Nurses throughout the country give high marks to their jobs but anticipate a host of challenges within the coming years, according to a nationwide survey of nurses and their outlook on the profession.

"Vital Signs 2012: A National Nursing Attitudes and Outlook Report," highlights survey findings conducted by Jackson Healthcare, the nation’s third largest healthcare staffing company, in conjunction with Jackson Nurse Professionals.

Of 969 nurses who responded to the survey, 76% said they were satisfied or very satisfied in their jobs in caring for the sick or infirm. However, 72% reported that risks loom ahead for the nursing profession, particularly workload increases, a nursing shortage and increased liabilities and litigation involving nurses.

"Nursing is a great profession at the moment," Richard L. Jackson, chairman and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, said in a news release. "It provides good pay, rewarding work and a nice balance between personal and professional life.

"However, with so many seniors approaching retirement, a potential nursing shortage, more litigation in the medical profession and a potential explosion of newly insured patients thanks to the Affordable Care Act, nurses fear the future and changes coming to their profession."

The survey found that only 5% of nurses are very dissatisfied with their work. But those who are unhappy tend to be younger nurses (ages 25 to 34), compared with nurses ages 65 or older. Male nurses also are more likely to be unhappy compared with female nurses. The survey found a significant spike in nurses retiring in about 10 years.

"With the potential for so many nurses retiring in the near future, America’s healthcare delivery system may have a real problem if younger nurses are unhappy and leave the profession as well," said Scott L’Heureux, president of Jackson Nurse Professionals.

The survey found that in the next three to five years, 49% of nurses planned to keep their jobs and 13% said they would seek a leadership position in nursing. Meanwhile, 11% said they would return to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing, 10% said they would like to teach nursing and 9% said they would like to transition to a nurse practitioner role.

To read the report data from the nurses’ survey, which will be conducted annually by Jackson Healthcare, go to: www.jacksonhealthcare.com/media-room/surveys/nurse-practice-trends-survey-2012.aspx.

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The United States will need 5.6 million new healthcare workers by 2020. The study, by researchers at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and Workforce, also found that 4.6 million of those new workers will need education beyond high school.

“In healthcare, there are really two labor markets — professional and support,” Anthony P. Carnevale, the report’s lead author and director of the Center on Education and Workforce, said in a news release. “Professional jobs demand postsecondary training and advanced degrees, while support jobs demand high school and some college.” There is “minimal mobility” between the two, Carnevale said, “and the pay gap is enormous — the average professional worker makes 2.5 times as much as the average support worker.”

Among the study’s findings:

• In 2008, 80% of entry-level RNs had at least an associate’s degree, up from 37% in 1980.

• Rising degree requirements in nursing may be crowding out disadvantaged minorities, according to the authors: 51% of white nurses under age 40 have bachelor’s degrees, compared with 46% of Hispanic nurses and 44% of African-American nurses.

• Healthcare has the largest number and proportion of foreign-born and foreign-trained workers of any industry in the U.S. Among healthcare workers, 22% are foreign-born, compared with 13% of all workers nationwide. Most foreign-born nurses come from the Philippines, India and China.

• Only 20% of healthcare professional and technical occupations earn less than $38,000 a year, and almost 50% earn more than $60,000.

• More than 70% of healthcare support workers make less than $30,000 per year, but that percentage is still better than most available alternatives for workers of that skill and education level, according to the report.

• Healthcare successfully competes for science and engineering talent. Because the healthcare, science and technology fields tend to require similar skills, healthcare programs at the associate and bachelor’s level often are appealing alternatives for science and engineering students.

• One difference between the fields: People in healthcare jobs tend to value forming social bonds, while people who gravitate to science, technology and engineering occupations place a greater emphasis on achievement and independence, the researchers found.

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LinkedIn profiles are free and provide vital information including career history, experience, recommendations and references and even the option of posting a professional photo. But nurses using this job-seeking tool should take care to maintain professionalism and avoid potential pitfalls.

Veronica Lopez, a senior nurse recruiter for Continuum Health Partners, said she recalls one mistake made by an employee as a result of not properly managing the powers and potential of LinkedIn as a networking and resume resource.

"I have my contact information on LinkedIn for connecting with potential hires and also use the website as a tool for researching candidates for our nursing positions," said Lopez, who is responsible for hiring for Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and other hospitals. "I’ll never forget one day, not too long ago, I received what was basically a blanket outreach resume and hiring inquiry about possible positions, and it was from someone who was already working for us at one of our hospitals," Lopez said. "And that someone was in a position which happens to be one that’s very difficult for us to recruit for and fill. So to get this sent to me did not sit well. In talking to this person, I was told that the individual had no idea this information was being sent out by a third party via LinkedIn. Whether it was or was not, the lesson is, know how to make LinkedIn work for you in the best possible way."

Tips for linking

Launched in May 2003, LinkedIn has become a go-to website for "professional networking," with the now-publicly traded company boasting more than 150 million registered users spanning 200 countries as of February.

All of LinkedIn.com’s features are accessible with just a few key strokes and mouse clicks.

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