Top Sources to Get a List of Registered Nurses

To go along with the theme of this blog, I figured I would go ahead and give you the top sources to acquire a list of registered nurses.

This list of sources is general in itself as every hospital and healthcare agency has its own need.

The sources I am about to mention are general enough where everyone will be able to use these resources and taylor it to suit their needs.

Nursing Schools - If you want a list of fresh nurses that does not suffer from list fatigue this is the place to get it. Nursing schools produce thousands of nurses every year and these nurses will be out looking for a job as sooon as they graduate.

The drawback is that you will be looking at nurses without experience. On the other hand, the salary for theses nurses will be the entry salary.

Board of Nursing - The second source is to get a list from State Board of Nursing. Since all nurses that intend to work in a specific state must register with them, this is a great place to start.

One of the drawback however is that many of these nurses will not be available for work as they may already have a job or be retired.

Nursing Job Boards - The third source is to go through a nursing job board on the internet. Nursing job board have an advantage over the other in terms of freshness if you get a list of registered nurses from a popular job board, because the posts and new applications are constantly updated.

Nurse Staffing Agency - using a nurse staffing agency is a great way to keep from having to do any leg work as the good ones will have a great database of nurses that is constantly updated. The drawback is the cost as it can be very expensive.

List Brokerage Company - The last option which should be used with care is to contact one of the many list brokerage company. I say last option because it is difficult the determine how current the list is and how accurate it is.

Nurse as a Career - Top Nursing Facts

Before anyone thinks about getting into a career in nursing, I truly belive that they should be aware of some important nursing facts before enrolling in a nursing school.

I am not just talking about the basic personality aptitude it takes to be a nurse like caring, having a good head for mathematics and science but about the nursing industry.

Knowing these facts will help you decide whether nursing as a career is right for you.

1. Currently, there is a nursing shortage and many nurses have to work over time


2. Hospitals are looking more and more for nurse specialists


3. There is a nursing shortage


4. Patients can and will test your patience. If you are not patient or understanding of others, life as a nurse will be very difficult.


5. Entry level nurses usually earn around $45,000 a year.


6. Nurses are still perceived as simple assistants to doctors even though their actual role includes direct patient care, case management and more.


7. BSN nurses are becoming the preferred over registered nurses.

I know that this is a bit off topic but I felt the need to write this because most nursing schools only have limited space every semester and it would be a shame to have someone take a spot and end up changing their career after a couple of years working as nurse.

Wisconsin Nurses - Planning for the Future

The Wisconsin State government have been taking the nurse shortage rather seriously and started a statewide survey of over 77,000 nurses.

The early results of this survey shows that only half of the nurses in Wisconsin are working in hospitals as the other half workin in clinics or community health centers.

The study found that the State of Wisconsin is mostly made up of nurses over the age of 45 which is something to worry about in the near future as when these nurses begin to retire, it will create a large nurse shortage unless the age difference in nurses can be equalized.

This information will be used by the state government to see about create and improving nursing programs as well as improving the nursing conditions to keep current nurses from leaving their profession.

Nurse Salaries

Many people in the nursing industy that are working in an understaffed hospital are able to make quite a bit of money in over time pay which is great for the hospital and the nurse.

However, there can be a down side to it because if the nurses keep working overtime day after day, week after week and month after month, it shows that there is a flaw in the system because so many overtime hourse on a regular basis should not exist. Also, it is proven that the more over time hours a nurse works the more likely that the nurse will make a mistake.

It was recently reported in the Toronto Sun that a nurse in Montreal, Quebec worked so many 16 hour shifts last year that he "racked up $127,715(CAD) in overtime pay". Compare this to his actual salary which is $102,285 and this seems like an insanely amount of hours to work.

Sure, if the nurses on staff can handle the extra shifts its great because of the money but the problem starts happening when the nurses are not able to cover shifts and mistakes start happening.

The hospital and the nurses in question should closely examine this because in the long run, this opens up situations where if a mistake does take place, then a hospital lawsuit for negligence is imminent. Just make a Google search for hospital negligence lawsuit and you will see that the top results are lawyers that specialize in hospital negligence. Especially since according to that article, this has been going on for over a year.

Another Hospital in the Nurse Search Status

A registered nurse friend of mine was telling me today about Houston Healthcare being in need of nurses due to the rising admission rate they have been experiencing.

