Sutter Health New Grad program unpaid.

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rnwendy1967

9 Posts

I am a new graduate who was offered a position in this non-paid internship. A little background...I have applied to over 1300 jobs since graduating last December. I have worked in several flu/immunization clinics, but have not had any luck with a hospital job. Many of my classmates have experienced the same situation minus the amount of applications. Several of my friends and myself even tried to volunteer in the hospitals just to be in the enivorment only to be turned away. I have met the people at Sutter and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to get back into the hospital which is my area of interest. Experience is experience. It should not matter whether you are paid for it or not. It is a personal choice given my situation and I think it is easier to put down the program if you are already a "working nurse" and not a new grad who has struggled to find employment. Also, I would love to hear the opinion of someone who has completed the internship.

I am a new graduate who was offered a position in this non-paid internship. A little background...I have applied to over 1300 jobs since graduating last December. I have worked in several flu/immunization clinics, but have not had any luck with a hospital job. Many of my classmates have experienced the same situation minus the amount of applications. Several of my friends and myself even tried to volunteer in the hospitals just to be in the enivorment only to be turned away. I have met the people at Sutter and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to get back into the hospital which is my area of interest. Experience is experience. It should not matter whether you are paid for it or not. It is a personal choice given my situation and I think it is easier to put down the program if you are already a "working nurse" and not a new grad who has struggled to find employment. Also, I would love to hear the opinion of someone who has completed the internship.

Be careful, according to Sutter's webpage

"This program is designed to facilitate entry into practice of a newly licensed registered nurse from an academic to a clinical setting. This program will allow the neophyte nurse to utilize learned skills through a non paid internship. The intern will be paired with a seasoned, trained registered nurse that will provide a strong foundation and mentor successful nursing skills.

During the designated training the nurse intern will not be allowed to carry a client assignment without direct over-view and does not have the opportunity to take on additional hours that may displace an employee.

The nurse intern assigned to the designated department will not be included in the daily assignments or affect the nursing staff count.

It is the mutual understanding between the nurse intern and Sutter Delta Medical Center that as this is a non paid internship there is no compensation or entitlement for wages during the specified weeks and/or length of the program.

While the intent of the program is to assist the registered nurse there is not a guarantee of employment at completion."

So this will not be counted as "experience" since you will not being counted as staff. What happens if you injure yourself or this hospital doesn't have adequate protections, you could loose your ability to work without any recourse.

As long as you go into this program knowing

A. You will not get experience that will be counted at any other hospital.

B. If you injure yourself you are on your own.

You should be fine.

HeartsOpenWide, RN

1 Article; 2,889 Posts

Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

I am not at all concerned by the lack of pay. This sounds like a training program, not really a "position" since you will not be allowed to take assignments on your own.

It sounds like to me to be free training for you. I did two preceptorship while in nursing school through Chico State while attending a different nursing program, and I PAID for it. The program is also available, at cost, to RNs that want training in another area. When I was not getting job offers as graduation was getting closer I got worried about how I would keep my skills up. I made an arrangement with them to do a third preceptorship, as an RN this time, to keep my skills up and to remain marketable when the economy came back. Fortunately I got a job and did not have to worry about it.

My biggest concern could be about malpractice and if you got injured on the job. Because I was doing this through a school program I was covered. If you are going to do this I would highly recommend you carry your own . Find out if the hospital covers you if you get hurt while training by them.

rnwendy1967

9 Posts

I'm finding that the nurse managers I have spoken to are split equally on whether they would consider the internship as experience. Some say they wouldn't but just as many have said they would. So I guess it depends on who you submit your resume to. I have a 50/50 chance that it will count and I can improve my resume with it, which is better than zero chance.

Annaiya, NP

555 Posts

Specializes in PICU.

I'm with the group that finds this appalling. The issues of a lack of malpractice and worker's comp is really scary to me. Also, I would never want to work for an organization that does something like this. If they don't want to pay to train people because they leave right away, then they need to reevaluate their training and hospital policies/pay. There is tons of research on how nurse residency programs increase new grad satisfaction and attrition rates. Why are all of their new grads leaving after they get their 1 year experience? They obviously don't support or care about their employees, or they wouldn't need to offer something like this. Trying to say this is helping new grads get experience so they can get jobs is ridiculous. After completing it, you will still need a full new grad orientation program. You cannot learn enough to be self-suffient in 3 months.

Specializes in ER; CCT.

Hey, if its this type of relationship you are looking for, I have a new grad program for cooking, cleaning and washing my car. Don't sell yourself short--you are not a telemarketer, counter helper, girl Friday or anything of the like. I do have to commend Sutter for trying to get free labor. Who knows, with that type of out of the box thinking, they may venture out into the used car industry.

caliotter3

38,333 Posts

Hey, if its this type of relationship you are looking for, I have a new grad program for cooking, cleaning and washing my car. Don't sell yourself short--you are not a telemarketer, counter helper, girl Friday or anything of the like. I do have to commend Sutter for trying to get free labor. Who knows, with that type of out of the box thinking, they may venture out into the used car industry.

