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Job outlook for nurses 'excellent' Date published: 4/1/2010
BY CHELYEN DAVIS It's commonly believed that nursing is one profession where you can always find a job. That seems especially true in Fredericksburg, where the upcoming opening of the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, a year after Stafford Hospital opened, means more jobs for nurses--and also means nursing programs are having more trouble accommodating prospective students than they are finding jobs for new graduates. Germanna Community College's nursing program saw its largest number of applicants ever this year, said Dean of Nursing Mary Gilkey--more than the college has room for. "I still can't enroll the numbers I'd like to because I am limited" by space and other considerations, Gilkey said. "We are working so hard to see how we can admit more students. The need is there." She said the local hospitals are very supportive partners, helping the college with scholarships and equipment. And those hospitals then hire the school's graduates. "They know the product and they want to hire the product they've been part of," Gilkey said. Nationally, registered nurses make up the largest health care occupation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A bureau report says the job outlook for nurses is "excellent" over the next year, although it can vary by geographic location. "Employment of RNs is expected to grow much faster than the average," says the report--an estimated 581,500 new jobs from 2008 to 2018, a 22 percent growth rate. At the new Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, slated to open in June, chief nursing officer Nancy Littlefield said she has received 9,000 applications for 400 jobs. "I did not expect that many," Littlefield said. Many of those applicants are experienced nurses, she said, either from other health care organizations in the area or from Richmond and Northern Virginia. Overall, Littlefield said, the job market for nurses is "very good." But the highest growth areas for nurses are not in hospitals, but in doctors' offices, nursing homes and other facilities. The growing demographic of older people, who increasingly prefer home health care or residential facilities, is contributing to that. Hospitals are expected to have the lowest growth rate in the profession. According to the labor bureau, that's due in part to the move toward more procedures being done on an outpatient basis.
It was projected 20 years ago we would have a 70% shortfall in nursing. Those of us who chose the record technology end of the health care equation, from NIH to the local health care communities, knew 20 years ago that we had problemsb and not enough education to bring us into the 21st Century. Go figure. Cosner has the bucks and Spotsylvanioa County has the plan. Cosner will REdevelope anything found on or crossing his real estate holdings on both sides of Rt 17 and starting at Cosner's Corner.
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