Cyclical trends Nursing shortages seem to come and go in intensity. The last one was in the late 1980s, and we lived through that one. It was a long, dry spell with prolonged decreases in admissions to four-year nursing programs, reported the Center for Nursing. This time, any thoughts of quick fixes also have to contend with an unemployment rate in the Triangle that has remained under 3 percent for several years. When there are more jobs available than there are potential employees, salaries tend to be higher than they might be in a glut, says Betty Harris, dean of the Health Sciences Division at Wake Tech.
Potential employees can pick and choose where they want to work.
With nursing program enrollment down, however, as it is at Wake Tech, the pool from which to draw just isn't large enough, and employers come begging for possible contacts, she says. Wake Tech's current nursing program has 131 students, with 36 slated to graduate this spring. We haven't made a class of 66 in three years. Although she believes lower enrollment may be partly due to the state's community colleges switching from a quarter system to a semester system in the fall of 1997 students only enroll twice a year instead of four times other reasons exist as well. Shortages also recur because once the profession addresses the shortage problems during a crisis, the field often becomes flooded with potential employees.