Is anyone else totally frustrated with CO nursing?

U.S.A. Colorado

Published

I don't live in a metro area, so employment options are limited for me. Our pay is much lower than in the bigger city, but unless you want to have a 1 1/2 hour commute, you just live with it since the hospitals keep the pay low. Plus our patient ratio is usually 6-7:1 (& never enough aides!). Too many to give decent care! At this point I'm about ready to jump ship altogether, I just don't know what else I'd do.

Just looking for some sign of life that I'm not the only one ready to pull out my hair....:trout:

Healthcare facilities (and other employers of RNs) pay as little as they are able to and still retain/attract staff. They don't see it as greed, they see it as controlling their largest operating cost--staff salaries. So as long as you and your co-workers are willing to work for low wages, your employer will continue to pay you at that rate.

Colorado nurses have traditionally not been proactive in organizing for higher wages and better benefits. Unions are not popular here and employers have been largely successful in keeping unions out, hence wages are low here (even in the Denver metro area as compared to other large urban areas where RNs participate in collective bargaining activities).

If you want to see a good example of successful union activity and a great state nurses' association, check out: http://www.calnurse.org/

HollyVK RN, BSN, JD

Facilities, as I have heard it, are interested in controlling, particularly, Nursing Salaries for we are the largest employee of the facility. Correct me if I am wrong as I am going on here say.

Holly: I see you are new. [MOUSE]Welcome[/MOUSE] I hope to see more of your posts.

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los cientos' (I feel your pain).

How to shift the power? That is the question I always ask. For me, it has been through subcontracting, as a Vendor, with facilities directly and through Agencies as a subcontractor. It is empowerment, for me, and not for everyone.

Come on over to the Nurse Entrepreneur Forum, here on AllNurses and see what I am talking about. There is a quiet revolution of sorts going on, with Nurses, across the country ;)

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healthcare facilities (and other employers of rns) pay as little as they are able to and still retain/attract staff. they don't see it as greed, they see it as controlling their largest operating cost--staff salaries. so as long as you and your co-workers are willing to work for low wages, your employer will continue to pay you at that rate.

colorado nurses have traditionally not been proactive in organizing for higher wages and better benefits. unions are not popular here and employers have been largely successful in keeping unions out, hence wages are low here (even in the denver metro area as compared to other large urban areas where rns participate in collective bargaining activities).

if you want to see a good example of successful union activity and a great state nurses' association, check out: http://www.calnurse.org/

hollyvk rn, bsn, jd

holly, i appreciate your reply/comments. greed by any other name is still greed. i saw an article where is states that colorado is one of the states where the profit margin is the highest. thedenverchannel.com - news - colorado's nursing crisis addressed at hearing. now whether this is true, i don't know as we are not privy to the actual data, but i see the outcome on a daily basis at my facility and it's a litle hard to swallow when they start c/o about "the proverbial budget." for example, our former don who is a staff nurse now, was able to buy a rather nice, loaded truck (quad cab with a fifth wheel attachment, etc) all because of the bonuses she got while in her don position.

i am curious about your statements that "colorado nurses have traditionally not been proactive in organizing".... any thoughts as to the rationale behind this?

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Specializes in Peds, GI, Home Health, Risk Mgmt.
Holly, it just seems that so few people actually know about this here! Is there a movement in Denver to raise awareness?

I've not been able to discern any significant activity. The Service Employees International Union has sent out mailings to RNs in the Denver area during the past year. It claims to be the largest healthcare union in the U.S. and currently has local contracts with Kaiser and the Mental Health Center of Denver. While this union has healthcare workers in its membership, it is not an exclusively healthcare employee union (other Colorado employees represented by SEIU include janitorial workers, and municipal and county workers). http://www.seiu105.org/healthcare.cfm http://www.nurseallianceco.org/

I believe I also saw a mailing from the California Nurses Assn. earlier this year. My personal bias is for the CalNurses union, as it is nurse-run and nurse-oriented. It has sucessfully gained union contracts for nurses in states other than Calif., including Illinois http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2006/june/page.jsp?itemID=27859832.

The bane of nurses is that the last person on their priority list of who to take care of is themselves. Nurses don't get respect because they don't demand it.

