Nursing Jobs in NYC

[dnsonthego]

My facility received a call from a local nursing program. The coordinator wanted to know if we could host her graduates for the summer as nursing interns. When our clinical educator followed up to ask how many students did the school wish to place as interns, the schools coordinator said as many as you can handle. I was asked to speak with the schools placement coordinator and I was troubled by what I heard.

The program is about to graduate over 70 associate degree nurses and is looking to place them in an internship so that the students are not facing the immediate reality of the local job market. Unfortunately, this year we will not be able to host more than a few interns. Budget cuts have reduced the staff hours that can be used orient and supervise these graduates.

What is really sad is that this is not the only school that approached us. Our facility has stopped hiring new grads due to the fact that we can easily pick experienced nurses to fill an open position. We have had a significant drop in our nursing staff turnover and we have closed units and services due to budget cuts and strategic realignment.

I am writing this today so that students are aware of how difficult it is to get a job as a nurse in the NYC area. Experienced nurses with certification are having a rough time. Making the situation worse is the backlog of nurse who graduated over the last several years but are not able to find RN jobs. NYC area has had hospital closing and downsizing of units and services. More hospitals are expected to merge facilities and to downsize units. All of these changes makes it more difficult for the new nurse to get their first job.

I should add that this problem of reducing beds and mergers has effected everyone in healthcare. Our facility continues to host MPH and MPA students who were doing internships and administrative residency programs. These students are new to healthcare and most do not have any clinical background. The placement of these students has not be successful as the market is just saturated with qualified, credentialed and experienced managers. Management jobs are not being created as belt tightening is the rule of the day.

My final take is that these students, both the nursing students and those studying management should be told the truth by the schools. The nursing shortage is over and realistically will not be back for a long time. Nursing education needs to be followed by the new nurse entering the nursing workforce so as to learn the skills of being a nurse. While the delay in entering the workforce is involuntary for these new nurses, the longer they are out of nursing, the value of their education diminishes. I know that schools are now recommending a nurse refresher class for nurses who have graduated and have not found a job as a nurse with 2 to 3 years of graduation.

Nursing students need to research what is going on. Nursing education is time consuming, costly and demanding. Having a degree and an license is great but without a job to practice so as to learn your profession, you have seriously wasted a lot of money and time.

Good luck to all the new nurses out there. Lets hope the job market for nurses rebounds.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Yes I was definitely referring to LICH. At least for the sake of the neighborhood, regardless you owns it, patients are being taken again.

I think there is a flooding in all areas of healthcare right now in NYC. They are cranking out Nurses, MAs, HHAs, PCTs, EMTs and Medics at an alarming rate, which makes the few jobs available even more difficult to land. I wish you all the best of luck!

Cannot figure out the area surrounding LICH. Both from persons one knows that live in the "hood" and media coverage it seems sentiment about keeping the place open is mixed. Some want it to remain open as a full service hospital, and feel it is good riddance to bad rubbish if the place closes. Have heard complaints about "pee bags" or some such left by those waiting to collect staff at change of shift, which quite honestly one highly doubts happens on any large scale.

The other larger thing seems to be Saint Vincent's all over again. People want to go back into Manhattan to what they perceive as better, cleaner, up to date, and so forth places such as NYP, NYU or even Beth Israel. Quite honestly get the feeling there is some sort of "class" thing going on in the background.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Yes I was definitely referring to LICH. At least for the sake of the neighborhood, regardless you owns it, patients are being taken again.

I think there is a flooding in all areas of healthcare right now in NYC. They are cranking out Nurses, MAs, HHAs, PCTs, EMTs and Medics at an alarming rate, which makes the few jobs available even more difficult to land. I wish you all the best of luck!

Healthcare at least in NYC is being "flooded" because there are few other jobs out there that pay anything near a decent wage.

You have not only recent college graduates, but those that have been laid off, unemployed, downsized, retired early or what have you all searching for some sort of steady career that pays anything like NYC money. Oh add to this waves of military men and women separating from the services now that things are winding down in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The one message you hear all over NYC media is how healthcare is a "booming" industry and one of the few expected to grow over the coming years. You cannot get away from adverts on buses, subways and other media for places promising an "exciting" career in healthcare.....

