RN new grad UNPAID residency program

U.S.A. California

Published

Hi-

I'm wondering about opinions on an unpaid RN residency. My community college has just started a post-licensure 3 month training program in the local hospitals. There is no stipend and no guarantee of a job at the end- just supervised experience and the possibility of convincing people to hire you at the end. As a result, the local participating hospitals have created a moratorium on hiring new grads who have not gone through their program. The managers get to interview the candidates before selecting them for their unit. The students are responsible for paying for the hospitals background check.

Does this sound legal? Ethical? It sounds to me like the hospitals have the opportunity to get new nurses trained to their units without having to pay for it. For people who can't move out of the area, it's the only option.

Thanks

Rebean! I'm not on here a ton but I am looking for something exactly like that. I just graduated and am looking for a little more experience but with no huge time commitment or job after...(just cause I still have other things I'm needing to do with life) could you email me info on this unpaid residency?

Or if anyone else knows about things like this please message me.

Isn't most education, be it law school, medical school, beauty school, all about "investing in your training in your own time"? If an RN wants to go into advanced practice, they might be able to get an employer to invest in their education for them, but many are willing to invest their own time and money in that training.

One would hope that all nursing school graduates WOULD be able to successfully transition to an entry-level bedside RN position. But the reality today is that many nursing programs do NOT graduate students who are already "floor-ready."

If an RN, whether a new grad or a re-entry nurse or someone changing specialties, isn't prepared to succeed in an entry-level floor nursing position, they currently have no way to get the kind of experience that would help them be better prepared for entry-level floor nursing.

Law students are paid handsomely for their time as summer associates.

Ashley- as of now, this is only for graduates of this particular community college. CSU chico has a Rural Nurse preceptorship program which might work for you

Specializes in Corrections,Med/Surg, Infectious Disease.
Hi-

I'm wondering about opinions on an unpaid RN residency. My community college has just started a post-licensure 3 month training program in the local hospitals. There is no stipend and no guarantee of a job at the end- just supervised experience and the possibility of convincing people to hire you at the end. As a result, the local participating hospitals have created a moratorium on hiring new grads who have not gone through their program. The managers get to interview the candidates before selecting them for their unit. The students are responsible for paying for the hospitals background check.

Does this sound legal? Ethical? It sounds to me like the hospitals have the opportunity to get new nurses trained to their units without having to pay for it. For people who can't move out of the area, it's the only option.

Thanks

Heck no way!!! We spend enough time not working going through school and etc, I wouldn't do that especially since they tell you it's not a guarantee of being hired. That's silly!

Trust me, you just have to do lots of research online for jobs. I highly recommend putting your resume on Careerbuilder.com Even by classifying yourself as a RN New Grad you will get a lot of hits(email replies and phone calls.) There a plenty of opportunities out there esp if you do not have anything major keeping you from even relocating if needed. Indeed.com is a good place, AbsolutelyHealthcare.com is a good site as well.

Just be leary of recruiters who promise you the world, like they say, " If it's too good to be true, it usually is!" You keep that in your head while looking and hearing many offers and you should be able to have a great choice to choose from. If you don't understand something they explain, don't be shy to ask them to break things down to understand them. I worked with RN's who literally couldn't tell you what they were making an hour....are you kidding me, esp as a traveling RN(which you wouldn't want to do for at least a year til you get some experience).

My suggestion is to find a job that is Med/Surg and get no less than a year or 2 exp, then if you want to specialize that is a good time or if you want to travel. With 1-2 years of Med/Surg(closer to 2 yrs) experience you can write your own ticket girl. Obtaining the skills you need in MEd/Surg will help prepare you in most anything you can come across until or unless you specialize in something.

Make sure too that when offered a job you know the breakdown of the hourly wage. If they quote you $33 an hour....is that before of after a shift or weekend differential. That's how some grab your attention...with big #'s. Again, do your research.

Good luck!!! Keep me posted. :nuke:

Hi-

I'm wondering about opinions on an unpaid RN residency. My community college has just started a post-licensure 3 month training program in the local hospitals. There is no stipend and no guarantee of a job at the end- just supervised experience and the possibility of convincing people to hire you at the end. As a result, the local participating hospitals have created a moratorium on hiring new grads who have not gone through their program. The managers get to interview the candidates before selecting them for their unit. The students are responsible for paying for the hospitals background check.

Does this sound legal? Ethical? It sounds to me like the hospitals have the opportunity to get new nurses trained to their units without having to pay for it. For people who can't move out of the area, it's the only option.

Thanks

That is NOT a good thing. That's what they're doing in the Philippines. That is basically slave labor and with no guarantee of a job. Do you see what it has done? Your community college created a reason to put a stop to hiring new grads! That way hospitals don't have to pay for labor. You've passed the NCLEX-RN and you have a license in California which means that you're able to apply for EMPLOYMENT as a RN. I'd steer clear of this because it's going to trickle down to the rest of California and the rest of the states and soon we will be like the Philippines and be FORCED TO WORK FOR FREE.

