CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It's generally true that there is an urgent need for nurses all over the country and there are benefits of graduating from a nursing program during this pandemic.
So much was unknown when the COVID-19 pandemic first surfaced. It resulted in a hiring freeze for many occupations including nursing. Heather Degrande is a nursing professor at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi. She says in May her nursing graduates found it difficult to land a job.
“To on board a new nurse for hospital systems it takes a lot and so they were already delaying a lot so they didn't hire new grads for a while, but then in about august time frame they started open up their residences and that kind of thing,” said Degrande.
Emma Nash graduated with Bachelor Nursing Degree from TAMUCC in August and started her nursing job in Victoria, Texas the next month.
Nash says bigger cities still seemed more hesitant to hire new nurses because of the training involved but in times of COVID rural hospitals are grateful for all the help they can get.
“I think there is a huge demand for nurses especially BSN trained ones in these smaller communities because they don’t get first pick a lot of the time for new graduates,” said Nash.
Nash says she didn't get job offers in Corpus Christi, but she was a hot commodity everywhere else in the coastal bend.
“The hospitals here in the smaller communities every single one that I applied to I got an interview and every single one I applied to I got a job offer for,” said Nash.
Nash says now she works as both a surgical nurse and ICU nurse because of the need for more hands-on deck, but says she loves her job.
Degrande says her only worry is that for many nurses the love will wear off due to the added pressure of the pandemic.
“Burn out is a high risk problem in the nursing profession and so I think COVID has really complicated that for our nurses,” said Degrande.
Degrande says what has helped is the appreciation and support from the community.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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