[BklynEMT]

Cannot figure out the area surrounding LICH. Both from persons one knows that live in the "hood" and media coverage it seems sentiment about keeping the place open is mixed. Some want it to remain open as a full service hospital and feel it is good riddance to bad rubbish if the place closes. Have heard complaints about "pee bags" or some such left by those waiting to collect staff at change of shift, which quite honestly one highly doubts happens on any large scale. The other larger thing seems to be Saint Vincent's all over again. People want to go back into Manhattan to what they perceive as better, cleaner, up to date, and so forth places such as NYP, NYU or even Beth Israel. Quite honestly get the feeling there is some sort of "class" thing going on in the background.[/quote']

Having brought patients to LICH, I have seen the same thing as I have seen at every other facility in NYC. Simply not enough staff to adequately cover all the patients. Which goes right back to what you said regarding St. Vincent's, not enough funding to make it "profitable" and who suffers but the people in the neighborhood.

The area is becoming quite a mixed bag now, there are people from all different economic classes that need quality care. The main issue being not enough money coming in, not enough to adequately staff, not enough to keep good caregivers there...it's a shame and with the closing of Interfaith as well, it leaves the surrounding hospitals unable to handle the increase in patients.

You hit the nail on the head in regards to the subway ads. People enroll in these classes with the idea that there is both big money in these careers and that it will be as exciting as "ER" and "Grey's Anatomy". Unfortunately for many of the workers in the field, if they increased the pay for fast food workers they will out earn many of us.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I am one of those students soon to be in the marketplace (although I'm BSN, not ADN because I couldn't justify it given the job market right now) and I was warned upfront about the sluggish job markets when interviewing for nursing school, so some schools are being very upfront about the reality of our situation. But not every school, I suspect. I was told that I would have to work a lot harder if I wanted to get an "in" someplace and I've taken that to heart - I've really tried as hard as possible to keep in touch with clinical contacts, I'm volunteering in two hospitals and trying to get a PCT or HHA position as well. As much as I hate working for free, I'm desperate to make those contacts and put myself just a little ahead of the pack. Is there anything else you would recommend I do that might make me a more desirable candidate? I'm considered phlebotomy tech certification, PALS, but I hear mixed advice on whether spending the extra money is worthwhile.

Truth be told, I'm very aware of how much the cards are stacked against me and am fully ready to leave NYC should it come to that. My husband's job is here, but we've been looking at the reality of the situation and exploring our options. We're not happy about that but I was aware that it might be a possibility when I started my program.

The part I don't understand about the current climate in NYC is that every hospital I've been to in the last five months (about six, both public and private) is packed to the gills. Every bed taken, long waits for a bed, and patients are acutely ill - multilple comorbidities, you name it. And I haven't been in a fully staffed unit in those five months - there are always down at least one nurse, if not more. I've heard rumblings here and there about certain emergency departments, and staff nurses getting fed up and leaving becuase they were not willing to deal with the patient ratios - at some point do you think the tide is going to turn? The understaffing is so chronically bad that it seems unsustainable to run these bare bones staffing with patients sicker than ever.

It isn't just New York....check out this link.......Nurses Schools, Salaries, and Job Data

While many hospitals are "operating short"and post positions it doesn't mean they are going to hire anytime soon.....positions are posted to keep them in the budget....even when there i a hiring freeze.

[Just and R.N]

The OP makes an excellent point, one which had I been aware of I may have chosen another career.

Unfortunately I only discovered AN after graduation while spending endless hours searching for jobs.

It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CCNE, STT, etc. are propagating the concept of a nursing shortage, while a nursing blog, albeit a respected and wonderful forum is more on top of the reality. As a data driven person I can say; lesson learned - data, numbers, impressive quotes and statistics are NOT always the most accurate source of information. (expensive lesson learned at that)

It's not about the money and expense though. Nursing school has changed me as a person and given me tools I may not have otherwise acquired. While I certainly did not realize how difficult it would be to find a job I still love nursing. I have tremendous respect for the strength of the role models I have met along the way, both in the clinical setting and online. I hope to be as good a nurse one day given the opportunity.

As a born and bred NYCer I do feel a little disappointed, both in myself and the current job market. Some days are downright depressing. But NYCers are tough! No matter what the climate, economy, situation I will pay back my loans and strive to become the nurse and professional I desire to be.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Reality is cruel.

