2010-2011 AZBN new grad survey

U.S.A. Arizona

Published

This is a long read but very interesting... I read last year's and this one seems pretty similar with 3 differences:

"Three differences are evident in this year's results compared to last year's: fewer newly licensed nurses in 2011 acquired positions in acute care; newly licensed nurses in 2011 had a slightly increased chance of finding a job if they held a BSN degree; and newly licensed nurses in 2011 generally experienced a longer time from licensure to employment."

http://www.azbn.gov/Documents/education/Employment%20Newly%20Licensed%20RN.09.09.11.pdf

AZMOMO2, thank you for your reply... I agree with what you are saying and you know that I feel your pain and frustration first hand.

However, the media is still correct and there are still plenty of nursing jobs in demand (just not for new grads). Go to any hospital website and you will find a ton of nursing jobs (just none that I can apply to LOL). But the fact still remains that there are a lot of nursing jobs out there.

The real problem is that most of the jobs left for new grads (if any) are clinic-based, sub-acute care, long-term care, school nurse, etc... unfortunately, you cannot work these jobs and expect a hospital to pick you up in a year or two. In fact you can work any of the jobs I just mentioned for 5 years and a lot of hospitals these days will still look at you as a new grad.

A'residency' for nurses that want to work in acute care (which is most of us), that's what is missing these days. If you do not 'know someone' who knows a nursing manager, your most likely not going to get hired at a hospital as a new grad. Then what are they left with? Nothing, there is no path to get into an acute care job... there is no 'I'll do my time at this place so that I can get an interview, or not be considered a new grad in two years job" out there.

That's why I mentioned that hospitals should offer a pay cut for 1st yr RNs... new grads would line up over night around the block to work for less money at a hospital/specialty of their choice. I would do it at a PCT salary for a year just to get my foot in the door and learn valuable skills... anything to loose this new grad label.

Your other point about ADN programs making money... if you are talking about the MCC programs, they don't make a dime on nursing and are subsidized by the tax base to offer such cheap tuition. Phoeinx is has the cheapest RN programs in any state I have ever seen. If your talking about Apollo (or what ever the their name is this year)... then I whole-heartedly agree with you.

The real problem here is at the HR hiring level... there needs to be a plan to hire 1000's of new grads in Arizona at acute care jobs.

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Growth rate for RNs in hospitals is not what it used to be...

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos083.htm

The projected growth rates for RNs in the industries with the highest employment of these workers are:

Industry Percent

Offices of physicians 48

Home health care services 33

Nursing care facilities 25

Employment services 24

Hospitals, public and private 17

I disagree that hospitals won't hire you with experience from other areas. Persistence is key.

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good article RNfaster (interesting name), thanks for the post...

As far as your disagreement goes, I should know better than to make absolute statements on a message board... there will always be exceptions to everything.

I'm speaking on averages and norms... persistance is always key in any job that you go after. But HRs and the internet application process makes it more difficult. I shouldn't say it's not possible... or speak in absolutes. I should've said, it's not probable.

The point is that a few years ago, there was a clear path for a new grad to become more than a novice RN in acute care. You just needed to wait for an externship or new grad program and a hospital would usually train you (sometimes, even in a specialty of your own choosing).

Today, that path is not as clear, and the fact is that many RNs coming out of school today will have to choose a career path in an area outside of acute care to be successful.

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Specializes in Psychiatry and addictions.

I was on looking for info on a local travel position I just picked up. I live here but haven't for too long, and was curious about where I'll be working.

Anyhoo, I read this last yr when it was posted. At that time I was one of the experienced RN's brought in from out of state to fill a position. Now at least I'm a local.

Wanted to let you know... I work registry full time, and until I signed on to the current contract I did boat loads of shifts at the the county psych facility. I heard things, in this case good for new grad things. Don't know if it's too late, but it may be possible to get an app in. Sounds like the county hired a bunch of new grads, and it wasn't b/c the hospital decided. Someone higher up has been listening, and I guess they can't make the private hospitals change their practices, but they can within the gov't. They are not full time, and I'm guessing they aren't what people should be getting after busting their butts and making it through the NCLEX, but they are 3 days a week, from what I've seen.

