Hey folks.
I will be graduating from a BSN program in May and I have started to talk to recruiters at a wide variety of hospitals. I will be heading directly into intensive care, and I'm shopping around for the best training programs I can find. (I know the concept of new grads heading into critical care is a controversial topic, but it would be good if we could save that debate for another thread if possible)
In your experience, have you found that most hospitals offering solid training programs expect trainees to sign a contract that requires the new nurse to work for x amount of time to 'work off' the cost of the training?
One hospital I've come across has a great training program, but expects graduates of the program to work for 2 years after completing the training. If a nurse breaks this contract for some reason, they are expected to pay the prorated difference (of the cost of training) that they have yet to work off. For example: Training costs $12,000. Every 6 months, they deduct 3k from the total you would have to pay back if you broke the contract. (FYI- these numbers were taken from an actual contract.)
Seems like a pretty crafty retention strategy to me...
Would you sign a contract like this?
-Thanks in advance for any thoughts you can offer.