Do you see a generational gap in nursing?

[egglady]

I don't know if it is just me, or just where I work, but I am seeing a major generational gap between nurses. The ones in their mid 20's just seem to be lacking a work ethic. I am not an old foggie, I am 43. the newer gals just dont get why they cant have day shift, or every holiday off, or why seniority in a union facility counts. They do not understand that it has taken many of us more than 10 years to get full time, or day shift, and that we all have to work holidays. I spent many Christmas at work instead of with my kids. I havent used sick time in 3 years. some of these new ones call in with the weirdest ailments, just to find out they were hung over!! I am not bashing young nurses, or "eating the young". I am just seeing a lack of work ethic with this generation. My friend who is in business sees the same. Did we as parents screw this generation up some how? Or will they eventually grow up? Again, not bashing anyone, just curious....

[letsseehere]

Recession sparks new attitude in Generation Y:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/15/1775427/recession-sparks-new-attitudes.html

[TDCHIM]

"Nothing so dates a man as to decry the younger generation." - Adlai Stevenson

As I'm in my early 30s, I am on the border between two generations, Gen X and Millennial. I'm not the least bit offended by the OP's thoughts, but I am amused. Guess what? The same things that are said of the Millennials now were said of Gen Xers 10-15 years ago (i.e., lazy, self-absorbed, no work ethic, self-esteem out of line with actual accomplishments, want everything handed to them, etc.) and will probably be said of each generation that follows. Each generation is disparaged by the one preceding it, and will in turn criticize the one following it. People are people - some are great, some are jerks, and most are in-between. Some people have a strong work ethic from day one; most seem to develop a better one as they age.

The times change; human nature doesn't.

[ZippyGBR, BSN, RN]

I the newer gals just dont get why they cant have day shift, or every holiday off, or why seniority in a union facility counts. They do not understand that it has taken many of us more than 10 years to get full time, or day shift, and that we all have to work holidays.

This is something I have never quite understood or been able to see the rationale, the apparent obsession with seniority to determine which shifts people work? or why seniority is important to hours worked or whether people get a disproportonate amount of public holidays off

Where is skill mix in this all ? to my mid it's dangerous to put the least experienced staff together on 'out of hours' shifts when the medical cover, nursing management and other senior nurses are less likely to be available, people should take their turn and their negotiated fair share of unsocial hours in a 24/7/365 environment

[Bobbkat]

In response to the above post (though not addressing the OP's original questions), that is exactly why my unit splits all holidays in half. There are 8 paid holidays on our calendar. One year you work one set of 4, the next year you work the opposite set, and so forth. It doesn't matter how many years you have, you work Christmas every other year, just like the newest nurse on the unit. Seniority counts for vaca, but not holidays.

[raianne]

I think it's more of an issue of how your parents raised you. I'm 29, and I've been working at least part-time since I was 16 and my dad said "Ok, you're old enough to work, time to get a job!"

In order to get the lab tech job I have now, I had to work nightshift for a year. I work every other weekend, and every other holiday. I hate calling off because I know I'm screwing over all the other people I work with. I haven't called off for two years. Also, I walked THREE MILES to work in a blizzard this year. (I did it mainly so that if I have kids, I can tell them, "When I was your age, I walked three miles to work in a blizzard!" and it will be true.)

I start an accelerated BSN program in two weeks. I fully expect to have to work nights or some other off shift as a new RN (if I manage to find a job...the more I read this site, the more freaked out I get), and I'm already used to working weekends and holidays.

Please don't generalize an entire generation by a few lazy people...there are hard workers and slackers in every age group. :)

[JenniferSews]

Yeah, these young kids! They want everything handed to them, they don't want to actually work!

Oh, wait, that's what people said about me. That's part of the reason I couldn't get a decent job in spite of the fact that I worked hard and always showed up.

