Fewer openings in nursing field

There has been a recent departure from years past when the U.S. health industry's rapid growth outpaced the number of nurses entering the field. As of last summer, the nation had a shortage of roughly 125,000 nurses, based on vacancies at hospitals and in long-term care. That is still expected to balloon to 300,000 to more than one million nursing vacancies by 2020. But because of the recession, the nursing shortage appears to be waning, at least temporarily.