Petition for new nurses

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Sep 23, 2013

Below is a link to a petition that will request that the President provide stimulus incentives for hospitals and healthcare corporations to train and retain new graduate R.Ns.

Monies have already been allocated---part of Obamacare.

Just and R.N · Sep 23, 2013

The point of this petition/post is not only to achieve funding but also raise awareness about a particular problem. It is an attempt at political activism which judging by the lack of response was quite a failure.

There are many programs that provide funding for educating nurses and advancing their level of training, (title Vlll and Vll of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) however new nursing graduates would like a specific program that provides grants to employers to cover the training of new graduate nurses.

I have heard from recruiters that they are not hiring new grads due to uncertainty about how the ACA will play out. With the delayed passage of the ACA new nurses are in a terrible position with healthcare providers wary of allocating already strapped funds to train new nurses. The average new nurse costs between 10-50K an expense that is felt as unjustified in today's climate.

This post asked for more ideas, better ideas, solutions and that other people like me (who I know are out there by reading the endless posts about unemployed grads) have to contribute.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Sep 23, 2013

Hospital systems are actively and aggressively downsizing at the moment (e.g., Cleveland Clinic, Vanderbilt, etc) due to dramatic decreases in volume. I'm afraid it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Just and R.N · Sep 23, 2013

So is there anything we can do? That's the question.

elkpark · Sep 23, 2013

Times are v. hard for new graduates in all fields in the current economic and employment climate. Many are worse off than nursing grads. Do nursing students deserve some particular special treatment?

MedChica · Sep 23, 2013

I agree with the other posters.

Meanwhile, who will 'Cry Argentina' for the poor new grad LVN/PNs who can't find work, either?

thenursemandy · Sep 23, 2013

I think people pursuing a degree based on public statements such as "nurses make big bucks", "nurses are in high demand", "there's a huge nursing shortage" etc. reap their own reward for not seeking out professional advice from forums, polls and other legitimate means to determine whether or not there is a need for their chosen profession. Should seasoned nurses be ousted in this tough environment to make room for unproven new grads? No way!

I hate to say it, yet it must be said;you made your bed (by not doing your research before investigating thousands of dollars) now lay in it.

Don't expect the government to roll out the red carpet for you when there are nurses with PROVEN, real-life skills and achievement that are struggling too.

Just and R.N · Sep 23, 2013

I am a firm believer in research and was well aware of the market I was entering. That being said, I feel as if the point has been totally missed. I do not expect red carpets or any of the like. I am prepared to work extremely hard and attempt to make a difference in my chosen career.

Elkpark, MedChica, NurseMandy, I am not minimizing the extent of the economic turbulence and its impact on all job sectors. If there are avenues you wish to explore to assist LVNs/Pns or "non nursing grads" this should not detract from the very real problems that nursing graduates are facing. Everyone is allowed to try to help themselves though legal and ethical channels.

I believe that many feel that this is coming from a sense of entitlement and perhaps that is why it has garnered such harsh responses. I however refuse to back down from my position.

Yes, it is difficult for all new graduates, and yes any person entering a profession should understand the risks that may ensue, however they may still seek assistance in the future when difficulties arise. Believe it or not, some of us don't expect to make "big bucks"or oust seasoned nurses from their positions" and are just looking for a chance to make our future and that of our patients better. We don't ONLY want jobs in hospitals and are willing to explore numerous other avenues that are often closed to inexperienced graduates as well.

Assumptions and generalizations about people's motives, intentions, or feelings only generate ill will.

We would love to "sleep in bed" with the knowledge that we have a job to wake up to.

Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Sep 24, 2013

It's hard to say what's really going on. Are hospitals really having less patients? Where is the data supporting that? Are they simply downsizing the nursing staff because it is their biggest expense (which it is) so they can make more money? Are they not training new nurses because they find plenty of travelers and so they save the money they would spend training new nurses? Is this all being fueled by the recession which allows hospials to have the upper hand in the nursing job market? Is the nursing shortage really over? We don't really know the awnser to these questions but we know things never remain the same. What was up now is down and vice versa. How soon we'll see a revese go this situation? We don't know that either but things sometimes change suddenly and unexpectedly, specially in health care. Keep attent.

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Sep 24, 2013

Medicare which is the largest payor is cutting funding.And who knows what private insurance will be paying,

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Sep 24, 2013

Allocation of federal funds to hospitals with purpose to train new GNs can very quickly lead to development of a system like the one for training doctors. The latter thing is commonly known as "Match and residency" and is very much alike to slavery in its worst features. Do you want, one beautiful day, to face choice between leaving your family and going to a place right across the country, live there for a year or so and work 80 hours/week with salary lower than in McDonald's and openness to all abuses imaginable OR sacrifice your career altogether, at once?

What, IMHO, we can do (and I'm pretty much surprised nothing like that hadn't ever attempted - counting 700.000+ members of this forum alone) is make the information we have available. Schools where half of the class cannot find jobs after 6 months should be made known - like ones which go for more and above to help their grads, so that the former ones do not get students' money. Hospitals offering nursing residencies should be made known - with map and states' statistics probably. Same about places which do not hire new grads, or appears to interview them a lot but never offer jobs, or use new grads as warm bodies to manage their inhuman working conditions. All students appear to know one place or another where "only those new grads who worked there as techs" are welcome and another one where new grads are interviewed but never hired.

If information of this sort could be "concentrated" in one place (with limited public access) it could save some very real money at the very least. Nobody deserves to be left on cold air with student loans because the school conveniently forgot to mention their 30% placement rate.

(P.S. if someone is concerned about legality of such an enterprise, there is the infamous*** forum and several others where details of malignant residency programs are discussed in details large and small among physicians. Only the personal names are limited to private mail, everything else is available for free to anyone, being it the truth or not, and this information is widely used by candidates while preparing for Match. I do not even mention the public forums and Facebook where patients discuss hospitals, agencies, doctors and us as well, in all kinds of details and without any risk of persecution whatsoever, by the First Amendment).