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This question deals with an issue that is on just about everyone's mind these days: job security. It seems that every corner you peer into, the failing economy is having its impact. No one is immune.

Within the profession of nursing, however, the news is good...yet very complicated. Jobs are being lost at a frightening pace here in 2009. Businesses are closing their doors so fast it can make your head spin. Many of today's jobs are jobs that depend on people either having money to spend, or enough credit to feel comfortable in spending money they don't actually have.

When that dries up, consumers stop consuming. Producers have to stop producing, and jobs are lost. Whether it's new homes, home decor, restaurant food, supermarket food, festivals, concerts, movies, cars, vacations, manicures, housekeeping services, or whatever, the consumer is no longer buying what producers are selling. He chooses to "go without" when money is tight and credit is almost non-existent.

But what if that same person who has chosen to close his wallet and do without has a heart attack? Catches pneumonia? Breaks his arm?

This is where the truth of the job security that nursing affords begins to show forth: no matter the economy, no matter the state of the world's banks, people will continue to get sick. They will continue to be injured. They will continue to need nurses in hospitals and doctors' offices and clinics and schools and everywhere else to help care for them.

Turn on the TV news, or look on the internet, and you'll find reports of hospitals laying off nursing staff, mainly in the large city hospitals. Sounds scary, no? Keep in mind that the entire world is making a very huge, and very necessary financial adjustment. Hospitals and the rest of the health care sector are no exception.

What is happening in nursing today isn't entirely new, although our current situation is much, much more complicated. The current economy poses unique problems as well as unique opportunities. The future for nurses is changing rapidly, and those who know what is coming can position themselves to take the best advantage!

Here are the current truths, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

1. Employment of RN's is expected to grow much faster than the average for all other occupations through 2016.


2. The aging "Baby-Boomer" population will need more and more medical and thus nursing care, though not all of it will be as hospital in-patients. The home health care sector is projected to experience the greatest growth rate through 2016.


3. Overall job opportunities for RN's are expected to be excellent.


4. Much of the current RN workforce is and soon will be retiring (aging Baby-Boomers); it is projected that today's aging RN's will be exiting the workforce more rapidly than they are being replaced by new RN's.

Looking for job security? Know an industry where there will ALWAYS be "consumers?" Know an industry where demand is projected to be much, much greater than supply? Think nursing!

When I accepted my first job offer as a newly graduated nurse back in 1984, it was on a cardiac step-down unit at a large, university-affiliated hospital in Chicago. I rented an apartment, took out a loan to buy a car, and got ready for my first day of work. About a week before that first day, the phone rang.

"Lori, this is Human Resources calling...we've had some budget cuts, and I'm afraid your position has been eliminated. I'm sorry." What? Did I just lose a job I hadn't even started?

Trembling, I told her that I'd just signed a lease and taken a car loan and I had no income. She asked me if I would be interested in a position in their geriatric center (it was kind of like a glorified nursing home). I took it. Nursing jobs were hard to get.

In less than a year, I was working on the cardiac step-down unit I had originally been hired for. A year after that, I started work in the intensive care unit (ICU). And a year after that, my husband and I moved out of the city and I was welcomed with open arms to the ICU of the local suburban hospital. There weren't enough nurses to fill all the open positions, so the hospitals had to hire outside agency nurses.

Will you be able to get the exact job you want in the exact facility you want at the exact time you want? Maybe. Maybe not. Much of it will depend upon your location and whether or not you are actually qualified for the position you seek.  A newly graduated nurse, for example, is not qualified to work in the ICU or the ER.  Will you be able to get what you want eventually? If you're qualified, probably, yes! Of course, I can't guarantee you employment throughout your lifetime--no one can. I can tell you that as a nurse, your odds of staying employed are way better than most! Remember, in this life, people will always get sick, always get injured, always grow old, and always need some kind of care. 

Of course, job security is one of the great benefits of a career in nursing. But by itself, it isn't enough of a reason to choose nursing as your vocation.  Be sure you consider everything about this challenging field of work, to make sure you have what it takes to be a nurse.  All the touted job security in the world doesn't mean much to the nurses who walked away from their careers, exhausted and burned-out, because they entered a profession they simply weren't meant to be in.  But if nursing is for you, the outlook is certainly positive!   

Lori Havens R.N., B.S.N., is the author of "7 Essential Questions Every Future Nurse Must Ask," a free "mini e-course" which helps answer the biggest questions that people looking into nursing as a career option have; she has also authored "Should I Be A Nurse? A Journey of Self-Exploration for Those Considering A Career in Nursing," a 102 page e-book which takes the reader through a series of carefully-crafted "conversations" and thought-provoking exercises designed to help answer that all-important question: "Should I Be A Nurse?" Both are available at her website, which you can visit at: http://www.isnursing4me.com/home.html

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