You can always tell when I've been hanging out on the Allnurses.com forums too much -- I get up on a soap box. I'm amazed, though, at how many new nurses are grasping at straws to find "reasons" to quit their first jobs because they're unhappy and they're just positive that things are going to be better elsewhere. Even if there is no elsewhere in the immediate future. It's not THEIR fault that they're miserable -- it's the job. Or their co-workers are all mean and out to get them. (Probably because of their incredible beauty.) Staffing is a nightmare, the CNAs are all hiding and they're afraid they're going to "loose" their license. They'd better quit RIGHT NOW, so they don't "loose" that license. (I wonder if that one is as transparent to spouses who are looking for a little help with the rent -- not to mention those school loans you've racked up -- as it is to some of the rest of us.) The job is ruining their lives and their mental health -- they're seriously worried for their mental health if they don't quit right now. Where did all of these fragile people come from?
Seriously, folks. The first year of nursing sucks. You have the internet and all of that -- how could you not know that the first year of nursing sucks? It does. We've all been through it. The only way to GET through it is to GO through it, but there's a big group of newbies every year who are SURE that doesn't apply to them. No one as ever been as miserable as they are. No one understands. They HATE going to work every day. Management is targeting them and they're sure they're going to be fired. They're concerned that their mental health might be permanently damaged by the trauma of staying in that job ONE MORE DAY. Given the inevitability of "loosing" that license and permanent damage to their mental health, it's all right to quit that job tomorrow, isn't it? Or maybe it's that their DREAAAAAAAAM job is opening up, and they've been offered the job. It's OK to quit this job to take their DREAAAAAAAAM job, isn't it?
How do they even know their dream job is hiring if they have every intention of making their first job work out? What are all those job applications doing out there, floating around if they're serious about this job? You DID intend to keep this job for one to two years when you took it, didn't you? If not, shame on you!
The first year of nursing sucks. You're going to hate going to work every day, and some of you are going to cry all the way to work and all the way home. You'll be exhausted, both mentally and physically and your normal hobbies and activities may take second seat to the job. You'll be constantly afraid of making a mistake, and you will MAKE mistakes. You'll feel incompetent. You may lose sleep because you're worrying about your job. Switching jobs isn't going to miraculously make you confident and competent. It's just going to delay you on your path through that first miserable year. It may even look bad on your resume, paint you as a job hopper. (I'm always shocked by how many new nurses are on their third or fourth job in less than two years who will assure me that they're not job hoppers. Honey, if you're on your third job in less than two years, you're a job hopper. Really.)
Don't people have bills to pay? Or is it that no one feels responsible for paying their own bills anymore? How is it that so many people feel free to just up and quit a paying job without another one in sight? I guess I'm getting old, because I really don't get it.
I am stuck at a job I don't like right now. The grass IS greener on the other side - it's not my imagination. I did my preceptorship in an ICU that had adequate techs for turning and bathing. It was nice when the nurses helped but those were tech responsibilities. The ICU I did my preceptorship in had an intensivist that was in the unit all the time and could help out at a moment's notice. The base pay rate for new grads was higher and the differentials were better.
I work in an ICU with crappy differentials - they are literally half of what the differentials are at the ICU I precepted in. Some shifts, the differential doesn't even break $2.00. The only tech on the floor is the monitor tech - the nurses pretty much do total care. Even if there is a second tech, there's only one for more than 20 beds and it's impossible for that person to turn, bathe, etc. and still get all of the stocking, chart checks, etc. to get done. There is no intensivist. No one comes by at night ever. If something goes wrong I am calling doctors on the phone at home and making them mad that they're getting woken up in the middle of the night. It's not necessarily new grads' imagination that their job sucks - there ARE good new grad jobs out there, but the competition is so fierce for those jobs that most new grads don't get them. Oh, and even at my current job - the first year of nursing is not awful. I like my job and I look forward to going to work, even though I know my circumstances suck and one day I will have the experience to get into a decent hospital with decent help. Even though I like it, I would still leave tomorrow if I could, but I have signed a two year contract and I don't even have a full year of experience yet.
