MGH is offering new grad ICU internship for $11.44 an hour? - Page 34

Register Today!
  1. Asst. Admin
    Dec 10, '11 by
    Quote from heron
    A fair day's pay for a fair day's work. We are not paid to simply exist and wave our license around. The new grads in this program are not yet fully-functioning nurses, they are new grads still in training.

    The closest analogy would be to medical residency ... the newly minted MDs are paid ... mainly out of grants from Medicare for graduate medical education ... but the pay is around half what they will be earning as fully licensed physicians.

    I suspect that if we add together the $27K in cash with the cost of the education being provided, the real compensation for that six months would be quite a bit more than "respectable". At the end of it, those nurses will have a credential and experience worth quite a bit in this market, even if they don't wind up with a job at MGH afterwards. The MNA did a survey in the 90's on the cost of recruiting and training of nurses ... critical care came in at around $60K (that's a year's pay for me).

    Would those who are appalled by this program please tell me why any institution should pay you for the privilege of training you? You're not working as a critical care staff nurse ... just what are you bringing to the table to make you worth full RN pay and $60K's worth of education when you're not even doing basic RN work?
    The program sounds great but it's not what it's made out to be. When we graduated we got grad pay but it was a fair wage.....after four years of college....and thousands in debt.......I'd expect at least a wage higher than a high school graduate or GED. just saying....
    joanna73 and dance4life like this.
  2. Dec 10, '11 by
    One should not equate disagreement with pitiful wages with a demand for full RN wages. There is such a thing as providing a training wage without paying the newly licensed RN lower than CNA wages, or lower than K-Mart wages, or lower than In 'N Out wages.
    joanna73, dance4life, and Esme12 like this.
  3. Guide
    Dec 10, '11 by
    First of all, not all new grads and schools are created equal. We were explicitly told that if we could not demonstrate the ability to competently accept a full patient load and perform the skills, we weren't graduating. So there wasn't much hand holding during that last year of full time clinical that I had. You either did it, or they failed you and the expectations were crystal clear. Maybe more schools should do the same.

    Secondly, in 2011, 11 dollars is not a reasonable wage.

    Either way, we are split on this debate. Some of us do not agree, and we will never agree.
  4. Dec 12, '11 by
    Quote from heron
    Would those who are appalled by this program please tell me why any institution should pay you for the privilege of training you? You're not working as a critical care staff nurse ... just what are you bringing to the table to make you worth full RN pay and $60K's worth of education when you're not even doing basic RN work?
    Exactly.
  5. Dec 13, '11 by
    Does anyone know if this program will be offered again in the future? I agree that <$12/hour is very difficult to live on (I literally make almost double that right now teaching dance classes for children part-time), but if it got me 6 months of really good experience and training, which may help me land a job where I am paid the "average" RN salary, I will take it!!
    CCL RN and rn/writer like this.
  6. Jan 5, '12 by
    I was recently at MGH and took a look thru their newsletter and saw pictures of the "graduates" from this program. There were lots of RN's here that were stating they got accepted in this program and how excited they were about the opportunity to participate. Unfortunately no one has commented on their experience, if they were offered a regular RN position at the completion, etc., etc. Can someone please enlighten us?
    dance4life likes this.
  7. Jan 7, '12 by
    I saw a picture of all the new folks who participated in this program on facebook. Interestingly they were all young, pretty and white. Interesting, huh?
    HangInThere likes this.
  8. Jan 11, '12 by
    This probably wouldn't have been a bad deal... if the hours were different to allow someone to work at an alternate job while they do this internship.
    joanna73 likes this.
  9. Jan 11, '12 by
    CourtneyH, do you have the link for the Facebook page where you saw the photo? Thanks.
  10. Mar 6, '12 by
    Quote from watersamy
    I was recently at MGH and took a look thru their newsletter and saw pictures of the "graduates" from this program. There were lots of RN's here that were stating they got accepted in this program and how excited they were about the opportunity to participate. Unfortunately no one has commented on their experience, if they were offered a regular RN position at the completion, etc., etc. Can someone please enlighten us?
    I was one of the graduates of the program and can say the experience I gained was invaluable. All people who completed the program are now working in an ICU at MGH, independently and at full RN pay. While it was difficult to make ends meet during the program, looking back I wouldn't do it any other way. The 30 or so of us that made it through the program are all competent nurses and work as a team in a way I haven't seen very often. I am so grateful for the faith that MGH put in me and that I had the guts to put my faith in them. I can now say that I have worked at one of the best hospitals in the country for almost a year, feel competent in my practice, and appreciated by my employer; things that unfortunately not many new graduates from the past few years can say. If anyone has any other questions about the program, feel free to ask. I would be happy to respond.
    NRSKarenRN and CCL RN like this.