hiring freeze

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

my friend applied for a RN position at my hospital , and my nurse manager just called and told me the hospital is having a hiring freeze for RN's and they are not hiring any more CNA's. it is due to the economy. i have been a nurse a long time and have never heard of this before. we still have sick people coming into our ER , but from what my nurse manager said the staff stays the same. our floor is very stable and turnover is slow.... does anyone see any effects of the slowing economy in their hospital? i find this disheartening for all the new grads looking for jobs. by the way i work in a big city and we have alot of tourists... so i am surprised....

[Quickbeam, BSN, RN]

1993....my hospital froze all new hires and forced most of us to take an LTE cut (say, full time to .8). At my other job, nurses were laid off that year and 3 hospitals in my area closed permanently.

It happens.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

1993....my hospital froze all new hires and forced most of us to take an LTE cut (say, full time to .8). At my other job, nurses were laid off that year and 3 hospitals in my area closed permanently.

It happens.

wow thank you for the input...

[OC_An Khe]

It happens but not that frequently. Yes the economy is a slow in some areas and that does have some effect on health care but not much. It could also be the hospital is anticipating declining revenues due to medicare/medicaid decreases in reimbursement that will be beginning next year.

[travel920]

And in other locations, hospitals are handing out bonuses to both the new hire and employees who refer.

Husband of the Nurse :-)

[Conrad283, BSN, RN]

My hospital downsized peds a little bit ...

I heard a rumor about a hiring freeze, but I was able to get a job :)

[Agnus]

This happens. I would not be surprised to see more of it in this economy. Count your blessing and don't take anything for granted.

[Dolce, RN]

A local hospital just laid off 40 employees recently. I understand the need to introduce cost cutting measures....how about cutting down on administration?

[wjf00]

A local hospital just laid off 40 employees recently. I understand the need to introduce cost cutting measures....how about cutting down on administration?

Can't cut back on administrators, after all they will be working overtime handing out all those pinkslips.

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

Not surprised in NJ, our governor has pledged to close 25 hospitals to save money. As they close, our patient population has risen. Our suburban hospital now has an urban population with increased wait times. Nursing and ancillary staff has not risen, and we are drowning in patients and have no beds available (supposedly due to staffing).

I too worry about new grads, why should hospitals spend money on training if there are a bunch of experienced unemployed nurses? What I find more disturbing is that nursing in NJ wasn't heading in the direction of being appreciated when our availabilty were minimal, I can guarentee with a glut of experienced nurses not working, we will be valued even less.

Maisy

[Dixielee, BSN, RN]

A local hospital just laid off 40 employees recently. I understand the need to introduce cost cutting measures....how about cutting down on administration?

I doubt that will ever happen! I worked at a hospital in the mid to late 70's (yes, I am old!), that laid off lots of people in a cost cutting move. They said it would not affect nursing, but guess who they laid off? Phlebotomists, transporters, housekeepers, clerks, dietary workers and CNA's. 3 guesses who got to do every one of those jobs! Yep, when no one else can or will do the job, it falls to the nurse, so hold on your hats, boys and girls, it is gonna get worse if the economy continues to tank. Yes, nurses will have jobs, but you will earn every penny of it....as if you don't now.

[Quickbeam, BSN, RN]

Yeah, not to keep dipping into the way-back machine, but during that 1990's recession, our unit lost all personnel at night except nursing. And we had hours cut. So no more pharmacy runners, unit clerks, RTs, housekeeping, transport or anything else. Back to disinfecting beds like in the 70's! Fun!

Night shift is often the canary in the coal mine....they will start stripping services there, then 3-11, then days. Check on your night shift people and see what they are losing.