Nurses eat their young - now I understand why. - page 3

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I started working for a sub-acute LTC as the DSD last week. The DON and I hit it off because we have the same vision on what we need to do in order to solve the problems we current have. Early this week, we posted an ad for... Read More

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1
Mar 25, '12 by gallatea

Quote from netglow

I agree on everything but the "girl scout" stuff. Core measures, mission, all that is just marketing crap. Ask pathophysiology questions. Give any scenario... give some info and ask what they'd do, what they are thinking...

Also don't interview babies, or those who are in their 30's+ who have never had a professional working life. Interview people who have already had one career and proved themselves in that. Ask for references from that first career, too. Second career folks understand what work is... and often had some healthcare experience during the quest for a nursing career because they know it's needed.

Would save you a lot of time.

Amen to that.

netglow likes this.
17
Mar 25, '12 by nurseaig

Give me a break. I would not want to work for an institution that want to hire me as the charge nurse without any experience. And I personally think the OP is not trying to pay the true value for that charge nurse that they want to fill in that spot. They are trying to get over on the applicants inexperience. They should be a shame of want they are doing.

Nola009, sleepRN, Hygiene Queen, and 14 others like this.
7
Mar 25, '12 by chevyv

I have never heard of Core Measures until this post. I'm not sure a new grad would be able to tell you anything. My deer in the headlight look would have sunk me for sure, lol!

I do have to tell you that if I have planned a vacation, I would have told you flat out. Not sure when you would want to hear it, but once funds are invested and plans made, I would hope you would understand that. Did you expect her to cancel?

You're asking for someone with no experience so you can train them the way you want them. I also imagine that perhaps you can also pay them for the experience they don't have rather than for someone who has a bit of experience under their belt?

I remember all too well my first interview as a new grad. It went well until the end. I learned a lot that day. Each interview is a learning process for both. I'm sure the right applicant will come along. There are so many out there that the right one has to be right around the corner!

RNfaster, KimberlyRN89, kalevra, and 4 others like this.
17
Mar 25, '12 by GrnTea

i don't pick up that they're arrogant, just inexperienced and having somehow gotten a completely wrong idea about working life. all of these will resolve with time.

and really, you have to hire somebody with some experience. are you really expecting your seasoned staff to look on a new grad as an authority figure in charge? setting up everybody for failure and bad feelings all the way around.

KimberlyRN89, SandraCVRN, juan de la cruz, and 14 others like this.
10
Mar 25, '12 by OCNRN63

Quote from netglow

I agree on everything but the "girl scout" stuff. Core measures, mission, all that is just marketing crap. Ask pathophysiology questions. Give any scenario... give some info and ask what they'd do, what they are thinking...

Also don't interview babies, or those who are in their 30's+ who have never had a professional working life. Interview people who have already had one career and proved themselves in that. Ask for references from that first career, too. Second career folks understand what work is... and often had some healthcare experience during the quest for a nursing career because they know it's needed.

Would save you a lot of time.

I disagree with this. I had odd jobs as a teenager, but I was a "baby" when I graduated; I hadn't had another career previously, and I didn't have a previous job as an RN. Someone had to take a chance on me. Fortunately, I got the job in the specialty I wanted.

I knew what work was. I'd been a nurse's aide, ad I'd gone to a diploma program that taught us what work as an RN was.

That comment really irks me. It takes out a lot of people who want to be nurses and probably be great ones. And as far as the second-career statement, that could be looked at from another perspective. If you weren't satisfied with your previous career, how long will it take before you're unhappy with this one.

I do agree with this situation that the OP is asking for an awful lot. Three days of orientation isn't enough for seaside nurse, let alone a new one.

MzSSDeSouza, sapphire18, Not_A_Hat_Person, and 7 others like this.
12
Mar 25, '12 by mazy

Quote from gallatea

I think you also have to realize, you're getting the bottom of the barrel in applicants. At the end of my program not one person signed up to do a LTC integrated practicum or co-op. It's the last resort for all but about 1%. Nobody chooses to work in LTC it seems, it's what you do when no hospital will hire you. Many of them may resent having to apply for your job and I've had friends that worked in LTC. After years of it, they would say a sign of a bad nursing home is that it wreaks of BM. Think about how you're presenting your place of employment to them as well if you want a really great employee.

Bottom of the barrel? Really? Last resort? Seriously? It takes a special kind of nurse to work in LTC, and just because someone is determined to work L&D or ICU or ER or any hospital position does not automatically make them "top of the barrel."

Psychtrish39, silverbat, LDrounette, and 9 others like this.
0
Mar 25, '12 by RN_Marie

While I do love to get more experienced nurses, in this tough economy I dare anyone who has been in the job market for a year or so and would not want work. Say what you want with a LTC, but when you have been applying for everything for a year and no luck. A job is better than no job.

I ask you this, can you honestly say that you are a nurse when you have never functioned as one? When you have never performed any duties of a nurse? When you never had the opportunity to pick up the phone and call a doctor? When you have to tell a family that their father has passed away? When you've never given medications outside of the clinical setting?

Also, I never said that the orientation is three days. It's a 2-month program. Plus, I don't interview graduate nurses that has just received their licenses. I want them to get the best experience they could have and I agree that is with the acute setting. That said, I selected candidates who had been in the job market for a year or so. People who do not qualify anymore to the new grad RN programs.

So when you have been in the market for a year, you now have a chance for a job and that's what you say to the one interviewing you? I should have made myself clearer.

I inserted an excerpt from the resume I was talking about.
3
Mar 25, '12 by Perpetual Student

That resume excerpt is absurd. I try to laugh but only tears come out. I take it that one is from the vet tech?

I wonder if she developed that on her own, or if her school's folks who help with resume writing came up with that. If it's the latter, I feel sorry for her, as I bet dollars to doughnuts that her arrogant (or clueless) resume is certainly part of why she's having a hard time finding a job. If she did a better job of tailoring her resume to the positions she's applying for, and emphasized how she can translate her vet tech experience into human nursing rather than implying they're equivalent, she'd probably (on paper) be a very competitive candidate.

ChristinP, beckster_01, and Esme12 like this.
1
Mar 25, '12 by SurrenderDorothy

Yep, that probably has to be the vet nurse. The word necropsy and the addition of dental procedures pretty much gives that away. It's too bad because she could easily translate her clinical veterinary skills into skills that would be very much desirable as a "human" nurse.

SHGR likes this.
0
Mar 25, '12 by kids

Again, I think something that is being overlooked is that the role/job description for a charge nurse in LTC/SNF is often very different from the hospital role/job description.