cost to train a new grad

[fiveofpeep]

Im trying to research the costs of hiring a new grad. Can anyone shoot me some anonymous numbers of what you have heard the cost to train a new grad is at your facility? I've tried contacting local hospitals but this type of financial information seems to be either not on hand or deemed private.

I've heard 50,000 tossed around if you include the preceptor's salary, nurse education, and training classes...amongst other things.

And just for fun (read: not assignment related) what do you think about the cost? Has it always been this way? What do you think about the problem with new grads bailing after their two years is up? I can definitely understand why new grads are having difficulty acquiring jobs when we cost so much and have been found to be unreliable retention-wise in the past.

Thanks for the help if you can.

[Jules A, MSN]

It has certainly not "always" been this way. Until comparatively recently (the last 20-25 years or so?), nursing schools (esp. the hospital-based diploma schools) turned out new graduates who were prepared to function as (entry-level) RNs and did not require extensive orientation. The idea of a 6- month (or longer) "internship" for new graduates would have been incomprehensible, because there was no need for such a thing -- but I see so many posts here from new grads who expect to be offered a program like that and feel like they're being mistreated if they aren't. I'm also pretty horrified at how much conversation I see here (and encounter elsewhere in nursing) that takes for granted that one graduates from nursing school knowing v. little about nursing and one "really" learns what one needs to know on the job.

It makes perfect sense to me that hospitals are balking at the idea of hiring new grads (at the standard RN pay rate) and then having to teach them practically everything they need to know to get through a shift. I don't think that's going to change any time soon. IMHO, we've really gone off the rails in nursing education (and I say that having taught in both ADN and BSN programs).

Thank goodness I am not the only one shocked by this practice. I got 6 shifts worth of orientation as a new graduate and even less as a "seasoned" nurse. I have worked with incredible new graduates and interestingly enough from the same program a few that were horrid. Sadly when you work for a teaching hospital that requires a certain number of new graduates to be hired and apparently retained, I have heard the $50,000 price tag also, management does not seem to care how long it takes one to adjust...even if that is a year! They come off orientation after their six months and are technically part of the staffing pattern despite not being any where near ready to work on their own which creates a substantial burden on the rest of us. Sorry if this isn't politically correct and it doesn't apply to all new grads but gee if you aren't fairly proficient after 6 months...