The RN Jobs Squeeze

Nurses are considered a liability and cost to the hospital. Not an asset.

In administrations view...
Physicians make them money
nurses cost them money

and it ends there.

I couldn't have said this better myself. As a new grad who cannot get a hospital job either because the new grad positions have been cut, I can say that the hospitals in my area are doing this very thing. They claim there is a shortage, but the reality is that there are tons of unemployed nurses (new grads as well as experienced RNs) who would give their left arm to work and help to lower the nurse patient ratio, thereby reducing patient morbidity and mortality. But mgmt would rather turn away perfectly good nurses to save money. We could have 1:3 ratios in many hospitals in my area if all the available nurses were hired. Imagine having 3 patients? You could give meds without rushing around and making potential errors, and you could actually take some TIME to TEACH your patients all the things you should, but never get to. Nurses would be happier and less stressed, patients would get top notch care, but who wants that right? It would cost too much $$$.

I have worked as a RN in the Chicago area for 28 years. I advise nursing students who circulate through my unit for experience to get their foot in the door by being a CNA/PCT at a hospital, so when they graduate, they are usually hired based on their manager's recommendations and their ability to float to other units and make their presence known throughout the hospital. In this day and age, you cannot assume that you will be hired. Too many grads are competing for the openings. In the downtown area, too many grads are competing to meet an intern or resident to marry a doctor or have fun in the big city! True, but many will not admit it! Take a job in the 'burbs, a NH, etc, and get some experience. A new grad where I work now, said 12 out of 15 in her graduating class last year were frustrated with their first hospital job and moved to a second one. I think it is so they have the "security" of working with another precepter because school did not prepare them for the real world of nursing and they are SCARED! I know way back when I started as a NA, I was scared to be on my own after a couple of months, but I had friends at the hospital I had worked at for 6 years to rely on and go to for help. It was hard work, but I survived. I am ready to relocate to Phoenix to be closer to my family, so save me a job in the future! I really appreciate all the forums and answers! Nursing shortage? Our hospital will no longer use travelers or agency, but are willing to pay OT for call ins or shortages. I worked 8 days in a row, had 2 days off, and worked 12 days in a row, plus stayed over past my 8 hour shift to cover call ins! There is money to be made if you look for it and are willing to give up free time. BTW, I am single and have no kids, so I can do whatever I want with my time after my 8 hour day is complete, unlike some of my co-workers.

I totally agree!!!!

Does anyone else notice a 'trend' here on allnurses where many nurses (new and experienced) are talking of limited job opportunities, increased competition, ect there are also an equal (arguably) # of nsg students and want to be nsg students who seem to think they are going into a real 'hot job'?

On a state forum, I recently gave advice to someone about relocating to an area where I used to live/work as a RN - I warned of limited job opportunities and alot of competition to get a position with the local hospital - i know b/c I worked there! A nursing student tells me I am wrong and the market will change in a couple years when SHE is done w/ nsg school blah blah. The OP was asking advice of someone who HAD worked as a RN in the area and can you believe the overconfidence/ cocky attitude of a nsg student who apparently never has worked in the medical field to contradict?????

IMHO, nsg school is alot to go thru even compared to other degrees one could get to have to go out and apply for hundreds of jobs and not even get considered b/c 'that hospital isn't taking new grads right now.' Things will eventually turn around but i doubt it will be even in a couple years. If things were as bad as they were this year for new grads imagine next year. Either the 'powers that be' need to intervene or it is futile for nsg schools to be graduating so many students.

Excellent post! These students are not keeping up with trends, but "somehow" it will all magically turn around for them and their dream job at a hospital with 9-5 hours is going to be sitting on a pedestal for them when they are done. But wait! Not only is my dream job going to be sitting there, but they will be in such need that they will compete with all the other hospitals who want to hire me by giving me better pay! This is exactly what an old friend thought when she was explaining to me her reasoning behind spending $70,000 on a new RN program, despite the fact that every metro hospital in my area is laying off RNs

