MGH is offering new grad ICU internship for $11.44 an hour? - Page 30

Has anyone heard if they are going to do this again in September?

I haven't heard anything about it. If they do it will not be exactly like this program and they won't hire nearly as many because they will need to train enough people to staff a new ICU.

That is pathetic!! Where I work, as a Paramedic/Dispatcher/Supervisor... we pay our Vehicle Service Techs (wash and restock the ambulances) over $11.00 an hour, with full benefits, and differential!! I don't believe a HS diploma is required, but many of them are taking EMT classes, to start working on the ambulances.

For MGH to require a BSN, and to only offer $11 an hour is insulting!!

Clearly, you haven't read this thread. I know its long. MGH does NOT pay it's staff nurses $11/hr. It pays it's INTERNS that much for a short term opportunity to learn and gain experience...which in today's economy, is priceless.

Using the poor economy as an excuse to exploit workers is still very wrong. I have read the thread. It amazes me that some people think what MGH is doing is acceptable.

"Using the poor economy as an excuse to exploit workers is still very wrong. I have read the thread. It amazes me that some people think what MGH is doing is acceptable."

I DID read enough of the thread to understand the gist of it... and I stand by my statement that it is an insult. I agree with the other reader that using the economy to exploit workers is WRONG... true, the experience is quite valuable, but $11/hr for a BSN new grad is still pathetic, in my opinion!

Stayed tuned to this type of program...if it is successful at MGH, be prepared to see it all across the Commonwealth of Massachsetts, with UMASS Worcester looking at starting a similar program now. While I agree with the program being an excellent opportunity for new graduates, it is setting such a poor poor precident for how we treat nurses. In times of economic downturn and struggle, MGH believes it is of such high caliber that it doesn't have to pay a nurse a livable wage. Be careful nurses - I blame us rather than MGH. We need to hold ourselves accountable for how we are treated. Don't blame others. We all know it is wrong what they are doing, but hundreds of nurses are okay with making less than they are worth - as seen by the number of applicants for this program. If everyone said no, they would have no one to staff their program. Don't you think they would increase the pay then?

You accept in life what you think you deserve and what you believe you are worth.

I see the negatives for nursing as well ... but I also see the other side.

MGH did not "hire nurses" with this program -- they provided an educational program. The participants were not expected to work a regular schedule, take a "real" assignment, bear the full responsibilities of an RN, etc. It was/is primarily an educational program with no guarantee of a job afterwards. Instead of charging for the educational program, they paid a small stipend and provided full benefits (e.g. health insurance) to those who participated. It's a totally different model -- very similar to the model used by the discipline of medicine in which graduates do residencies before they become attending physicians.

Hospitals are tired of paying for the additional education that many new grads want/need. Hospitals want to hire people capable of doing the job -- not hire students who need another 6 months of schooling before they can do the job to earn their pay. Making it worse, many new grads have the attidute of, "I do my 1 year of this first job, learn to be a competent nurse, then move on to what I really want to do." That's just too expensive for hospitals to provide anymore -- at least without a major committment on the part of the new grad to stay there for a substantial length of time.

So ... hospitals are looking for ways to minimize the costs of those special new grad education programs. Either they will continue to m inimize their hiring of new grads ... they will require contracts (with pay-back requirements if the new grad doesn't stay) ... or they will start paying these new grad orientees less until they get up to speed. We'll see lots of variations on the same theme in the upcoming years.

MGH and others are starting to label these programs as "educational programs" and "charging" for the education. And with the current economy and job market, I can't totally blame them. Why should they provide free education to a generation of new grads who haven't been sufficiently prepared by their school? Making up for inadequate schooling is not the hospital's job.

Hopefully, in time ... the nursing profession will find a good "happy medium" -- one that elevates the standards of its educational programs so that students graduate better prepared for the real world of nursing (as some, but not all, already do) .... and the employer can support the new grad with a program that is within reason.

Excellent post, llg. This is not an exploitation of staff nurses because of the economy. It's the offering of an internship with a stipend. In the business world, many internships pay nothing at all, and a few require the intern to pay for the opportunity.

I'm sure the tight economy factors in; hospitals and other businesses can no longer afford to spend $50,000- to $100,000 to train the newbies, only to have them jump ship just as they're becoming useful and beginning to earn their keep. But it's also a reflection of the fact that there is an interim period where a new grad has head knowledge but lacks the experience to operate without a lot of supervision.

The MGH interns will continue to have classes. They won't have all of the obligations the regular floor nurses have. And they'll be allowed to grow into full responsibility without the "sink or swim" situation that costs too many new grads their first job or have them toughing it out with so much stress that they cry themselves to sleep and take antacids to get through a shift.

The level of support MGH is providing isn't free. And no one is being forced to take the opportunity. But those who can make it through the six months will find themselves in a better position than their peers who either still haven't found employment or who found jobs that, for one reason or another, are not working well for them.

If I were unemployed several months after graduation and I could in any fashion swing it financially, I would jump at the chance to get an internship like this one.

Bunking with 3 other nurse interns in a crappy apartment for six months--irritating. Getting by on ramen noodles and dollar store shampoo--annoying. ICU training at a hospital of the caliber of MGH? Priceless.

Nursing students complete an unpaid internship....clinicals. I don't understand why nurses don't rally for one another more, instead arguing that hospitals need to save money. We aren't physicians either, and we do not make the money they make, so that argument falls flat.