Based upon the information in this thread I have put Sutter Health down at the bottom of my list of potential employers, along with the other employers I would only seek work with if they were the last employer available.

Specializes in ER; CCT.
[color=#003572]breezy,

[color=#003572]thank you for bringing this question up. it's a good one. and i am sorry that it wasn't answered better when you were offered the internship.

[color=#003572]the program at sutter delta medical center is a trial of an internship program and is not an employment opportunity. we are not hiring you (or anyone else) as part of this program. we are simply helping new grads gain the experience they need to find a job by offering them an unpaid internship. it's designed to help people like [color=#1f86ff]floridanursemom239, who said this on july 10:[color=#003572]

[color=#00b050]"so now that i am officially licensed, i am [color=#00b050]looking for a job and everyone wants people with experience. why??? how do experienced nurses get experience?? can someone tell me this?? especially if no one will give them a chance. i am so frustrated...."[color=#00b050] (https://allnurses.com/graduate-nurse-forum/so-stinkin-frustrated-406798.html#post3739459)

[color=#003572]the current economy is hard on everyone, but as a nurse who was once in your shoes, i am happy that sutter delta is offering this internship in an effort to help get you and other potential nurses started in this wonderful and rewarding career.

[color=#003572]is it slave labor? no! we are not forcing you into this position. we are not even asking you to commit to finishing it. we're simply offering you a chance to get the experience that hospitals are demanding so you can find a paid position. we know many acute facilities will only hire nurses with acute care experience. with more and more hospitals being forced to slash their new grad programs due to the economy, the [color=#003572]staff here at sutter delta is trying to explore another alternatives[color=#003572] in order to help new [color=#003572]nurses get the hands on experience they need to succeed in their career. many other industries also offer unpaid internships to gain the invaluable knowledge and hands on experience needed to succeed, so the concept is not really a new one we are using. unlike other industries, such as a pr intern who gets all of the grunt work, this program is designed to give you specialized training to ensure you gain the breadth of experience needed to succeed in this market. [color=#003572]personally, i think it is great that they are willing to allow us to do this trial program.

breezy, [color=#003572]i'm sorry if this was confusing to you and those who weighed in on this forum[color=#003572]. m[color=#003572]ore about the program is listed [color=#003572]on sdmc's website [color=#1f86ff]http://www.sutterdelta.org/newgrad/nurseinternship.html or contact me directly with any additional questions or concerns you may have.

[color=#003572]pat johnson - sdmc clinical educator

so, essentially, sutter is taking advantage of the fact that new grads are having a hard time getting hired and they instituted a new internship training program allowing them the opportunity to work for free whilst sutter gets full reimbursement for those nursing services performed. yeah, i remember this story line--straight out of a dicken's novel. except in that deal, fagin provided room and board.

i'm curious, is this program accredited as a postsecondary training program with any usde recognized provider where as the program was actually reviewed by an independent usde recognized agency as to its quality and integrity? do the participants get any college credit for their efforts? is the program even recognized by the brn for ce? are the participants considered employees in the context of workers compensation should they obtain a life-time injury or malpractice should they get sued during their free labor?

to the future artful dodger's of this program: let this be a lesson that nursing management will take advantage of you in any way, shape or form--but only if you let them.

Specializes in ER; CCT.
Based upon the information in this thread I have put Sutter Health down at the bottom of my list of potential employers, along with the other employers I would only seek work with if they were the last employer available.

No doubt. Kind of hard to believe this passed the Sutter PR people. I wonder what will happen once the media finds out how a greedy health care corporation is taking advantage of those new nurses struggling to get their first job to the end of beefing up the bottom line.

caliotter3

38,333 Posts

I would see the media buying the Sutter line of BS hook, line, and sinker. A wonderful piece on the evening news about this wonderful new program to help out future nurses, with all the face time that can be squeezed in. Haven't watched Bay area TV for a long time. Such a news item has probably already been done by more than one of the local TV channels along with nice lengthy articles with pictures, in the local papers. Huh.

kkia123

16 Posts

Thia is a bad move...you need at least a year and this little three months will be laughed at especially since you are not staff! Be very careful and be safe on the job!!!

HopefullyOR

7 Posts

I have heard by the wayside that only PAID experience where you are considered staff is accepted as experience by most recruiters- and nursing clinicals and mentorships are not included in this. They would however include PAID internships- which this is not.

I agree with others... what happens when you get hurt or a patient sues? Are you covered?

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