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Finding the Future of Nursing

After 28 years as a staff nurse at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, you’d think Victoria Clark would be just about ready to retire.

But the 51-year-old said she really enjoys working in the maternity ward and isn’t planning to leave just yet.

In the midst of a growing national nursing shortage, she said, she understands it’s critically important for nurses her age and older to stick around as long as they can. And besides, it’s rewarding to work with mothers and their babies, she said.

“If I was in the fire department or a state worker I’d be retired already, but I don’t think I would have had the fun career I’ve had,” Clark said. “I feel like I can go on for a long time. And eventually I can go part time and still get benefits. I could do that for years.”

A look out at the national statistics reveals a scary picture for the future of health care, as the ranks of nurses are expected to grow even smaller at a time when the 77 million people who make up the Baby Boom – arguably those born between 1943 and 1961 – get older and need more medical care.

Part of that problem is that the generation born between 1962 and 1981 known as Generation X has only 44 million in its ranks, and it’s simply not big enough to fill the growing demand. And much of the generation of 70 million born between 1982 and 1998, called Generation Y, are only just starting to enter the work force.

But it isn’t just a numbers game. The education system for nurses also plays a major role, with a teacher shortage bottlenecking new nurses from getting into the field.

And it’s also a problem of stress, as nurses on short staffs have to work longer and longer weeks to make up for the difference, something that causes many new nurses to leave the field quickly.