Maybe part of the problem is that people told me nursing was a dead end career and suicide for anyone wanting any sort of equality. Now they tell their kids that nursing is the golden ticket. Just show up and graduate and you can do anything, write your own salary! (Said by a new grad who was promised such.)

I have a plethora of stories of nurses over 40 that are HORRIBLE nurses. In my short career one has hopefully lost her license after 40 years for such horrible work ethic and negligence that it took everyone in the facility days to recover from the event. We cringe at all the other patients she's had in her career. But she felt that she had enough experience she didn't need to actually assess her patients when her CNA's told her something was wrong. To her it was all about charting and CNAs were stupid. Not all lazy nurses are 20 something.

[DoGoodThenGo]

This is something I have never quite understood or been able to see the rationale, the apparent obsession with seniority to determine which shifts people work? or why seniority is important to hours worked or whether people get a disproportonate amount of public holidays off

Where is skill mix in this all ? to my mid it's dangerous to put the least experienced staff together on 'out of hours' shifts when the medical cover, nursing management and other senior nurses are less likely to be available, people should take their turn and their negotiated fair share of unsocial hours in a 24/7/365 environment

Historically, long before there were unions and for long periods afterwards senority determined many aspects of one's employment from hours worked, days off, vacation choices, etc. This was especially true in the various "pink collar" jobs where most women found work.

If one was a stewardess (flight attendent), one's length of service determined what routes one could "bid" to work, and what days including major holidays you could put in or schedule off. Same with office workers from the typing pool, secretaries, and so forth. Such "perks" were some of the few if any benefits persons had for staying with employment that didn't always pay very much.

As for nursing, senority as nearly always determined days off, pay scale, vacation time, promotions and so forth. Ever since the days of starched whites and caps, it just simply how things worked and seemed "fair" in terms that the "queen bees" got theirs before drone workers.

This hierarchy system traces it's roots straight back to the sources of modern nursing practice; Florence Nightingale, the military and religous orders. In the Victorian days of old Flo, there was an "UpStairs/DownStairs" with those in senior positions having certain perks. One rose up to those said positions by doing one's time and coming up through the ranks as it were.

As for scheduling, a good head nurse (back in the days when all units and floors where run by them), was usually a nurse whom herself came from the ranks on the same floor/unit, if not hospital. Therefore she knew the strengths and weaknesses of her nurses and made up schedules (hopefully) reflecting what she had got. Yes, married senior nurses with children probably were "off" on Christmas and probably could be counted on to be on vacation a good part of the school summer holiday when their children were home.

This senority system is a dual edged sword when it comes to nursing. While it does mean perks, it can also mean you are first in line when heads start to roll, as it did when managed care swept through hospitals during the 1980's. Senior nurses who by virtue of working in one place for a long time, also made much more than junior nurses, so many were got shot of in very short order. Replaced by new grads who were paid much less money.

Also this system explains why it can be so tramatic for a "senior' nurse to be terminated. Not only does she loose her employment, but now must start over at a new hospital being "junior" to nurses that may be nearly half her age. Use to getting those plumb days off and assignments by right of tenure, it can be quite a blow to be told "no", Miss. So and So put in for it first.

[DoGoodThenGo]

P.S. To the above:

If you want to see a near perfect blend of how nursing, seniority and religous life were, at least in film, watch the "Nun's Story".

There is a scene where "Sister Luke" who was the daughter of a physican and excellent in the study of microbiology is taking that course with a senior nun, who is failing badly. If the senior nun failed the course she would not be allowed to return to the order's mission in the Congo, but shamed because she "failed' to a junior sister/nun (Sister Luke) and likely to be replaced by her.

