Rehabilitation Nursing: A Specialty In Its Own Right - page 2

I am A CRRN who worked on a rehab unit and I was dismayed to find that the Hospital I worked at seemed to value the specialty of Rehab nursing less and less. In 1987, when I started there, we were a closed unit and no other nurses floated in or floated out. When Iowa health System took over our hospital in 1995' things began to change. We were floating out to other units and even worse' non-rehab nurses were floating in. Many of these nurses felt that rehab was beneath them and were not expected to do any of our rehab paperwork, such as FIMs scoring or to attend patient staffings. Most did not know proper transfer techniques and were used to their patients being in bed all day. In 2010 there were 3 CRRNs on the Rehab unit. Now there are none. In an effort to decrease payroll costs, they fired 2 of us last year. We both suspect that it was because we had been there many years and were both near the top of the pay scale. Our certifications seemed to have no value for management. It is sad that Hospitals are allowed to fire good nurses that have certifications and many years of experience, in order to hire new grads at a lower rate of pay, but as they reminded us, we were "at will employees". At present I am hunting for a job, but a 58 year old that has been fired is not seen as a good catch. I know whatever job I find will not pay near what I was making. DOES ANYONE VALUE REHAB CERTIFICATION? DOES ANYONE VALUE EXPERIENCE?

I am A CRRN who worked on a rehab unit and I was dismayed to find that the Hospital I worked at seemed to value the specialty of Rehab nursing less and less. In 1987, when I started there, we were a closed unit and no other nurses floated in or floated out. When Iowa health System took over our hospital in 1995' things began to change. We were floating out to other units and even worse' non-rehab nurses were floating in. Many of these nurses felt that rehab was beneath them and were not expected to do any of our rehab paperwork, such as FIMs scoring or to attend patient staffings. Most did not know proper transfer techniques and were used to their patients being in bed all day. In 2010 there were 3 CRRNs on the Rehab unit. Now there are none. In an effort to decrease payroll costs, they fired 2 of us last year. We both suspect that it was because we had been there many years and were both near the top of the pay scale. Our certifications seemed to have no value for management. It is sad that Hospitals are allowed to fire good nurses that have certifications and many years of experience, in order to hire new grads at a lower rate of pay, but as they reminded us, we were "at will employees". At present I am hunting for a job, but a 58 year old that has been fired is not seen as a good catch. I know whatever job I find will not pay near what I was making. DOES ANYONE VALUE REHAB CERTIFICATION? DOES ANYONE VALUE EXPERIENCE?