The county nurses don't mind the new grads, although a whole bunch at once is just expected to make it busier for a while. It seems like they want new people to actually show the ropes, correctly. There is one site that is a little nervous, because most of the night staff picked that month to retire. Like right before the new hires come on. They are losing about 65 yrs experience all at once and the ones stepping up have under 5 yrs each.

It seems like they are pretty enthusiastic though, in general, and I would've heard otherwise if they weren't. I hear a LOT, uncensored. If you want to do psych, it's one of the best places I'd want to learn. It's hard as hell (I have 13 yrs, and do what the new grads will be, and it doesn't get a whole lot easier), the patients are getting even sicker as they have started letting people drop off court ordered treatment. But I'd been doing this for 12 yrs when I started there, and had never had a pt with an NG tube for forced feedings, or done 7 point restraints, on a pregnant lady no less. It wasn't fun, but I learned stuff I never imagined. They do ECT there too, so the prep is another marketable skill.

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deleted post because the board duplicated it

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I appreciate anyone that takes the time to give us info like that... thank you for the post GalRN.

I also have a degree in Psych and have considered psych nursing. I will be completely honest, it's not my first choice,... but at this point it is definitely something I may look into.

I only know of behavioral health positions at Banner, St. Lukes, Aurora, and Maricopa. Are the positions you are talking about on the Maicopa Medical Center site? If you have a link that would be great.

Thank you again for the info...

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Specializes in Women's Health.

I agree with you Boru! There are definitely ways around it.

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Thanks for posting this... it's very interesting to see the situation finally quantified this way.

I'm one of the lucky ones I guess, since I was able to find full-time employment with an ADN after maybe 4-5 months of searching. I also had a couple more offers from places I applied to out-of-state.

Several of my classmates also sought employment elsewhere and had positions offered/taken. Things aren't as bad if you're willing to relocate -- as the greater Phoenix metropolitan area is actually particularly bad compared to some other states. I hazard a guess that it's because we have 2 dominant healthcare network providers who have both enacted very stringent new-graduate policies, and also so many schools with a high output of new nurses almost year-round.

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I feel like an old curmudgeon saying this but "back in my day" (slamming fist on table) there weren't waiting lists because you had to be hand selected for the program.. we had to have the grades, references..jeez we even had to write an essay! And we liked it that way! Once accepted, we walked up hill both ways in the snow to get to Gateway, which weeded out the weaklings,:jester:

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Both of you bring up some really good points in these posts.

Magnoliophyte (a lover of flowers I'm assuming),

I do agree with you about the hiring policies of the healthcare networks in the area (although I only know of 1 that I would consider dominant).

As far as relocating goes, if you're young enough and don't have many obligations keeping you here (family, school, etc), then Texas is surely the place to look at for a new grad acute care position (they call new grads GNs there). But many of us cannot do that because of other obligations and if you look on all the other state's nursing boards, the secret is out on Texas... it's very competitive now but still very possible to get a great job.

Moving to less populated parts of the Az is also an interesting option... but from my experience, some of the outlying hospitals in Az are catching on to the fact that new grads from Tuc/Phx are temporarily relocating to get their magical "1-2yrs of acute care experience" and then moving right back to where they came from. So essentially they are training a lot of the new grads (and incurring the cost) and once they get through the 'novice RN' stage, they loose them to the the larger metro areas.

bratmobile (another great name!),

that was pretty funny! Of course in Phx I'm not sure about the 'hills' and the 'snow' part lol. But actually you bring up a really good point about the phoenix area and getting into RN school. I've lived and looked into RN school in 4 major metro areas in 4 different states and by far, phx was the easiest to get into RN school (and least expensive). In most other areas you still have to 'compete' and be selected (vs just waiting on a list).

Even in phx, outside of the MCC programs and a few private programs, there is still a competetive process for selection in place.

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And that is why I decided not to return home to California ( Marin county which is discussed in the article) after graduating nursing school in AZ. I truly believed it would be "so much easier" to find my first job here in Arizona than back in CA.

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