As for the jobs that will be created by ACA... they will not be in acute care. It's pretty clear that expansion of health care services will be in primary care & non-acute care. In my part of the country, schools still have an overwhelming focus on acute care. New grads 'expect' to go to work in a hospital and feel as though they are failures if they only find work in non-acute environments. This needs to change - but if history holds true, nursing will stay mired in the past. It's a good thing nursing leaders are not in charge of the military... if they were, we would be training soldiers to fire catapults and storm castles.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Agreed. Nursing positions will be found in community health, home health, palliative care and long term care, not acute care. Acute care is not cost effective and those units will continue to downsize.

[HangInThere, BSN, RN]

Didn't Kingsboro Psychiatric inpatient close last year, too? And don't forget St. Vincent's. Gosh, it looks like we nurses may have to open our own care centers, because there are certainly many New Yorkers who are seeking healthcare. Opportunity knocks?!

[Leonardo Del Toro, RN]

Read this article again and change NYC to California and you have two great acurate articles instead of one.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Think what is causing so much angst in New York City is that for the longest time hospitals were "protected" in that few closed without good reasons. If a place had budget and other financial woes Albany and or NYC would come up with some way to save the place.

Saint Vincent's was a *HUGE* shock to everyone in NYC healthcare; from administration down to staff. That a historical and famous institution would be "allowed" to close meant that nothing was sacred anymore and all bets were off. True Mr. de Blasio and others have managed to save LICH and Interfaith for now, but unless ways are found to make each financially profitable sooner or later one or both will either close or become what replaced Saint Vinny's and Westchester Square.

Many of us have long been saying that the growth in nursing employment will be outside hospitals, and that is where the jobs are moving. LTC, rehab, home care, etc... are going to be where a bulk of new nurses end up spending much if not all their careers. Problem is nearly 99.9% of new grads want to work in hospitals.

The Berger Commission decades ago stated NYC had too many inpatient hospital beds and to a large extent that report was ignored, or acted upon slowly. However between the recent financial/economic crisis and coming changes to reimbursement rates places are finding themselves without the usual leverage for assistance. The worse off are the small community hospitals, especially those that serve "poor" areas of the City.

Now that Mount Sinai and Continuum have merged IIRC there are no private/unaffiliated hospitals left in Manhattan. Just several healthcare systems. ( NYP, Mount Sinai, NS-LIJ, etc....) It is going to be interesting to see what sort of hiring goes on when NS-LIJ starts staffing their new urgent care or whatever it will be at the O'Toole building that is meant to replace Saint Vincent's.

[DoGoodThenGo]

The OP makes an excellent point, one which had I been aware of I may have chosen another career.

Unfortunately I only discovered AN after graduation while spending endless hours searching for jobs.

It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CCNE, STT, etc. are propagating the concept of a nursing shortage, while a nursing blog, albeit a respected and wonderful forum is more on top of the reality. As a data driven person I can say; lesson learned - data, numbers, impressive quotes and statistics are NOT always the most accurate source of information. (expensive lesson learned at that)

It's not about the money and expense though. Nursing school has changed me as a person and given me tools I may not have otherwise acquired. While I certainly did not realize how difficult it would be to find a job I still love nursing. I have tremendous respect for the strength of the role models I have met along the way, both in the clinical setting and online. I hope to be as good a nurse one day given the opportunity.

As a born and bred NYCer I do feel a little disappointed, both in myself and the current job market. Some days are downright depressing. But NYCers are tough! No matter what the climate, economy, situation I will pay back my loans and strive to become the nurse and professional I desire to be.

Large part of the problem is the length of time it takes to become a nurse. In the three, four or more years it takes to get from pre-nursing to graduate nurse much can change. Many "stale" (sorry to use that word) grads of today entered programs when there was still a "nursing shortage" or at least jobs out there in decent numbers.

The other worry is once you are in a program and you start hearing "things" what do you do? The way most schools are structured leaving for any length of time and returning isn't always possible. Besides if you truly want to become a nurse you are keeping your mind on your education and taking things to the next level.

[DoGoodThenGo]

To understand why nursing jobs are becoming scarce here is a report giving hospitals and number of inpatient beds in 2006

http://www.nyhealthcarecommission.org/docs/hospmap.pdf

Now a more recent report

American Hospital Directory - Individual Hospital Statistics for New York

And yet many still say the NYC area still has too many inpatient hospital beds:

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100614/FREE/100619933

There was a media/news report several weeks ago that some NYC or NYS official is floating the idea of building one new hospital at some location in Brooklyn to serve the populations of LICH, Interfaith and a few other financially unstable local hospitals. Where the money would be found for such a place and where it would go were not mentioned.