Why are we expected to stay again? The hospital I work at now barely gives raises out at all and the benefits are terrible. I can get more money by being hired on somewhere else at a higher rate than I will ever get from raises. I expect to be compensated for the changes I will have in my work experience over the years. I don't expect to be taken advantage of by being given tiny, inconsequential raises. A lot of the experienced nurses here don't make much over what I do, and in fact they tell me it took them many years to get up to my rate of pay. Why should I stay when in the future, new grads will be hired on for more than I'm making?
I really don't get the concept of being loyal to an organization that won't compensate you and will throw you under the bus in a moment's notice. To me, being loyal to most workplaces is a lot like being loyal to an abusive spouse. It doesn't make a ton of sense.
Personally, I don't think people should HAVE to suffer their first year as a nurse. It's unfair and speaks negatively to the nature of this profession that it's accepted that after all the hard work to become a nurse, you're going to absolutely dread going to work everyday. How about people start demanding better work environments rather than just quitting?
Because, in that first year, it's not the work environment that's the main problem. It's the fact that we had to learn to be a nurse and become competent at our jobs. Not knowing much but being as responsible for patients as someone with 30 years experience is stressful!
I read an article on medscape that discusses some of our real generational differences. I think it would fit in well with this discussion. We are all different. Our age, experience, and upbringing do impact our professional practice.The article is well worth the read.
A nurse manager, desperate for more staff, telephones 4 of her nurses to ask whether they will pull an extra shift.
* The first nurse says, "What time do you need me?"
* The second nurse says, "Call me back if you can't find anyone else."
* The third nurse says, "How much will you pay me?"
* The fourth nurse says, "Sorry, I have plans. Maybe next time."
According to Bonnie Clipper, author of The Nurse Manager's Guide to an Intergenerational Workforce,[1] these different responses are typical of the 4 different generations of nurses currently working side by side in nursing.
In the same order as the responses above, these generations are:
* The "traditionalists" (also called the "veterans");
* The "baby boomers" ("boomers");
* The "X generation" ("Xers"); and
* The "Millennials" (also known as the "Y-generation" or "nexters").
Social scientists maintain that this is the first time in history that 4 generations of nurses have worked together. In previous years, earlier retirement from nursing and shorter lifespans kept the workforce to 3 generations. Recently, however, many nurses have continued to work long past the conventional retirement age of mid-60s, some well into their eighth decade of life.
However, because the youngest nurses of the traditionalist generation are now 71 years old, this generation is shrinking rapidly and will soon be replaced by a new, as-yet-unnamed generation of nurses born in this century. Generational differences have become another type of diversity adding complexity to the nursing workforce.....
Very interesting, but the anecdotal "evidence" is stereotypical at best. I've said all these things to a request to pick up shifts. Maybe it's because I was raised by veterans, my siblings and husband are boomers, I'm an Xer, and I'm raising millennials. (I also know for a fact that my boomer husband would respond with #4 because he's simply had enough of the working world and can't wait to get out!)
Take heart, some of us do have bills to pay! I'm just a breath away from my one-year mark, and it's been tough. I've not cried, but I'm pretty sure my tear ducts are non-functional. I work nights on a very cliquish, sink or swim, high-acuity med/surg floor, and I'm the ONLY noob on nights by far. Without getting all NETY on y'all, let's just say it hasn't been super welcoming, even from my preceptor.
What has gotten me through is the thought of my excellent health insurance (which everyone complains about, but I worked almost exclusively for small businesses in my previous career, so our tiny deductible seems GREAT to me!) and being able to keep the lights on and occasionally spring for Thai takeout. It helps being a second-career nurse, too, IMO. And I definitely agree with the poster who commented pages back that AN took the blinders off as far as what to expect in your first floor nursing gig.
