Are the new nurses to blame

Nurses General Nursing

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I am starting this thread to address the issue of more experienced RN's complaining about new grads entering the field already knowing they will jump to graduate school after few years. Who is to blame them? I know they should be good RN's and stay inspite the horrible enviorinment.:rolleyes:

I am not a real new, Id like to call myself "fresh" :D(2 years) and plan on staying in bedside at least 5 years but when I see the nurses that have been there for 10 years I see beautiful women who are also supersmart, but many of them are limping, have back issues, hate their job but cant move due to senior pay and feel they are too invested to move to grad school. If any of them need surgery to fix the bad knee usually they end up being let go and we know no one will bend backward to hire you at that point.

I think we should not blame the new grads but should look at the nurisng enviornment and how difficult it can be to be a bedside nurse. I know many 2,3 year RN's who are deadly affraid to ask for nursing references because they will be chewed up. Lets change the units so the new nurses will love staying here and future nursing shortage, poof, might dissapear.(well, I admit few other things are in play)

1. Dont scare the new grads away, but give a realistic view of bedside.

2. Help eachother

3.If they decide to go, say good luck and mean it.

Question: What else can we do to keep the newly graduated nursing forces in bedside?

Specializes in LDRP.

Maybe more newer nurses or even nurses with no experience at all are applying to grad school because they can't find a a job as a new grad. Student loans are coming due in six months, and without a job, how do you afford those? YOu go back to school so they can get deferred.

or, seeing as how you can't get a job as a new grad RN, and it doesn't look like you'll be able to find one in the foreseeable future, then giong on to get more qualifications (grad school) may seem like a reasonable option for some new nurses

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I am a fairly new nurse and I have toyed with the idea of going back for my NP.

I'm not too fond of more student loans (as in I need to have mine paid off in 4 years by the time my son goes to college), and I'm not fond of taking on a graduate course load, including working full time as well. I do not want to be "too busy" with a teenager at home.

I have already decided I do not want to do beside nursing no more than a few years (although I am in the ER). I have an extensive corporate background, but don't want to go into nursing administration. I have decided to get certified in everything I can and then maybe do something like the Cath lab, PACU, or SANE/Forensic nursing long term.

If I do go back for an advance degree it will be once my son has graduated college, which will be YEARS from now. Until then, I will make the best of bedside nursing, gain alot of invaluable skills, and grow as much as I can within my scope of practice.

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Just to say that there are finite positions for RNs in management - way fewer than floor RNs. In my experience, RN managers' jobs are extremely vulnerable, no union etc., and their jobs depend upon customer satisfaction scores...

So in my opinion, entering nursing with the specific aim of becoming a manger is a mistake. If such an opportunity arises after many years of experience, then so be it. But being managed by a manager with less experience than floor staff is a huge mistake.

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Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.

I am a new nurse and love bedside care. The problem I have with the job is that you really do not get to do as much bedside care as you would like. My favorite part of my job is being at my patients bedside and helping them to feel emotionally and physically better. Nurses are constantly tied up with playing middleman between all hospital departments and the Docs. Why doesn't xray or phlebotomy call the MD about questions regarding the patient's tests. Why do they call me and then I must call the MD and then call them back? They are just as capable of calling the Doc as I am. Why must I search for call bells, IV pumps, etc, etc? Should there not be enough of these items for all patients? Why must I chart the same information in 4 different places and then give a verbal report? Why must I listen to family drama about who is not getting along with who and how their 93 year old mother (the patient) likes her/his sibling better? I say go on Jerry Springer and duke it out there. Why are families and patients allowed to talk to staff in any manner that becomes their mood at that moment in the name of customer service? If aforementioned people walked in to a burger king and spoke to the employees in a derogatory manner they would be kicked to the curb. Why do I need to feel the time crunch when all my poor patient wants to do is use a bedpan or be walked to the bathroom? The whole time I am performing these tasks I am thinking I have to get my ass out of this room and start charting the vast amounts of information so I can punch out on time.

For me it is not the bedside care of the patients but all of the above reasons that I find myself wanting to leave the bedside. It is a shame because I really like taking care of my patients. I am enrolling in a BSN program to give me more options in the future.

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Specializes in ER.
I agree, Ruby there are many of those who did not realize what nursing was. And the profession weeds them out because theyll either adapt or drop out. Mainly my point was not to say that the new generation of nurses is somehow "spoiled" but that maybe many of them try to go to advance practice is because of the sometimes toxic environment of nursing and are we to blame them for this? This way-I feel we only get ARNP's who are not even good bedside RN's(not good for anyone). As I said in the end many senior nurses end with bad backs and management that finds them obsolete. Where are the rewards for staying-something has to change for these new graduates to want to stay in the bedside.

