Here’s a scenario that keeps some nursing workforce researchers up at night: Within the next decade, there may be too few experienced ICU nurses to care for a surge in the number of critically ill patients.
Here’s the background: One million of the current three million RNs in the U.S. are expected to retire within the next 10 years. That’s one-third of the nursing workforce. At the same time, aging Baby Boomers with a host of complex, chronic, technology-dependent health conditions are expected to strain the acute care system.
That’s the assessment of Peter Buerhaus, PhD, RN, FAAN, a healthcare economist and professor of nursing who has long studied fluctuations in nurse employment. What’s more, in his work examining factors that contribute to shortages of nurses, Buerhaus found RNs in some states, including California, are retiring at a faster clip than in other states.
And while an influx of nursing students in the past decade has tempered the all-out nursing shortage, many experts had predicted by 2010 gaps between the supply of nurses and demand for their services persist in pockets of the country. Nursing in California, for example, has struggled to keep pace with the growing healthcare needs of the state’s rapidly expanding population.
Here’s the real problem, Buerhaus says: The U.S. healthcare system could still face a shortage of nurses; but more pressing, it will experience a shortage of nursing knowledge. The number of new nurses in the U.S has grown, but experience takes years to build. Once older nurses retire, there will be fewer nurses with the know-how to manage the complex health conditions of the nation’s aging population.
A potentially serious experience gap makes filling a pipeline of suitably prepared nurses in specialties, such as critical care, a high priority for hospitals. In states like California, acute care facilities are taking extra measures to attract RNs to ICU nursing jobs; and with no shortage of seriously ill patients on the horizon, a critical care job offers one of the most solid long-term career choices a nurse could make.
High Demand, Higher Salaries
ICU nursing jobs have consistently ranked among the most sought-after positions in nursing. In 2013, Ramon Lavandero, MSN, MA, RN, FAAN, senior strategic advisor for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), forecast a healthy employment outlook for critical care nurses.
“If anything, the demand for nurses with expertise in high acuity and critical care will continue to climb steeply,” he told Healthcare Traveler.
Current hiring trends appear to validate Lavandero’s prediction. Health eCareers, a recruitment and career resource company for the healthcare industry, crunched the numbers from online job postings last year and gave ICU nursing the number five spot in its top 10 list of most in-demand positions for nursing. NurseJournal, a social community website focused on nursing issues, placed critical care nursing number four among its top 20 high-growth specialties in 2016.
An expansion of critical care nurse jobs will continue, the organization says. Critical care nursing will follow the same growth projections set by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the nursing profession as a whole, which is critical care nurse employment will grow by 16% through 2022.
Nurses who opt for critical care careers tend to be rewarded with not only a higher level of autonomy than nurses in other specialties, but higher salaries as well. As of October 2016, Payscale estimated critical care nurses average between roughly $50,000 and $123,000 per year, depending on location, years of experience, and advanced preparation through certification. Data updated in late November 2016 from Salary.com puts the median annual salary of a critical care nurse between $62,000 and $75,000. In California, typical salaries for critical care nursing jobs top $70,000 and jump to as much as $85,000 in certain cities.
As a critical care nurse, they also tend to reap greater career advancement opportunities than nurses in other specialties enjoy. Many ICU nurses, for example, combine the experience they gain in high acuity care with additional education to become certified registered nurse anesthetists, whose annual salaries range between $95,000 and $191,000, according to Payscale.
How to Get There
For most critical care nurses, the intrinsic rewards they gain in their daily practice — in developing high-functioning nursing skills, exercising autonomy, and saving lives — far outweigh their compensation. ICU nursing offers unique opportunities for organized, detail-oriented RNs to work independently while collaborating with an integrated team of expert healthcare professionals.
The responsibility of caring for patients that are critically ill typically requires nurses seeking ICU jobs to have greater preparation than their colleagues in other nursing specialties. In addition to current RN licensure, many employers require a BS degree in nursing and at least one to two years of experience in an acute care setting. Certification in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support are also must-have’s to land a critical care nurse position.
Boost your chances of success as a candidate for a critical care RN position by taking a few additional steps:
- Explore. Research the specialty by reading clinical journal articles; regularly visit the websites of professional associations, including the AACN and the Critical Care Societies Collaborative; and attend conferences, such as the annual National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition.
- Learn. Look for continuing education courses, symposiums, presentations, and other online and in-person opportunities to broaden your knowledge of critical care.
- Connect. Network with current ICU nurses to better understand the challenges of critical care nursing and potentially find a mentor.
Organizations like Eisenhower Medical Center offer comprehensive orientation programs and preceptors for nurses new to the critical care environment, but don’t let the learning stop once you become comfortable in an ICU role. Make a plan to further your knowledge and skills — and your earnings potential — through certification.
Eisenhower Medical Center rewards critical care nurses with competitive compensation and benefits, along with a supportive culture committed to your professional development. We’re actively seeking nurses for our specialty-driven ICUs. Take the next step in your career by viewing our current openings.
Originally posted on 20/12/2016