Allow me to vent please

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I've been a loyal staff member of the hospital I work for now for 24 years. They've been good to me and the manager I currently have is the one that hired me. I've moved around the hospital some and have good experience and like my coworkers.

Like other places we have high turnover and being Florida out winter season tends to be busier. A local hospital chain pays very well and we lose a lot of younger people to them after they get their experience here. We recently lost yet another coworker and we're constantly short staffed.

To deal with this they are hiring "seasonal pool" which is a three-month contract at about $15 more an hour than the average staff makes. They've started a float pool at $10 an hour differential higher than the rest of us. They also use travel nurses through different agencies at high cost and give them housing.

Meanwhile those of us who are staff just got our evaluations and were told "we're under consideration for raises, but not sure it can be budgeted".

When they get their heads out of the sand they whine "why can't we keep any staff?? We need to have a committee look at this. Let's give them some cookies."

I promised my boss I'd stick with her until she retires in a year and a half and then perhaps I can get a nice well paying job. Too bad it probably can't be at my place of employment because rather than reward us they are paying new people so much money they can't fit us in their budget.

Thanks for listening.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Sadly that is what loyalty will get you, zip, nada, nothing, squat. And some wonder why "Milennials" don't have "loyalty". Prime example here. Can't blame them. You deserve better; you won't get it where you work. It sucks. The Boomers tend to be loyal and stay a long time in one spot, extremely reliable and steady. But the rewards in return for all these qualities are few and far between.

As for me? This is one X-er (almost Boomer) who will always have her eye out for the better opportunity, one that suits me and my needs, first.

[Sour Lemon]

Job-hopping (within reason) is what results in the best pay increases. Nurses who stay at the same job for 20 or 30 years seem to be the lowest paid- especially when experience is factored in.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I hear you, Tweety. My situation is a little different from yours, but the underlying theme is the same. It's sad.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Job-hopping (within reason) is what results in the best pay increases. Nurses who stay at the same job for 20 or 30 years seem to be the lowest paid- especially when experience is factored in.

Not necessarily true in my case. I'm pretty much "maxed out" meaning I'm at the top of my salary range and newer staff make much less. If I job hop at this point it's not likely I'll start out at the top of the range for this experience, unless I join a pool position or travel nursing, etc. However, my beef is that if they can afford all this seasonal and pool high salaries why can't they invest in the rest of us?

Newer staff that isn't making much and isn't offered a raise will surely jump to another high paying facility and in their cases job hopping pays off, so I get what you're saying.

[SmilingBluEyes]

You have a more than legitimate gripe; if an institution can afford, and is willing, to compensate floats and travelers so well, why NOT invest in the proven and loyal staff they already have? I don't get it, either. As I said, you are worth so much more, deserving of so much better, Tweety.

[Sour Lemon]

Not necessarily true in my case. I'm pretty much "maxed out" meaning I'm at the top of my salary range and newer staff make much less. If I job hop at this point it's not likely I'll start out at the top of the range for this experience, unless I join a pool position or travel nursing, etc. However, my beef is that if they can afford all this seasonal and pool high salaries why can't they invest in the rest of us?

Newer staff that isn't making much and isn't offered a raise will surely jump to another high paying facility and in their cases job hopping pays off, so I get what you're saying.

That "maxed out" garbage they feed us is not always as set in stone as it's made out to be. I've demanded (diplomatically) to be compensated outside of the cap and been accommodated. I heard, "We can't..." over and over before they finally caved, though. Union facilities may be the exception. I've never worked for one of those, but they seem to have actual tiers that are adhered to.

[Graduatenurse14]

I work for a union facility but our union- SEIU Healthcare- is terrible and only cares about collecting dues and not the workplace conditions.

We get screwed over by management all the time and nothing happens. Union is not always the answer.

[Jolie, BSN]

All I can say is "I'm sorry for your situation, Tweety." I wish I had sage advice. I don't.

About 25 years ago, I was working in a prominent Midwestern Children's Hospital when it became known that the new graduate RN pay rate was being increased substantially, making their salaries higher than some nurses with decades of seniority. The senior nurses went to administration with a well-thought-out proposal asking for an increase. They were told to go pound sand. Seems our wise administrators were certain of a few things: 1.) We were the only pediatric facility in the area, so there was no where else for dedicated pediatric RNs to go. 2.) Working in such a renowned facility was a "privilege" in and of itself, making wages unimportant. 3.) Money needed to be directed to new employees who would allow the facility to grow.

Turns out the wizards of smart got it a teensy bit wrong. A competing hospital opened a new maternal-child health wing, offering many of the services that had previously been exclusive to the Children's Hospital. They recruited heavily from the Children's Hospital staff, draining not only their numbers, but also their expertise. The Children's Hospital got precisely what they deserved.

I commend your loyalty to your manager. S/he is lucky to have you. I feel for your unit once you are both gone, as I suspect that you will take at least 50 years' experience with you. Unfortunately, most administrators don't understand the value of that. I started in the NICU in the mid 1980's. About every 10-15 years there is a sad story in the national news about a heparin overdose death or infant monitor-related death. I don't need to read them any more. I know the details without having to look. And they always involve the same errors made by new or inexperienced staff practicing in units without sufficient guidance from the previous generation. We've all moved on because of unwillingness of administration to adequately compensate our contribution to safe and effective care.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

About every 10-15 years there is a sad story in the national news about a heparin overdose death or infant monitor-related death. I don't need to read them any more. I know the details without having to look. And they always involve the same errors made by new or inexperienced staff practicing in units without sufficient guidance from the previous generation. We've all moved on because of unwillingness of administration to adequately compensate our contribution to safe and effective care.

Kimberly Hiatt was a very experienced nurse.

[Jolie, BSN]

Kimberly Hiatt was a very experienced nurse.

Point taken, and maybe I oversimplified. With so much known about the dangers of drawing up and mixing medications at the bedside, why was it being done? I don't know the policies or practices of Seattle Children's Hospital, but in many settings, dangerous conditions exist because staff is too new and inexperienced to recall well-known incidents in the past, or have any historical perspective of the evolution of safety precautions.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Sometimes though it's the older staff that gets lax, cuts corners and the new grads are paranoid and more careful. That said, organizations need to learn how to nature both kinds of workers. A valuable resource is lost when mentors and experience aren't retained and valued. Future experience and mentors can't be groomed if they jump ship for better opportunities and money elsewhere.