Wage Deflation In Nursing - Page 2

ahh, but that's not outsourcing, like customer support line jobs. that's in-sourcing, which they didn't tell up about.

they lay off 25 people virtually all at once, followed by hiring 25 younger people? that kind of pattern is hard to bury, even for a very clever company.

companies may have lots of good lawyers, but they are not invincible. a friend of mine from school who became a litigator has demonstrated that, and he himself has a small office. nurses may often have it bad, but you should see what some companies do to their employees in order to make a little more profit.

as i said elsewhere, i don't know how some organizations maintain their 501(c3) status. they may not have shareholders, but they're run just like for-profit corporations.

There may not be formal data to bolster claims of wage deflation, but it's happening where I work. In small ways.
1) Reduce the number of recognized holidays so premium wage is not paid.
2) Eliminate the 1.5 call back pay that has been the rule since I was hired < 10 years ago.
3) No w/e differential anymore.
4) Automatically subtract an hour each shift for lunches and breaks. Then demand staff jump through hoops/sign forms, if a lunch was not taken. Also there is the veiled threat of retaliation if you demand being paid for a lunch you work through.
5) Cutting hrs of the more experienced/higher paid nurses, while new nurses work overtime.
6) All continuing education must be completed during your scheduled shift. No coming in on your day off, or staying over to get it done.

Wage deflation and benefits erosion should not be unexpected. For at least the last five years, nursing schools have been turning out record numbers of graduates. That alone would tend to cause at least wage stagnation, if not outright deflation, but at the same time, many experienced nurses were forced to postpone their retirements as their 401k's dropped in value along with those of their spouses. In some cases, the spouse lost his or her job and if they were lucky enough to find a new job, it almost certainly paid less and offered fewer benefits than the previous one. Many large health care and hospital corporations either saw their patient insurance reimbursements drop, putting severe strain on profits. Most made decisions to preserve those profit levels by reducing costs, often in the form of reducing nursing staff (thus increasing patient-nurse ratios). So we really have a perfect storm in place in terms of nursing wages ( nursing is far from alone in this - most other occupations and professions are experiencing something similar).

I've posted this before but in my region - the fifth largest metro area in the country - the BLS data show that nursing employment declined from 43,740 in 2005 to 42,820 in 2009. At the same time, the PA Board of Nursing website showed that there were 1,822 new grad RN's in the region in 2005 rising to 2,142 in 2009. Keep in mind that these are first time NCLEX test pass numbers and the actual number of new RN's is likely to be somewhat higher than the figues used above. It's also relevant to note that the population in the region grew slightly over that period. With a clear oversupply of nurses, significant downward pressure on nursing wages and benefits has to be the inevitable result. I have not looked at other parts of the country but the anecdotal evidence I've seen leads me to believe that something similar is occuring in most larger SMSA's.

It is also worth noting that nursing school enrollment, and presumably the number of new RN's, continues to grow. Since there is little changed about the economy, we should not expect to see nurses retiring in great numbers. And there is continued pressure to increase corporate profits. Nursing wage deflation and the erosion of benefits should continue and perhaps even accelerate for the foreseeable future.

Yep. The employers are very lucky.

Time will tell how lucky these nursing employers are.

Think about it, if your were a new grad, who can't get a jov because no one will put out the money to orient you for your profession and you had major student loan bills due 6 month post graduation, would you hang around in a dead end profession? Waiting for the preverbial economy to turn around, which economists and other analysts say won't be for another 5 years, and the predictors of the nursing job outlook to look to inprove in the year 2020.? That's 8 years from now- By that time, how much orienting and residency programs do one thinks that going to take- that 2012 new grad could have done 2 more 4 year cycles in a BSN program for god sakes.


How many people are going to hang around waiting for 8 years for job? Then when you think about all the bad media that is going to creat, who is going to want to invest their money, take out loans for nursing education.

How many nurses are going to seek costly advanced degrees to be paid peanuts. Nurse don't aquire advanced degrees- NP, MSN's and DCS or DNP's to take 7AM nursing report on these moron employers hospital units, to clean poop, give out meds, answer call lights and haggle with the pharm, lab, xray, take crap from the patients, t and the patient's family,.the disrespect from their employers- talked down to like nincompoops about customer service skills, nit picking, manipulated by hair brain Nursing mangers who are kissing corporate butts. So what ever mind altering drugs these hospital CEO's and board of directors are on they best get off of and check into rehab.

I have had quite afew nurse's with their MSN 's tell me- why do you think I got an MSN, or I didn't get an MSN to wipe butt.

How many doctors are going to take on these job position- are we going to ask an establish physican to now start drawning their own labs, doing their own EKG's, taking their turn doing night shift inhouse rotations for days on end like that of their residency years, how many lawyers are going to take over the jobmarket and fill positions of paralegals and law clerks. while the MBA's puppeteer and orchestrate the smarter more intelligent professions. Don't tell me it takes high intellect to be a Business major- bookkeeping, accounting, basic math skills- non advanced the math skills of calculus and trig: Oh wait- project management- any stay at home mom or dad,or any kid who has ever planned a party for their friends or who has ever planned a birthday part can project manage. Any one who manages the budget in their own home can budge direct!! Any one with any common sense knows if they have $3,000/month to pay mortgage/rent/ electric/food/car payment and insurance, one can't spend 2500 dollars on new clothes for themself, movie tickets, dinners out and expect to pay the same bills with what's left over. Great intellectual geniuses don't tend to go into business administration-

Business majors have always been those looking for the easier routes out of a college education, it is the easiest of all the nursing MSN's- it is more difficult, mentally taxing and challenging to take on an NP program, than an administration track. Sorry but it's true.
In my day- the kids who went into the business majors were the goof offs, those that were not going to sacrifice their social life for the hard sciences. I don't recall any validictorian of any of my kids classes or mine ever being a business major- They were the physics, engineering, medical school bound or nursing majors. Business majors were not the high achievers. they always made fun of the science high achiever crowd and it was mostly because the science kids were so intellectual and studious aka NERDS. Business majors= party animals, easy street, fun seeking. The CEO's are no different. It's me, me, me! and the heck with you,you,you!

How many students of today are going to persue a nursing career when they can get jobs in the IT- computer world or "green jobs in industry" making $120.000 and up compared to a nursing salary of $30/hr and work as hard as a nurse? My answer- Not many.
They can need nurses all they want- but if the salary isn't there- tough luck healthcare- let some one else do it.


consultant to a software company $100,000-$300,000/yr, Nurse $30/hr- wiping butt.!!

No butts. Just bytes!!!

I predict- the healthcare systems of this country is going to be employing mostly UAP on these patient units. The licensed nursing is going to go the same way the medical students did- fewer and fewer going into mediine/doctors due to the pay and lawsuits compared to the cost of an education- not worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing will change r/t nursing wages and work load as long as profit drives our health care system...nothing.

Hear, hear! I'm in a union and am guaranteed a raise every year. I can't imagine NOT getting
a raise. How can any employer have the nerve not to reward loyalty and longevity in it's employees?? I'm very pleased in pointing out to my non union RN former coworkers who work in the hospital that I make more than most of them. And most of them have Batchelors degrees. If that's not incentive to unionize, I don't know what is....

That's what we get for abandoning the RN/LPN team nursing model. Having a RN only primary nurse model was NEVER economically viable. That's why hospitals are crawling with various "techs" now. Mark my words, we're gonna see the creation of such titles as "wound techs", "admission/discharge specialists", "IV techs", UAPs who are "trained" to pass meds. All unlicensed and all working under the RN resulting in the RN taking a much larger pt load in med surg. Have fun....