And on another hand-why not Ruby? Why not Christmas off and 3 weeks in the summer. ARNP's do get these benfits and many other professions do as well. If anyone-RN's deserve these perks. I know it is not the reality with the shortage, but I think RN's should have vacation when they want, the shift of their choice and some holidays off. Maybe then we would enjoy coming back to work more.

You know, I am a newbie in the ER and a Gen Xer but I have some thoughts on this one too. I agree with you: why not Christmas off and 3 weeks in the summer?

I thought becoming a nurse, I would have a more flexible schedule. My employer touts this wonderful self-scheduling software they use. Yeah. Well. Whatever. You must clock 36 hours in a calendar week. Life would be easier if it was 72 in two weeks rather than 36 in one but they don't care. They also don't care that splitting the weekend up means you can't work Friday Sat and Sun and be done for the week. Both of these things would make life easier and why can't they be done? Studies I saw suggested that nurses would work out their schedule without interference if left to do so. Why does the facility interfere?

Why do they assign you to a weekend, then call you off at 0500 am on Saturday morning which they assigned you to?? I am no spring chicken but every other profession, you work when scheduled and get paid. No other kind of employer burns your vacation time by signing you up for a weekend you didn't want and then calling you off when census is low! Its not the weekend that makes people mad, its the getting called off part! or better yet, call you in the NEXT WEEKEND at 0500 due to staff shortage??

Also, why do they routinely change schedules that were built by the staff themselves? What is the point of that?

It is NOT so that the shortage causes the need to force yucky schedules on people. It is just bad habit that they do so. Airline flight attendants entirely self-schedule and somehow, 12k people manage to cover every flight going in and out. I could go on but you already know all of this and you already know that nurses go into this job knowing they will work weekends and the like but that its the added B.S. last minute changes that people hate.

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

Nursing is going through a huge change in professionalism, expectations and ideals. Most of us coming in are not happy with simply doing our job, but we want to excel at every avenue: patient care, charting, delegation, shared governance and interpersonal relationships. We want our environments to reflect the amount of work we put into them.

However with short staffing, angry ancillary staff, disdainful doctors, every increasing paper-loads and not to mention senior nurses from all walks of life beating down our enthusiasm because it "isn't how they see it" I don't blame us for walking out.

I personally am working on my MSN in Clinical Education as we speak because bedside leaves me stressed, anxiety ridden, and exhausted and it has nothing to do with patient care! I wish I had more time to wash bottoms, hair, trim toenails and care for my patients!

Until nursing gets it ideals in order, learns to support it's staff and honestly until ancillary staff becomes educated enough to realize it is an integral part of patient care and not paid labor, there will be no hope for many new grads coming in with high expectations, and intrinsic motivators of making a difference.

Tait

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Nursing is going through a huge change in professionalism, expectations and ideals. Most of us coming in are not happy with simply doing our job, but we want to excel at every avenue: patient care, charting, delegation, shared governance and interpersonal relationships. We want our environments to reflect the amount of work we put into them.

I hope you're not suggesting that those of us who have been in nursing for quite a while now entered nursing with lower expectations and standards for ourselves than you describe, and with the goal of "simply doing our job." I've been in nursing 25 years now, in a wide variety of settings and roles, and, frankly, I don't see a big increase in "professionalism" over the years -- if anything, I see the younger, newer nurses I've worked with in recent years as significantly less professional than RNs as a group used to be (but they certainly have a high opinion of themselves!) I would be delighted if many of the newer grads I work with were willing to "simply do their job" -- as it is, many of them seem much more interested in doing the bare minimum to get by than in "excelling" at anything. (That's not to say that I haven't encountered some v. eager and hard-working new grads and newer nurses.)

I'm happy to assume that you're describing yourself in the quote above, but my personal experience is that your description hardly applies to "most" newer nurses, at least in my area. I'm sure there's a lot of variation among regions and particular schools.

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Specializes in ICU-CCRN, CVICU, SRNA.

Regardless of how the new grads are(as always people are different good nebies and many bad ones as well as some senior nurses who are less than stellar)-How are we going to keep the new grads in bedside? And, who will take care of me when I get old and need a hospital stay?

I wish there were ways to make nursing our dream profession that it deserves to be.

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Specializes in CVICU, Obs/Gyn, Derm, NICU.
Nursing is going through a huge change in professionalism, expectations and ideals. Most of us coming in are not happy with simply doing our job, but we want to excel at every avenue: patient care, charting, delegation, shared governance and interpersonal relationships. We want our environments to reflect the amount of work we put into them.

