Entitled Generation

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 21, 2008

There is a nursing shortage so new grads are asking for what they want. Nothing wrong with that, it doesn't mean they are feeling "entitled", it's just that they are not afraid to ask and find what they want. This is what the geneartion prior has taught them.

Our manager is pretty up front with the new grads when they are hired: you will work every other weekend, holidays, and I have no day shifts available, end of discussion. So she doesn't tend to attrack those who can't fulfill those requirements. Although sometimes with the right timing, and no one from nights waiting to come to days, I've seen a new grad walk into a day shift position. It was just the luck of the draw and if they hadn't asked for a day shift position thinking, "I have to do my duty on nights first" they wouldn't have gotten it.

Good luck in finding someone.

It's interesting to watch the generation dynamics in the workforce. The babyboom generation is so fond of saying "when I was young.........." and they forget that when they were young their parents generation thought we were the laziest generation, that didn't want to work and we were spoiled brats. :)

oramar · Jan 21, 2008

Going to offer a alternative explanation to this problem you are having. Even though it is many years since I went through this I can remember what happened. Yes, I was told during nursing school I would be working weekends, holidays and rotating shifts. However, I did not truely realize what doing that actually felt like in practice until I went through it. In my young life everyone I knew worked Monday thru Friday and worked dayshift. It wasn't till I actually experienced nursing and I felt the awful affects of working off shifts and weekends and holidays on my life that I really understood it's impact. More so when I was young than now I felt that everything worthwhile that happened was happening on weekends, holidays and in the evenings, working those felt like a little death. After several years I felt like a ghost watching life go by without actually experiencing it. I remember being only to glad to get pregnant and become a full time housewife. There were many reasons I was happy to get away from nursing and working odd hours and days had a lot to do with it.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jan 21, 2008

I think that this phenomenon almost reflects a failure of nursing education more than anything else. Students need to be socialized to the demands of the job. If your clinicals are always during the day or late afternooon it does not set the reality of working off shifts in their heads.

Woodenpug, BSN · Jan 21, 2008

Many years ago, in L.V.N. school, my classmates had a similar attitude, in first semester. At graduation, everyone expected to work odd shifts, weekends and holidays. I recently graduated from a BSN program and the same story repeated itself - first semester inflated expectations, graduates with more realistic expectations. The difficulties you are experiencing could be related to something other than the shift hours themselves. Is it possible that the off shift is staffed with an unpleasant co-worker?

RN1989 · Jan 21, 2008

I read an article a while ago (I'v been searching to find it to post a link, but of course I can't find it again) that talked about the younger generation that is entering the work world now and how there is a feeling of entitelement. The author went on to explain that this is how we have raised our children- to believe they are worth the best, they deserve the best, not to put up with things that are sub par. We have taught them to find better jobs then we had. They have been told that family and friends are the most important things in this world, secondary to work. As a result, they don't want work to take up too much of their lives. They have been taught to say no to 60 hour work weeks and mandatory overtime. On top of that, there is also a feeling that parents can act as a safety net by allowing them to move back in if things really got bad. As a result, as this generation has been taught, don't be afraid to say no at your work, because if you loose your job you can move back in with Mom and Dad for a little while.
The article ended reinforcing that this is how we raised our kids, now they are working with us and we have to learn how to deal with how we raised them.

I totally agree with that article. The problem is that children have been taught that they deserve the best, but they are not taught how to GET the best. They expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter without working for it. Thus, they come into the workplace and expect that by asking/demanding/insinutating that they should receive it. They have no clue that if things are not to their liking that that they should work to change it instead of taking an easy cop-out to get their way. They are so accustomed to getting a "participation" ribbon or trophy even when they came in dead last in a competition, that they have no reason to think that they should put forth effort to achieve a goal.

This is so evident in nursing. We have been bickering about the same issues for years. Now the older nurses are too tired to carry on and fight so aggressively for change. And the new generation decides to leave the profession instead of fighting for what is right. Or they stay in nursing for the money and offer nursing nothing more than a warm body on a shift.

I do blame nursing schools for the continued "shortage" of nurses. They are in such a hurry to pump out new grads that they do not give them adequate (and realistic) training. The newbies are overwhelmed when they have more than 4 pts on medsurg and more than 1 pt in ICU. They think that they can get a job that does not require touching blood, giving injections, talking/touching pts without first getting clinical experience. If nursing instructors were allowed to tell students what the real world is really like, I believe that we would not have waiting lists for training. The schools would weed out those that truly are looking for a quick, easy buck. After a few years we would have enough nurses in the workforce who would be willing to push for and achieve the changes needed in healthcare. Those changes would keep nurses in the workforce and we would no longer have the "shortage" of actively working nurses.

