Local Nursing School Grads Jammed by Area Joblock
Even though experts say there's a nationwide shortage of nurses, some local nursing school graduates are struggling to find jobs in this economy.
KYW's Lynne Adkins reports that none of the 54 students who graduated last month from Abington Memorial Hospital's Dixon School of Nursing has landed a job as a registered nurse.
Debby Hines is the school's director of nursing education:
"We have encouraged our students to explore positions in the community such as long-term care, physician offices, and veteran's hospitals, and told them to explore other parts of the country where they're hiring, such as Texas, California, and the midwest."
She has also suggested that the grads continue their education, look for jobs in related fields, and attend job fairs:
"I think it's really the economy, that people are not leaving their positions and therefore positions are not opening up in hospitals. And hospitals are really looking closely at the amount of nurses they have."
She hopes the current difficult conditions won't discourage future students, because she expects the market will shift and jobs will once again be widely available.
