shortages now is actually a uniquely good time to become a nurse.
Not only is college more affordable, but hospitals are doing more and more to make the life of a nurse better. And of course, if you don’t want to be a floor nurse, there are tons of other options available to you.
Through graduate studies, you could become a nurse practitioner and enjoy high levels of autonomy. Through certification programs, you can specialize in areas of medicine that interest you the most.
There are even online nursing schools and certification programs that provide flexible learning environments for people of all backgrounds and lifestyles. If you are interested in becoming a nurse check out a program that makes the most sense to you.