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Jan 21, 2008

when i was a new nurse (many years ago ) i thought the same way. it did not take long for me to figure out that if you could work weekend night's you had it made. because of my family situation i work double weekends. i will by no means work m-f anytime ,but if i would figure out some way to cram 16 hours in a night shift on a sat or sun that would be my perfect job.....

i am a don in along-term care facility, and i am having a difficult time finding both nurses and cna's who are willing to work the evening night shift/weekends/holidays etc. the new graduates who apply all want a day job with no weekends or holidays. they think that i am crazy to expect them to work these other shifts. i had one girl even ask the day nurse--(who had worked 10 years on nights, and 6 years on the evening shift before finally getting the day position) why she thought she should have the day job, and not her. she had just passed her boards. when i started in nursing 20+ years ago, it was known that we would be working the night shift, weekends, and holidays, etc. it seems that this is the general rule for the younger generation now entering the health care field, or am i the only one who is experiencing this?

lvmama · Jan 21, 2008

That blows me away... I can't imagine going through nursing school, passing your exams, and quitting because you didn't like the hours. Of course, this is coming from somebody who would KILL to go to nursing school right now. Just know that not ALL of my generation feel like we're entitled... :specs:

PurrRN · Jan 21, 2008

As an upcoming new grad (May '08), I don't feel a sense of entitlement to any shift. I figure if I apply to a position and am told what is available, then that's what I have to choose from.

However, do to my advanced age, family committments, etc., I know that I have to choose wisely and take into account that I'm not a 21 yo without young children to take care of. I'm not saying thats anyone else's problem but mine, but that is what I have to take into consideration.

Therefore, if I'm offered a job that has rotating shifts, I know I will not be taking that job. I can't do it. Period. But, it doesn't mean I think I'm too good or in anyway entitled. I just know what won't work for me right now and don't want to get into a situation where I know it won't work out on my end.

Of course, I'm not so sure that it's just a case of a younger generation sense of entitlement that's the root of the problem. I've noticed a decline in society in general in regards to work ethic, interpersonal interactions, customer service, etc.

It's frustrating and sad.

heathIam, RN · Jan 21, 2008

You are absolutely right, the new generation of nurses do think they are entitled. Granted there are a few who are aware of the rest of the world and who understanding what nursing is about, but the majority think they can step into an administrative day position. However, we can't all blame them or their parents (I know I didn't raise my children to think they could have whatever they wanted), but we CAN also take some of the blame for allowing it to happen. The move away from clinical based hospital programs that actually taught people what nursing was like, into university/college based programs that teach little to no clinical skills and an unrealistic ideology of nursing are our own enemies.

Why did we not stand up and loudly say NO!, we will need nurses who know how to nurse in 30 years! We are now reaping our rewards and churining out more university/college graduates who think they should have a day job because they have been taught 'critical thinking skills' is not the answer. We need nurses who know how to nurse. They have been taught the art and science of nursing rather than the research and management. We need nurses who have been encouraged to get down to the bedside instead of climbing the ivory tower.

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hope3456, ASN, RN · Jan 21, 2008

The PP who stated that nursing schools aren't giving students an accurate perception of the 'real world' of nursing makes a good point. I think they should better screen the applicants.....and maybe that would shorten the waiting lists as well.

I have an aquaintance who is a young SAHM, used her share of public assistance and was complaining about lack of finances, no health insurance ect. She did elude to getting a job. I recommended to her to be a CNA. I told her that, working weekend shifts, night shifts ect she could work around her husbands schedule so she wouldn't have to pay for daycare, she could work just part time if she wanted to, I told her that job pays more than other entry level positions around town, ect. There are even facilities that PAY you to take the cna class and there are ample jobs available.

she was interested for a split second but then in asking what they did, said she was like HE!! NO! She said she was more interested in getting some kind of office job.

lvlissl2ebecca · Jan 21, 2008

To the OP. I guess I would be part of the so called "entitled generation", however when I interviewed for my first job, I did expect to be hired for nights. However, I do prefer nights. On the other hand, you say that when you were out of school, new people expected to work nights/weekends/holidays etc. My view on nights and weekends.. IDC. I'd rather work nights because of the 1 dollar extra and weekends because thats an additional dollar extra an hour. No staff/management to get in your hair etc.. BUT holidays are a different story, I posted a rant about this not too long ago. Working holidays should be shared by all, regardless of a persons seniority. Sticking "the new kid on the block" with all of the holidays is just cruise control to a very quickly burned out employee.

Noryn · Jan 21, 2008

This is said every generation, I am not sure where I fit in, perhaps in between but when I am old I am sure I will say "in my time people respected their elders."

Just like the Vietnam area, the young generation was going to destroy the country or the evil that was Elvis Presley and rock and roll corrupting young people's minds before that.