If a new nurse can't handle a full load within 6-12 weeks, many facilities will consider that nurse "not progessing quickly enough" and let them go. Not all new grads or returning RNs have the kind of experience, skills, and confidence needed to succeed within that timeframe. This type of program may have been developed to meet the needs of those nurses who otherwise might give up on making it in bedside nursing.

I agree there are worrisome issues that this type of program brings up... such as hospitals requiring participation in such a program in order to be hired and/or exploiting the "free" labor.

But it does offer a way for "underprepared" RNs to build up their experience, skills and confidence so that they can succeed in the 6-12 week time frame usually alotted to newbies.

But it isn't fair to the person who is progressing as an entry level new grad. If there going to do some crock like this, then what they need to do is to continue to hire new grads, and if they're not progressing fast enough to keep up with the duties of their job, then they should be let go and then be required to participate in this stupid program.

To me it sure sounds better than sitting around trying to do everything on your own. You get a little bit of experience which will help your confidence, and a whole lot of exposure. You should be spending a good portion of your time trying to make a good, lasting impression on the people in these facilities so that you can take advantage of any help they can give to get you hired. Good luck.

But yet you're working for free. Most of us have exhausted our funds while in nursing school and we can't afford to work for free. Bills need to be paid, plus student loans still need to be paid. You still need to eat, and your kids still need to be clothed. I for one can't afford this, and I'm sure most others can't either. This is a scary situation for all new and future nurses. We need to fight back and I'm prepared to do so.

I just want to add that the local community colleges here already offer a preceptorship, and yet these hospitals want you to have more? What about BSN graduates? Will they also be required to work for free? This is rediculous and I'm mad as heck that this is even happening. If all goes right I should be finished by Spring 2011 with my RN. By that time, this working for free thing might be up in full swing.

Specializes in Vascular Surgery.

Here is a screen shot from an email I received about a week ago. It is frustrating and sad to see that nursing is again becomming what our forebears fought so hard to prevent--an indentured workforce from which a hospital can continually gain free labor with each new class of 'new grad interns' nurses while simply discarding the old like a set of used linens. Nursing has come so far in its cooperation and organization as a professional body yet we still 'eat our young'. tears.gif

3774509412_4004265c55_o.png

The reason that I see that such programs are being considered is that too many new grads are not *functionally* ready to take on the responsibilities of full-time floor nursing. Instead of getting angry at the proposal of such ideas, get angry at the nursing programs that only provide the bare minimum of training and leave it up to hospitals to pay for bridging the wide gap between what's taught in school and what a functioning floor nurse needs to succeed. Or accept that modern nursing education simply cannot prepare students for all the possible avenues of nursing and that new grads should not expect to be able walk into a staff nursing job straight out of school. That new grads should expect to invest at least another six months in training for a the area of nursing that they plan to pursue (eg acute care nursing, public health, etc).

Most of us have exhausted our funds while in nursing school and we can't afford to work for free.

If all nursing students knew to expect to not be able to be hired as a full-fledged nurse until after an initial transition period, then they could plan for that financially. Med students, for example, know that even after 8 years of schooling (4 undergrad, 4 med school) that they will not be eligible for most physician roles until they complete a certain number of years as a low-paid resident in a certain specialty.

I just want to add that the local community colleges here already offer a preceptorship, and yet these hospitals want you to have more?

Also, your CC program may offer a great preceptorship program that really does prepare students. Unfortunately, not all programs do. And even if they do provide preceptor experience, it may not be very effective if the hours are very short, if the students are very limited in their scope, if the preceptors feel they are being coerced into taking students, etc.

Specializes in Surgical Nursing.

I'd just like to mention that I noticed the admission requirements for the residency program states that anyone who earned their RN license through an online or distant ed program is not elgible....

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
The reason that I see that such programs are being considered is that too many new grads are not *functionally* ready to take on the responsibilities of full-time floor nursing. Instead of getting angry at the proposal of such ideas, get angry at the nursing programs that only provide the bare minimum of training and leave it up to hospitals to pay for bridging the wide gap between what's taught in school and what a functioning floor nurse needs to succeed. Or accept that modern nursing education simply cannot prepare students for all the possible avenues of nursing and that new grads should not expect to be able walk into a staff nursing job straight out of school. That new grads should expect to invest at least another six months in training for a the area of nursing that they plan to pursue (eg acute care nursing, public health, etc).

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:yeahthat:

I completed a three year diploma program- I mean 3 FULL years. No spring breaks. Summers were for "summer rotation" in med-surg.

Third year we worked as a "Nurse Intern" for a FULL 12 months, 40 hours a week. And, you were the charge nurse on every shift for 4 months. As interns we were allowed to do everything a RN did, except give IV lasix. For that we had to be supervised. We staffed the hospital.

In return, we had free nursing residence, subsidized meals ($1) and got paid $84.00 a month! ha ha

BUT, because if that year of experience, none of us had trouble finding a job.

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