However with short staffing, angry ancillary staff, disdainful doctors, every increasing paper-loads and not to mention senior nurses from all walks of life beating down our enthusiasm because it "isn't how they see it" I don't blame us for walking out.

I personally am working on my MSN in Clinical Education as we speak because bedside leaves me stressed, anxiety ridden, and exhausted and it has nothing to do with patient care! I wish I had more time to wash bottoms, hair, trim toenails and care for my patients!

Until nursing gets it ideals in order, learns to support it's staff and honestly until ancillary staff becomes educated enough to realize it is an integral part of patient care and not paid labor, there will be no hope for many new grads coming in with high expectations, and intrinsic motivators of making a difference.

Tait

Actually interestingly ...many of we older ones perceive nursing to have been more 'professional' in the old days.

In the 'old days' .....I had better ratios/more aides/less paperwork/more control/more autonomy.

Now I'm just a little nurse-person slaving away :crying2:

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Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.
i agree, ruby there are many of those who did not realize what nursing was. and the profession weeds them out because theyll either adapt or drop out. mainly my point was not to say that the new generation of nurses is somehow "spoiled" but that maybe many of them try to go to advance practice is because of the sometimes toxic environment of nursing and are we to blame them for this? this way-i feel we only get arnp's who are not even good bedside rn's(not good for anyone). as i said in the end many senior nurses end with bad backs and management that finds them obsolete. where are the rewards for staying-something has to change for these new graduates to want to stay in the bedside.

and on another hand-why not ruby? why not christmas off and 3 weeks in the summer. arnp's do get these benfits and many other professions do as well. if anyone-rn's deserve these perks. i know it is not the reality with the shortage, but i think rn's should have vacation when they want, the shift of their choice and some holidays off. maybe then we would enjoy coming back to work more.

wow. 3 weeks off in the summer? christmas off as well? it would be nice, but patients are sick on holidays and in the summer as well...and someone has to be at the bedside. it is somewhat frightful to think so many nurses want to get "away from the bedside" and the patients. who will be there then?

medical techs? proficient cna's that are specially trained? med assistants who take a 3-4 month crash course to do the med passes and skills.

i remember the arguments that started when such ideas were approached in the past. nurse's have argued and fought against anything "so unprofessional." and yet if all the nurses leave the bedside, who will be there?

i understand about getting additional education. i am working on a health science degree to specialize more in the sciences so i don't disagree with improving oneself. i see medicine moving more toward using nurse practitioners and pa's as it becomes more socialized. but i wonder, who will be left at the bedside in the end and how educated will they be?

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Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.
wow. 3 weeks off in the summer? christmas off as well? it would be nice, but patients are sick on holidays and in the summer as well...and someone has to be at the bedside. it is somewhat frightful to think so many nurses want to get "away from the bedside" and the patients. who will be there then?

medical techs? proficient cna's that are specially trained? med assistants who take a 3-4 month crash course to do the med passes and skills.

i remember the arguments that started when such ideas were approached in the past. nurse's have argued and fought against anything "so unprofessional." and yet if all the nurses leave the bedside, who will be there?

i understand about getting additional education. i am working on a health science degree to specialize more in the sciences so i don't disagree with improving oneself. i see medicine moving more toward using nurse practitioners and pa's as it becomes more socialized. but i wonder, who will be left at the bedside in the end and how educated will they be?

it is not the patients we are trying to get away from. it is the conditions we have to work under to give good patient care.

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.
I hope you're not suggesting that those of us who have been in nursing for quite a while now entered nursing with lower expectations and standards for ourselves than you describe, and with the goal of "simply doing our job." I've been in nursing 25 years now, in a wide variety of settings and roles, and, frankly, I don't see a big increase in "professionalism" over the years -- if anything, I see the younger, newer nurses I've worked with in recent years as significantly less professional than RNs as a group used to be (but they certainly have a high opinion of themselves!) I would be delighted if many of the newer grads I work with were willing to "simply do their job" -- as it is, many of them seem much more interested in doing the bare minimum to get by than in "excelling" at anything. (That's not to say that I haven't encountered some v. eager and hard-working new grads and newer nurses.)

I'm happy to assume that you're describing yourself in the quote above, but my personal experience is that your description hardly applies to "most" newer nurses, at least in my area. I'm sure there's a lot of variation among regions and particular schools.

I guess in my attempt to reduce the negative generalizations about the newer RN generations I generalized the older. Right now at my work I just feel like I am beating my head against the wall trying to do everything we are expected to while "senior" nurses sit and read People and in the three years I have been in this position have never once restocked the med-cart or put away commodes/pumps from cleaned rooms.

I did not mean to offend.

Tait

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