Many are entering field as new career
For as long as Jill Cribari could remember, she had always wanted to be a nurse,
an ambition that was solidified when nurses helped her through a difficult pregnancy.
Eight years after giving birth to her daughter, a change in her husband’s work schedule opened the door for her to pursue her second career.
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“I saw the jobs they had – taking care of babies and moms – and I thought, ‘I want to do that,’” said Cribari, 36, now a nursing student in her junior year at Rhode Island College.
After 10 years in banking, Cribari left her job for a field that offers good pay and flexible hours, so she can spend more time with her family.
Cribari isn’t alone. Economists have reasoned that in a poor job market, more people are looking to nursing as a rewarding second career. But those in the profession say it’s more than just a paycheck.
“We hear from people, especially people coming back after having other careers, that they see nursing as meaningful work,” said Jane Williams, professor and chair of the Department of Nursing at Rhode Island College.
Ruth Waldman, associate dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Rhode Island, agreed that the numbers seem connected to the economy. Using enrollment estimates, Waldman said she expects about 115 new freshmen nursing students and 40 transfers this fall.
“When there are plentiful jobs elsewhere, there aren’t as many people looking for nursing jobs,” she said. “We’ve always had some of that but now it’s much more prevalent. We have more people who want to become nurses than we have spots.”
Williams, who has been at RIC for 30 years, said she has never seen such a dramatic upswing.
“The increase has been almost dramatic over the past few years,” she said. “It’s not only the economic forces that are leading people to look at it, though. The industry has been trying to increase awareness. You can have a great salary and a rewarding job too.”
According to Nancy M. Dluhy, professor and interim dean of nursing at UMass Dartmouth, the trend goes deeper than the economic factor. Applications at the university, she said, have jumped 48 percent from last year, from 396 to 586 for fall 2004. The university even increased the number of spots available for the fall, from 80 to 100.
“There’s always been a link” between nursing and the job market in general, she said. “People have always seen it as a stable career, but there has never been this volume. There are also a number of career-change people. It’s not just the economic aspect for them; they’re looking for another type of satisfaction. I think it goes beyond the economic factor.”
Renewed interest in nursing, according to those in the profession, can also be attributed to the effort by organizations, hospitals, health care groups and higher education to increase awareness of it as a profession, according to Cathy Duquette, senior vice president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island. Johnson & Johnson also launched an extensive ad campaign to raise awareness of the work nurses do, which the educators said has helped.
“One of the great benefits here in Rhode Island is that the health care industry is the No. 1 employer in the state and it is job security,” she said. “We have been actively promoting nursing,” going into high schools. “We’ve seen quite a few second-career nursing students.”
From 2001 to 2003, Duquette said, the number of nursing applicants statewide rose 70 percent, and the number of students enrolled in nursing programs rose 50 percent.
The industry itself is growing right now, part of which can be attributed to the tough job market, Williams and Duquette said, but most of which is the result of an aging population and increased awareness of the opportunities available in the field.
“We have an aging population and the need for nurses has never been greater, and we know we’re going to have a shortage,” Duquette said.
“The need is there now, and it’s going to be increasing for the predictable future,” Williams said. “And the opportunities are outstanding now. Nurses can work with everyone from infants to the elderly.”
Among the incoming second-career nursing students at URI, Waldman listed previous degrees in social work, physical education, biology, human science and services, psychology and one student with a master’s degree in community planning.
“Some are very clear in what they want is to work more directly with people,” she said. “Money factors into it a lot as far as the steady work piece … but you have to have the personality, aptitude and desire.”
The public also has some incorrect notions of what the field demands.
“It’s a lot more demanding intellectually, emotionally and even physically,” Williams said. “Nursing has somewhat of an image problem. There is respect but not a wide understanding of the kinds of problems they deal with and have to solve.”
Overwhelmingly, according to educators and others, the majority of nursing students say they were attracted to the human element of the job over the paycheck.
“We’re with people in the important times in their lives,” Williams said. “Nurses are there when people are born and when they die.”