Sister Luke is asked to "throw" her board exam in order to allow the senior sister/nurse to save face. However in one of the most brilliant scenes in film, a struggling Sister Luke cannot over ride her own self will/pride, and gives correct answers. She comes in fourth out of a class of nearly 50 or so. For this she is not sent to the Congo, but packed off to nurse at an insane asylum. Which goes to show there is something to be said for humility:D

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

houtx nailed a big part of the issue.

i'm the parent of three 20-somethings and have known the majority of their social circles from kindergarten.

many of those 'kids' have never been taught that life isn't fair, that accidents and mistakes happen but they still have consequences and sometimes even though you 'tried your best' sometimes your best simply isn't good enough.

my observation is that it's this same group who expect to pass a college class because they paid the tuition and if they don't it's the instructors fault (because they tried real hard and that should count). they also have very little sense of obligation to their coworkers and any attempt at correcting a job performance issue is picking on them (because they tried real hard and everyone makes mistakes).

i've got an 18 year old (stepchild) with a truly ugly sense of entitlement. her mother is one of the "helicopter parents" that teachers abhor -- always hovering. if the child has a problem at school, it's always someone else's fault: other girls were picking on her, the teacher wasn't teaching well enough, cheerleading try-outs were just not fair and you ought to get a trophy just for showing up. mommy hastens right down to the school to "straighten it out." it taught the child that she's the golden child -- she's perfect in every way and deserving of getting everything she wants whenever she wants it without any effort on her part. if she drops my laptop (which she wasn't supposed to touch in the first place) "i didn't mean to" should be a sufficient response and if she wrecks a car, we should pay for it because she'd have to work if she were going to pay for it.

i've tried, but dh doesn't get much contact with the child unless, of course, she or her mother want money. i shudder to think what's going to happen when she's through college (totally on daddy's dime) and has to work for a living. bosses aren't going to think it's sufficient that she bless them with her presence, friends aren't going to put up with being stood up and disrespected and the bank won't take golden smiles and empty promises instead of cash.

i see this same sense of entitlement in many of the 21 to 25 year olds i work with. "i show up every day, so what if i'm a little late?" "i put my vitals in every hour. what more do they want?" every negative interaction is the other person's fault and if you attempt to correct their practice you're either picking on them or eating your young. most of them don't stay long in the icu, and of the ones who do, most of them grow up after a few years.

i suspect you and a few other posters are right -- it's not their fault, it's the way they were raised. their parents are trying really hard not to make the same mistakes their parents made. parents waited longer to have children, had more money to indulge them and viewed their progeny as precious miracles that other children couldn't possibly measure up to.

i'm just really curious to see what kind of kids this entitled generation is going to raise!

[chloecatrn]

i work to live; not live to work.

i'm in my early 30s, and i work to live too. when i still had a job, i worked overtime so that the bills got paid, so that there was food on the table, so that there was money in savings, so that my car was paid for, so that my life existed. i worked long, hard hours.

i had a hard time working with a lot of my co-workers who were just a few years younger than i am. they would call off hungover, call off to go to the bar, et cetera, et cetera. i've never understood exactly when responsibility begins to hit you over the head with a stick. these were the same people who would curl up in the lobby and fall asleep at night. and yet, now, i'm the one without the job. go figure.

[HappydayRn]

I work with about a good mix of twenty somethings (including myself) and the older experienced nurses. We work well together and I don't see any laziness from anyone on my shift. Everyone works together and busts their butts.

However I do agree that my focus is on my happiness and my family. Those are the things I value the most in life. I don't live to work and while I take pride in what I do while at work, you won't see me bending over backwards to do more for the "company".

I do think it is offensive to generalize one generation as the entitled generation. We all work together and are colleagues let's let mutual respect rule the day. Just my 2 cents.

[Mariposa2009, BSN, RN]

I'm a 24 year old nurse who works nights, works every other weekend and holidays, and has never once called out of work. Now, I am not complaining; I enjoy working and went into nursing knowing that I have to pay my dues before I reap the benefits. I believe and have been told that I have an excellent work ethic. I do not even use my PTO or vacation time, I rather work and buy back my time. I always go to work early and leave when my shift ends; I'm never late. And, there are many more like me out there.