So I am seeing an unintended consequence of hiring preferences for BSN new grads. I live in a relatively rural area that has multiple community college based nursing programs and two university based BSN programs about an hour or so away. The local hospitals have instituted a preference for BSN new grads and have experienced a retention problem. Bypassing local community college ADNs with roots in the community and hiring BSN nurses from distant urban areas with no local connections has caused a huge turnover problem. So now many new hires stay for the minimum commitment and return home with the requisite two years experience needed for more lucrative jobs at home.

The core cadre of local nurses don't feel a need to befriend and assist new hires and the average experience rate drops, but the facilities can claim a more educated workforce but unit cohesiveness and care suffers.

Has anyone else seen this phenomena or is this just my imagination?

I notice that new grads move on pretty quickly, in general. Every new grad seems to want to be an NP or CRNA or something "higher up" on the food chain. I've only been a nurse for six years, though ....so I don't know how it was before then.

I notice that new grads move on pretty quickly, in general. Every new grad seems to want to be an NP or CRNA or something "higher up" on the food chain. I've only been a nurse for six years, though ....so I don't know how it was before then.

We stayed. We stayed for ages.

Yes, I've seen it. It is happening in urban areas as well. My tertiary care specialty hospital has seen new grads coming from elsewhere to get the experience in the specialties when they can't get jobs in their local hospitals "back home." Once they get the experience in the particular specialty they want, they can move back home and get the jobs they really wanted.

It goes both ways. Employers are going to have to take these phenomena into consideration as they plan their recruitment, hiring and compensation programs.

This phenomenon exists to a certain extent in the area where I reside. Many of the associate degree nurses in this area are what you'd refer to as 'location-stable.' This means they're from the local area and have no intentions of leaving.

However, due to an over-supply of nurses in this metro area, most of the hospital systems have stopped hiring new grads with ADNs to eliminate the number of employment applications through which they must sort.

An unintended consequence of this practice is anecdotal evidence that many of the local baccalaureate-prepared nurses tend to be more mobile with jobs and living situations. They will relocate to different cities and states that seem promising, or seek new employment opportunities more frequently. This results in increased employee turnover rates for the hospitals.

Yes, the local hospital systems now have a nursing workforce with more formal educational attainment. Conversely, hospital administrative figureheads have created another costly issue by shunning new grad ADNs: increased nurse attrition.