Very interesting but the anecdotal "evidence" is stereotypical at best. I've said all these things to a request to pick up shifts. Maybe it's because I was raised by veterans, my siblings and husband are boomers, I'm an Xer, and I'm raising millennials. (I also know for a fact that my boomer husband would respond with #4 because he's simply had enough of the working world and can't wait to get out!)[/quote']
And to add; MOST of this information has been out for the past 10 years; I am sure we are aware of some differences, yet depending on other internal external factors, the effect of something being "generational" is very small to to fact of life experiences and habits learned...when general concerns and abilities are similar, the pint is pretty moot.
There are lazy people in every generation, just like there are hard workers in every generation. I just don't like it when folks generalize people by their age.
It'd be great if the lazy people would realize that nursing isn't an easy way to make $$$ BEFORE they get done with nursing school, and stop annoying the people who have to train them before they leave in six months for the next job they think will be easier. Or before they go into nursing school. But I guess they'd rather believe the ads they see on tv for the for-profit schools. I guess they're too lazy to do research. Cuz they're lazy. LOL
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
For those of you who have no issue with changing jobs in very short spans, how on earth do you become proficient as a nurse? Each time you change jobs, you have to start over- learning new policies and procedures, learning new skills especially if a change in nursing specialty occurs, etc. With having to learn all of that, how much time is left to polish nursing proficiency? And have you considered how that looks on a resume? If I were in charge of hiring, and saw a resume from one person who changed jobs every 6-12 months and a resume from someone who had worked a minimum of 3-5 years in each position, which one do you think is going to get the call for an interview? Hospitals have to put a lot of money into the orientation and training of new nurses; what is the incentive to hire someone with a history of not working in a position long enough for the facility to at least break even on that investment?
When someone leaves a job after just a few months, it means that their preceptor just spent a few months training a new nurse they expected to have around for a couple of years, and now has to start training ANOTHER new nurse. Who may also leave in a few months. Continuously training new nurses is exhausting. And sometimes, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. We train seven new nurses for six months and three of them leave, plus half of the cohort ahead of them . . . we never STOP training.
If your floor can't keep new nurses for more than a few months, maybe they should look at why those nurses are leaving.
For those of you who have no issue with changing jobs in very short spans, how on earth do you become proficient as a nurse? Each time you change jobs, you have to start over- learning new policies and procedures, learning new skills especially if a change in nursing specialty occurs, etc. With having to learn all of that, how much time is left to polish nursing proficiency? And have you considered how that looks on a resume? If I were in charge of hiring, and saw a resume from one person who changed jobs every 6-12 months and a resume from someone who had worked a minimum of 3-5 years in each position, which one do you think is going to get the call for an interview? Hospitals have to put a lot of money into the orientation and training of new nurses; what is the incentive to hire someone with a history of not working in a position long enough for the facility to at least break even on that investment?
I don't buy this starting over from scratch bit, unless its a switch between two disparate specialties, like med-surg to L&D. If its that type of switch, you could have 10 years under your belt, and you'd be a newbie.
Policies and procedures, if evidenced based, aren't that much different from one place to another. That's why nurses from everywhere can come on AN to ask a question about P&P and skills and get generally the same answers. As long as the concept isn't foreign, differences can easily be learned. I do think that someone needs to stay in their first job for a year before jumping ship to get the basics down, but after that, switching frequency would have little bearing on their proficiency.
After all, we're NURSES! Adaptability and continuous learning are the basic requirements of our profession.
Specializes in Management, Med/Surg, Clinical Trainer.
If your floor can't keep new nurses for more than a few months, maybe they should look at why those nurses are leaving.
My first job out of nursing school was on a 20 bed Med\Surg unit.
Week 1: First week of orientation, included 1 day with HR, 1 day of CEUs and an introduction to their EMR, then 3 days shadowing a day nurse.
Week 2: My second week of training I was put on my shift, nights. I had a preceptor for three days, we shared her load. On the third night I had my own load of 10 and she had her 10 patients.
Week 3: Trying to learn as much as I can from my fellow night nurse. At the end of the week she informs that she had put her notice in the month before, but made an agreement with the NM to wait until a new nurse was trained.
Week 4: She leaves. A new grad starts on the night shift. The day shift floated one of their nurses to nights to help the new grad for two days. [it was supposed to be a week, but she complained to the NM that it was to hard for her.]