I found this to be an interesting case as most of the nurse shortage in the U.S. happen in smaller cities. Atlanta for example has a very competitive nurse market and there is no shortage there.

Emory University hospital turns down nursing applications on a weekly basis and Piedmont hospital has such a large nursing database that they only need to make a couple of phone calls to get a nurse.

Getting back to the point, Houston Healthcare started out with 30 RN and 5 LPN positions available in June and have so far only been able to fill 11 of the RN positions but have been able to fill all of the LPN positions.

Looking at the current economy, you would assume that the jobs would have been filled by now but it is not the case. Of course, if the hospital in question is not using a nurse placement agency with a good list of registered nurses then the process would be slower.

If they are using such an agency and still not able to fill these position then it is something we should all worry about.

Nurse Strike in Minnesota - Update

Today, the Minneapolis nurses are voting to see whether they will go on a longer strike. Its a sad thing that they feel forced to make such a vote because a compromise cannot be reached with the Minneapolis hospitals.

I am sure that all of the nurses feel torn inside as they have all devoted their life to provide the best patient care possible.

According to the Star Tribune, the hospitals in a statement said, "There is no benefit to a strike and we saw that on June 10," said Maureen Schriner, a spokeswoman for the hospitals. "We need to have contract negotiations that recognize the reality of the health care environment."

True as it may be, there is always a way for both parties to come to an agreement. Yes, the economy may be difficult at the moment but that excuse is always used by companies. If they look deep and hard enough in the budget and in the books, they can find a way to meet the nurses halfway. Do the executives and so on really need to have an budget for travel expenses and remodelling their offices?

Perhaps its time for both groups to look at the hospital budget and see how this can all be worked out by seeing how money can be diverted or share into hiring more nurses. Perhaps the hopsital could also see on how they can create more money thru fund raisers and such.

The point is that yes, it is possible to make come up with a compromise if both parties are willing. I'm sure that if hospitals involved like, the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, agreed to add 200 or so more nurses to the staff and with the promise to add more nurses once the economy reaches a certain point, the nurses would agree to it.

Nurse strike

Whenever a strike takes place in the healthcare industry, its never a good thing. They are several reasons for nurses to strike from higher wages to better working conditions. This time its about patient safety.

If you have seen the news recently, you will have noticed that over 12,000 nurses in Minnesota went on strike on June 10, 2010. This strike however was not about a pay increase but about the patients.

In simple words, even though the nurses did ask for a 3% pay increase, which according to them was used as a bargaining tool for the real demands, in a nutshell, the nurses are asking for more nurses to take care of the patients.

For the moment, talks have resumed between the nurses and the hospitals.

The striking nurses in Minnesota are doing what was bound to happen sooner or later. A hospital is expensive to run but nevertheless, its still a company that is set out to make money( not counting the state owned ones of course).

There is nothing wrong with making a profit but when it jeopardizes the care of patients, that is when a problem occurs, especially if the share owners, board of directors and upper level management are still making millions of dollars in bonuses.

Language Skills as Marketing Tool for Yourself

There is curently a nurse shortage in Japan according to an article by the Seattle Time where Naoto Kan who is going to be stepping as Japan's Prime Minister shortly has had many meetings with advisors to deal with the issue of "beefing up the nursing industry as Japan's population continues to age".



This is another example of how the nursing shortage crisis is not just limited to a few countries(like the U.S) but also becoming a global issue.

American registered nurses and nursing students should consider learning another language to become more marketable.



When I am reffering to learning another language, I'm not just talking about just taking a few Berlitz classes so you can communicate but taking advance courses that specifically deal with medical terms. Having this skill under your belt, a registered nurse could acquire a job in another country that pays more compettive salary or can ask for more money when she applies to a hospital.


If you plan on working in the United States, Spanish is a great language to know due to the large amount of migrant workers in certain parts of the country. Spanish, however, should not be considered the only option since in larger cities, they are many communities of immigrants like Chinese where many people have not yet learned the language.


It all depends on where you plan on living. For example, if you want to live in California, then learning Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese or Spanish would be a good choice. If you intend to live in Arizona or Texas, then Spanish would be the language of choice.

Another advantage of being a bilingual registered nurse is that it will give you that extra edge when applying for a nursing position as an employer would rather hire a bilingual nurse then one who is not.