By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
For several years, nurse leaders have told me that many new graduates are entering nursing but seem to lack the calling and purpose to do the work. With the economy in turbulence and AI on the rise, nursing seems to be a safer career choice for employability than other majors. Students are being directed to nursing by career counselors and their parents, but often have little idea about what nursing is and unrealistic expectations of the roles they will transition into after graduation. Nurse managers today frequently hear from new graduates that nursing is not what they thought it would be, and some decide to quit and pursue other career options.
The recent National Council of State Boards of Nursing 2024 survey had one unexplained yet concerning statistic: The number of working nurses under 30 declined from 11.1% in 2022 to 7.9% in 2024. This is the lowest workforce participation rate recorded across nine years. The average age of an employed nurse in the US moved from 46 to 50. Alarmingly, 40% of RNs reported they plan to retire or leave nursing within the next 5 years, a 11.2% increase over the proportion who reported similar intentions on the 2022 survey (28.7%). Of the roughly 40% who reported intent to retire or leave in the next 5 years, 21.9% reported they planned to retire, and 18.0% reported they plan to leave nursing. This is consistent with what nurse managers now hear from their staff. The exhaustion, burnout, and unrelenting workload are taking a toll on nurses and an even heavier toll on young nurses who don’t feel passion for the work.
Many students now enter nursing programs right out of high school with little life experience. One faculty member recently observed in a session that the parents seemed more interested in the nursing program during orientation than their children. Others had students tell them that their parents had selected their major and had done the due diligence on how to apply for programs. These faculty members noted that while these students were very bright, they had not considered other options. Some even delay taking the NCLEX to avoid entry into the profession. This behavior did not occur with accelerated degree students who had entered nursing as a second career with clearer goals.
This dilemma is a downstream problem from an upstream trend in society. Students are urged to select majors that will make them employable rather than careers that play to their strengths. Societal trends often have intended consequences. Part of the turnover trends we see with recent graduates may result from entering a profession where you must love it to do it, especially today. Before we do any moonshots to rapidly ramp up admissions to our programs in response to the needs we see, I think it is important to re-examine our admission processes and the due diligence students are doing (or not doing) before choosing nursing as a major.
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