The $2.8 trillion healthcare industry in the United States is so large that it’s practically an economy in itself. It is poised to grow – and change – dramatically over the next decade.
In fact, seven of the ten fastest growing careers are in healthcare, with Registered Nurses in especially high demand. The Labor Department projects the addition of about 440,000 new job openings for RNs through 2024, and nearly 700,000 retirements in the field. This makes a nursing degree a sure bet.
Sound investment
It’s a bet that pays off. Nursing is among the best paid healthcare professions, with a relatively smaller education and training investment. In 2015, RN median pay stood at $67,490 per year, or $32.45
per hour.
RNs are licensed by the state, but they typically also hold either an Associates or Bachelors in nursing. Many begin with a two-year degree and work their way up the education and pay ladders while working in the field.
Changes ahead
The demand for new healthcare professionals is due to some obvious – and some maybe not-so-obvious – reasons.
First, and most obvious: A generational changing of the guard is underway. The Baby Boom population is aging and they need more healthcare services.
There are more Americans over the age of 65 than at any other time in US history, and by 2030, about one in five Americans, 69 million people, will be elderly. About 80 percent of this population has at least one chronic condition, according to the National Council on Aging.
A huge number of nurses is also riding this “gray tsunami” into retirement age themselves, creating enormous demand for replacements. About a third of the workforce, around one million RNs, is currently older than 50.
The American Nursing Association projects a whopping 1.2 million openings will emerge for RNs through 2022, and by 2025, Vanderbilt University researchers estimate the vacancies will be “more than twice as large as any nurse shortage experienced since the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-1960s.”
Second: People are living longer and more active lives, so the kinds of healthcare services in demand are changing. Physical therapists and nurses will play a big role in the next decade.
Preventive care is putting nurses on the frontline, as people become more educated about living healthier lives. Obesity and diabetes are expected to be as much a focus of preventive care as they are of treatment in the coming years.
Prevention takes a different form of delivery, says Dr. John Maduko, Dean of Health Sciences & E-Learning at North Central Texas College. “Many nurses now work for home health agencies, or treat people for minor ailments like strep throat or an ear ache in places like grocery stores with one-minute clinics.”
Third: Technology is revolutionizing, and personalizing, treatment. In 2017, millions of Americans will have had their first video health consultation, according to consulting firm PwC’s Health Research Institute. Millions more will be prescribed their first health apps on smartphones.
This shift means “care will begin to move into the palms of consumers’ hands, providing care anywhere, anytime,” and nurses will “work in new ways, incorporating insights gleaned from data analysis” into patient care.
– Naomi Sheehan