Week 4 continued: By the end of the week, I was supposed to be in charge of the floor and continue the training of another new grad.
Week 5 and 6: We managed the best we could. Each morning both of us went to the NM and asked for support.
First, we asked for a Day RN to work a whole shift with us. The query was posted in the break room. No takers. [Frankly, if the NM was strong she would have told them that someone had to float in...but alas.]
Second, we asked for a day nurse to stay over even for a few hours to help us, or come in early. Again no takers.
Week 6 continued: At the end of week 6, we still had no support from days.
She and I again had our normal 20 patient load. However, there was a little wrinkle. We had two on vents and one who was a CHF who needed blood. One of the vents was long term, we had been caring for this person for a little over a week.
The second vent and the CHF patient were fresh from the unit.
Per protocol a nurse must be present at all times to administer blood to a CHF patient. We called the night supervisor to ask for a transfer of the patient or for a nurse to give the blood. You know the answer.
So she needed to stay in the room. To make a long story short, it did not happen that way, things went bad. And fast.
The next morning after giving report I handed in my notice effective immediately.
So did the other new grad. I am not sure whatever happen to her....
So yes there are times when all else fails you must get out. But do try to work within the system first.
I left a job after eight weeks of orientation (though I had a new job lined up). I know the first year sucks, as I have spent far too much time lurking in this forum. My old job was hard and very stressful. I lost more than ten pounds. It wasn't because of the job itself - it was challenging and I liked it. It was because I know that as a new grad I have a lot to learn and I wasn't learning. I was scrambling every day to get stuff done while one of my preceptors shopped online. I would have loved some criticism or any sort of feedback at all. My other preceptor was better, but she was off all the time for her own medical issues. The full time unit educator seemed to have no interest in checking up on my progress, even though I was the only nurse in orientation and I asked for meetings.
I want to be a great nurse and for me, that included "job-hopping" to a place that supports new grads and where I can actually learn how to take excellent care of my patients.
calivianya, BSN, RN
2,418 Posts
I am stuck at a job I don't like right now. The grass IS greener on the other side - it's not my imagination. I did my preceptorship in an ICU that had adequate techs for turning and bathing. It was nice when the nurses helped but those were tech responsibilities. The ICU I did my preceptorship in had an intensivist that was in the unit all the time and could help out at a moment's notice. The base pay rate for new grads was higher and the differentials were better.
I work in an ICU with crappy differentials - they are literally half of what the differentials are at the ICU I precepted in. Some shifts, the differential doesn't even break $2.00. The only tech on the floor is the monitor tech - the nurses pretty much do total care. Even if there is a second tech, there's only one for more than 20 beds and it's impossible for that person to turn, bathe, etc. and still get all of the stocking, chart checks, etc. to get done. There is no intensivist. No one comes by at night ever. If something goes wrong I am calling doctors on the phone at home and making them mad that they're getting woken up in the middle of the night. It's not necessarily new grads' imagination that their job sucks - there ARE good new grad jobs out there, but the competition is so fierce for those jobs that most new grads don't get them. Oh, and even at my current job - the first year of nursing is not awful. I like my job and I look forward to going to work, even though I know my circumstances suck and one day I will have the experience to get into a decent hospital with decent help. Even though I like it, I would still leave tomorrow if I could, but I have signed a two year contract and I don't even have a full year of experience yet.
Why are we expected to stay again? The hospital I work at now barely gives raises out at all and the benefits are terrible. I can get more money by being hired on somewhere else at a higher rate than I will ever get from raises. I expect to be compensated for the changes I will have in my work experience over the years. I don't expect to be taken advantage of by being given tiny, inconsequential raises. A lot of the experienced nurses here don't make much over what I do, and in fact they tell me it took them many years to get up to my rate of pay. Why should I stay when in the future, new grads will be hired on for more than I'm making?
I really don't get the concept of being loyal to an organization that won't compensate you and will throw you under the bus in a moment's notice. To me, being loyal to most workplaces is a lot like being loyal to an abusive spouse. It doesn't make a ton of sense.