This article is BULL!!! All of these acedemic types sit in their ivory towers, so far removed from the real nursing world that they have lost sight of reality. They read other articles by other acedemic types, then sit around and talk about that there is a shortage and we just do not want to get work or just do not do things right to get a job. They have no clue as to how to be a nurse nor have they worked very long, if at all, in the trenches, but they have all the answers! Just makes me angry. Why? Because these are the people that politicians and big shots listen too. Not only do trench nurses (those who work everyday with pts and actually do pt care) have problems finding jobs, but there is no respect when we do get a job. Those people who call themselves nurses, who sit in their ivory towers, can sit back and also not give us any respect. Why? They do not have too! It is easier to philosophize and dismiss the little people "who do not know anything about trends" then to get down and dirty with us and experience the world of unemployment, bankrupcy and filling out endless applications for jobs we will not get. I have a master's degree, I have 40 years experience and a good reputation, but I am not being hired!! New grads are not being hired and us, the mature nurses are not being hired. I live in Chicago, and yes there are ads in the papers and on all the job boards for nurses, but they are the same ads that I have applied for several times and still have not heard anything about. I have called, sent in resumes, shown up at the human resources departments and filled out applications and am still unemployed. I can understand how rural areas might have shortages--I only half believe that statement--but urban areas? Those professors need to come down and interview us who actually do pt care and not just read data from some computer generated list. Their conclusions will be completely different!

in a few months, I will complete my first full year as a nurse and most definitely it wasn't easy and I agree with everyone that it is not easy to find a job when you're fresh out of school. It is pretty scary to think that there are no real guarantees---I contemplate leaving my current job but I don't have the confidence that I could find another one right away. In the time that I've worked, I've noticed that hospitals are more willing to hire someone that is already within the system, fewer positions for new grads, and the patient ratios are high despite the availability of nurses. Sometimes, I am tempted to think "Oh they need me more than I need them" but just when that happens they hire a boat load of nurses and let others go. It doesn't matter that folks are pregnant because they are completely replaceable.

One of the things I have never figured out is what is the advantage of recruiting all the international nurses? I keep hearing different stories. Do they really work cheaper? It must cost money to go to a country, recruit them, pay various expenses for them. Is it their devotion to do everything that a corporation tells them to do, and you all know what some of those things are. Some will sabotage caucasian nurses. I have seen some very unhealthy relationships between management and some foreign nurses that have been recruited from other countries.

Us mature nurses are not getting hired- because we are, with our 30-40 years of EXPERIENCE at the top of our pay scale, we cost too much. The mature nurses before us fought when we were baby nurses to bring about change in the nursing world. fought for MORE pay- which we DO deserve since we nurses do the actual work not the docs, fought for more voice and to have some control in our practice. The docs spent the healthcare money years ago and fattened their wallets when they admitted patients for barium enemas, did colonoscopys on patients admitted for ear infections. Now hospitals are loosing money so the first place they go to make it up is to slash nursing positions. Well they have slashed so much it's not Safe anymore so now they lay off senior nurses making well earned merit raises/years of service- kicked out the door like old shoes. The hospitals are left with nurses with 3-4 years experience. One in So. NJ a Interevental Cardiac floor is FULL of new grads!! and foreign nurses- why- because they are cheaper. They can pay them $22/hr, $26/hr. and we mature nurses will seek employment else where but for the same cheaper wages. Why -because like was mentioned above hunger, bankrupcy, long periods of unemployment and have gone though our savings and 401k's to keep our homes we have lived in for 25-30 years. The manager of this young floor/unit is also young- inexperienced in management which is what the upper management likes(a STOOL pigeon) inexperienced at the bedside.( keeps more money in the big brasses pockets), clueless as to what is being set-up, inexperienced in LIFE but cocky as anything. Think about a cardiac interventional floor of all new young RN's that don't know how to read tele monitors. This is a suburban hospital. WE experienced nurses put out applications, call on these jobs posted and no reply??? Now that I'm seeing it in print by someone else- it kinds looks like it's the COST/hr our experience says we should be paid. So the hospitals must be looking for nurses some where between a new grad ( cost of orienting, preceptor- 2 RN's for 1 group of patients=$60,000. I got that number at a preceptor workshop in 2007) and a 30-40 year experienced nurse because that level of experience is cheaper. It's now lower the pay of nurses, they can't slash any more positions- the staffing ratio's are now dangerous. I work hospital staff per deim- this was all I could get and get cancelled most of my shifts- I was cancelled the last 4 hours on a 12 hour shift this past Saturday , my supervisor asked me how much per hour I made. $36/hr the nurse they kept makes $33/hr. That's a stinken $12.00 saving!! The real kicker was the other nurse WANTED to go home but was made to stay and I am out of $144.00($36.00x4=$144.00) that's car insurance for 1 month!!! This is A MESS.