Pharmacists make more money than RNs, engineers make more money than RNs. And yet folks are still wanting to study "the problem" of the nursing shortage. According to the Colorado Health Foundation, Colorado's nursing shortage is twice the national average. http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2006/09/18/daily32.html

Anyone who has ever worked as an RN deliverying front-line patient care can tell you why there's a nursing shortage--it's intellectually and emotionally demanding, darned-hard work physically, and it requiring 24/7 staffing, and the wages and benefits do not adequately compensate the nurses for all they do.

The Rocky Mountain News recently reported part of the problem is not enough nursing instructors available to train more RNs. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4893380,00.html

And yet, this isn't a problem seen at pharmacy programs or engineering programs, I wonder why . . . .

HollyVK RN, BSN, JD

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Specializes in Peds, GI, Home Health, Risk Mgmt.
Facilities, as I have heard it, are interested in controlling, particularly, Nursing Salaries for we are the largest employee of the facility. Correct me if I am wrong as I am going on here say.

Holly: I see you are new. [mouse]Welcome[/mouse] I hope to see more of your posts.

Thanks for the welcome. Yes, nursing personel are usually the largest group of employees at healthcare facilities, so of course employers are highly motivated to control nursing costs by whatever means they can. As they say in the real world, "it's not personal, it's just business."

HollyVK RN, BSN, JD

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Specializes in Peds, GI, Home Health, Risk Mgmt.
holly, i appreciate your reply/comments. greed by any other name is still greed. i saw an article where is states that colorado is one of the states where the profit margin is the highest. thedenverchannel.com - news - colorado's nursing crisis addressed at hearing. now whether this is true, i don't know as we are not privy to the actual data, but i see the outcome on a daily basis at my facility and it's a litle hard to swallow when they start c/o about "the proverbial budget." for example, our former don who is a staff nurse now, was able to buy a rather nice, loaded truck (quad cab with a fifth wheel attachment, etc) all because of the bonuses she got while in her don position.

i am curious about your statements that "colorado nurses have traditionally not been proactive in organizing".... any thoughts as to the rationale behind this?

rationale for low wages in colorado? i believe employers here have been able to count on nurses wanting to relocate here and being willing to trade living in a nice place with financial gain. heck, i moved here in 1981 (from calif.) as a young rn and took a pay cut to do so. but with fewer young people going into nursing, this trend has probably slowed down.

colorado hospitals have been belt tightening for awhile to absorb the cost of fewer patients with medical insurance coverage. and yet, their profits are healthy, and in some cases obscene (yes, we can say "greedy").

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2005/11/07/story5.html

http://www.coloradoconfidential.org/showdiary.do?diaryid=179

hollyvk, rn, bsn, jd

(who is rooting for unitedhealthcare over hca in the current new contract fight)

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Specializes in Med Surg, Telemetry, Orthopedics.
Nurses don't get respect because they don't demand it.

:yeahthat: Couldn't agree with you more!!!

I am biased towards the CNA/NNOC as well, especially after hearing them speak and personally experiencing their motivation and cohesion in CA. That's why I'm shocked that more interest hasn't been generated!! I know that they are trying to edge their way into Denver/CO Springs but we really need to spread the word! Holly - you'd be a great spokesperson for them!:bow:

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Specializes in Peds, GI, Home Health, Risk Mgmt.
:yeahthat: Couldn't agree with you more!!!

I am biased towards the CNA/NNOC as well, especially after hearing them speak and personally experiencing their motivation and cohesion in CA. That's why I'm shocked that more interest hasn't been generated!! I know that they are trying to edge their way into Denver/CO Springs but we really need to spread the word! Holly - you'd be a great spokesperson for them!:bow:

Thanks for your support (it is election season, isn't it?)

:)

I think a really good place to start is with the Colo Nurses Assn.--it is in desperate need of new leadership willing to take on the employment issues. As far as I'm concerned, the current CNA does little to address the issues affecting Colo. nurses (such as you, Becca) on a daily basis.

HollyVK, RN, BSN, JD

(willing to kick butt & take names!)

:troll:

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Specializes in Trauma.

Hi there..

I just want to share something with you all. I was raised in Colorado and am currently in NYC in nursing school. I have pondered many times about moving back home to Colorado Springs to work and live rent free to help pay some of my school loans off. I called a few hospitals, both BIG in Colorado Springs and both are building two new hospitals, if that says anything. Anyhow..

I contacted them about working and their training programs for new grads, etc, payscale, etc. Basically, the patient ratio is 6:1 and sometimes 7:1 depending on the patients (whatever that means). They offer $20.15 with a $2 increase for evenings starting at 7pm. Tuition reimbursement is $1000 PER YEAR if you're part time and $2000 PER YEAR if you're full time. After I sat in silence, she then proceeded to tell me I have to take into consideration, the QUALITY of living I would be getting in Colorado. I couldn't believe she tried to sell me on that alone.

