Dana said...

Hey Nightingales and friends,

It was great to see so many of our cohort at the Nursing Symposium at State last Friday! Even though it was a little disappointing as far as recruiter turnout (where was SFGH and CPMC?), it was still worthwhile as far as getting a feel for what the job market is out there right now and what prospective employers are looking for. There seems to be lot of negative buzz about new grad programs drying up and the shortage in general going south. Worry not. These are just momentary blips on the healthcare landscape. So the CA nurse position vacancy rate has gone from 12% to 10%. Boo-hoo! That's still 1 in 10 positions open! And look at the big picture: a shortfall of like 150,000 RNs by the next decade. The (nursing) world is your oyster, my friends! You will all find yourself in management (if that's where you want to be) so fast you'll wonder what happened. Trust me, if you show up to work regularly, have a positive attitude, and prove you are not a total doofus, you will feel the pressure to be a leader in many subtle and not so subtle ways. Take the advice of someone who had a promising career (the lab thing) but made all the wrong choices and F'ed it up mainly because I didn't really consider it a career in the first place and then became so unhappy I had to find another career (phew!): have fun with this nursing thing. Take that "where do I want to be in 5 years/where do I want to be in 10 years" jazz seriously, unless you have plans (like I did oh so long ago) of chucking this doomed civilization and being a hermit on a mountain. Because, horror upon horrors, the civilization may not be doomed after all! In fact, it may desperately need your brains and positive attitude! Maybe John M. has the right attitude: go out there, work hard, buy lotsa toys. Or maybe we should all operate mobile public healthcare vans in medically underserved area and live off the generosity of grants (yes, even that is doable).

Anyway, it was nice to see so many people at the Symposium Friday.

daner