Women, who still dominate nursing, have many other options. Many in the profession blame the hospitals themselves for cutting staffs to save money, thus working nurses harder and driving some out of the business while making the profession less attractive for others. A lot of it is the job itself. Experts believe its difficulty makes nursing harder to sell to young people who have many other career options. Nurses typically work 12-hour shifts or longer, nearly all of it standing with few breaks.
Some places require nurses to work overtime or take extra on-call shifts.
One nurse, who didn't want her name used, said that can cause problems. You have nurses working all those extra hours. Pay is an issue, too. In addition, nurses often feel as if they don't get the respect their profession deserves, either from the public or their employers. Go into computers where you can make a lot more money, and you don't have to work weekends or holidays.