I basically said, not in these exact terms...."thank you, but I cannot afford to work for $20.15 with my tuition bills. Despite the cost of living in Colorado, I would still come out higher in the end here in NYC." I'm sure she knew I was disappointed. What really upset me about this entire thing is that these hospitals I was talking to are vey RICH and my mom said the insides of them are gorgeous and there should be no reason the nurses are paid so low. Anyhow..

My friend is a manager in one of the main hospitals (not in nursing). She said it's a MAJOR issue with nursing pay and I shouldn't move home. She said they talk about raising nursing pay, but it hasn't happened yet and she has been with that hospital for 11 years.

I hope one day Colorado figures it out. Buuut my guess is, they probably won't:(

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I basically said, not in these exact terms...."thank you, but I cannot afford to work for $20.15 with my tuition bills. Despite the cost of living in Colorado, I would still come out higher in the end here in NYC."

I ROTFLMAO!! I know people from N.Y.and I can only imagine how a New Yorker would have really stated that. TY, I needed the laugh. Anyhow, I am proud of you! These employers out here need to get feedback regarding the quality of manure they like to shovel out while telling the unsuspecting that it's "competitve." I believe that what you were quoted by HR is average, notwithstanding shift dif, etc. Ya know, now that I think about it, they always seem more excited when they have someone coming from out of state to work for them. Kinda like a fisherman when he catches a big one.

Quality of living...hmmm...uh...if you're married and one of you has a damn good paying position with security-maybe, otherwise no. If you're single or a single parent, you can forget it. The cost of housing is ridiculous, renting or buying. The local newspapers here are The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, check it out. I will try and include the links at the bottom of my rambling post. They always love to plug skiing "it's only 30 min away." True, but what they don't tell you is that you'll spend 2-3 hours sitting in traffic trying to get there, same going back home. My kids and I moved here from Virginia back in 1999 because I had met my current husband and he lived here, so I thought what the heck. Had gone through a divorce from a lunatic and just needed to get as far away from him as I could. I had lived in Colorado back in the late 70's, early 80's and remembered the laid back lifestyle, great climate, warm people...etc. Coming from the east coast, the lack of bugs and humidity were a big sell for us...LOL. Anyhow, where all that went, I do not know. It's so freakin "metro" now, I want to throw up. The pollution is crazy. The whole area has a brown haze ring around this area-it's so sad. And the a-tude of people now is "it's all about m.e. (my entitlement) and the heck with you." You try and drive the speed limits here and people will tail gate you and flip you off as they go by. Boulder (the city, not the county) is like they took any major metroplitan city and crammed it into a 27 (approx.) square mile area. It's filthy and $$$$.

Jeez, I sure have spouted off. Anyhow, for anyone who is thinking about coming here, check out the links to the local newspapers, etc. And of course I will answer any questions that I can answer and/or provide links to appropriate web sites. Praying QD that The Lord will grace us with some $$$ so we can get out of this hell hole.

http://www.denverpost.com

http://www.rockymountainnews.com

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And the a-tude of people now is "it's all about m.e. (my entitlement) and the heck with you." You try and drive the speed limits here and people will tail gate you and flip you off as they go by. Boulder (the city, not the county) is like they took any major metroplitan city and crammed it into a 27 (approx.) square mile area. It's filthy and $$$$.

i had to laugh at your post...funny because it's true. i'm a native and i couldn't agree more with your post. people always complain "people from colorado don't know how to drive" and i always correct them " No, people who are ACTUALLY FROM colorado know how to drive, it's all these crazy drivers from all over the place (california, boston, to name a few)!!

But more than that, i agree with your point about the entitlement attitude. however, i think that attitude is growing everywhere.

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Specializes in PACU.

SO I was looking to possibly relocate to CO for nursing...I am working/living in So. Cal and make okay money (new nurses start around $25), but it is so freakin' crowded and expensive I could never afford to start a life. I could not even afford to buy a condo here. ANyways...I thought CO seemed like a beautiful reasonable place to live. House prices seem decent, and I knew that wages were a bit lower but I thought appropriate to the area. Not the case I gather. Does CO have ratio laws? Anyone who would like to clue me in, I would much appreciate it.

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