Hospital Contracts

[LCCnurse123]

Please any nurse that has gone through this or has clear information that can help me please post! I have been a LPN 4 years but i worked for the same hospital for atleast 8 years total. While i was working as a LPN I went back to school to get my RN. I did sign a contract with the hospital to get money to go to school while promising 2 years of employment or to work as a RN. After I got my RN I was conflicted and left the job. I seen too many things that I did not agree with while working at the facility and how they treated the nurses. With a total of 8 years I just felt burned out. I was overworked and super conflicted.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do about the money they say I owe them from not upholding the contract.

Has anyone been through this?

What happens when you break a contract and cant pay back the hospital immediately?

Can is become a legal situation or does it have anything to do with the IRS ?

Honestly I'm so afraid of the come back from the hospital and these are uncomfortable questions to ask Human Resources. Can anyone give me advise? What would you do as a new RN? Is it worth risking to go back and work for a facility that you know isn't supportive of staff struggles such as complaints, high patient ratio's, low pay even with experience, corrupt staff, mean doctors, high staff turn over rates, and the hospital has more travelers than actual staff. Im so conflicted and need help with this. I worked hard for my LPN and my RN and I don't know what to do.

[MunoRN, RN]

It's possible they may just ignore your debt to them, if the amount they think it will cost them to recoup your debt from you would likely cost more than what you owe then there wouldn't be much benefit for them to pursue your debt.

They could also take legal action and require that you pay back the money with penalties through legal means.

In some states, these contracts are grouped in with student loans since that' essentially what it is, and it's possible that your nursing license could be revoked due to defaulted student loans.

I've known some new grads who have had the same complaints as you, and paid to get out of contracts because they thought the grass was greener somewhere else, only to discover that the conditions they were working were far more common than they thought and end up working in a similar work environment but now much poorer.

[LCCnurse123]

Thankyou MUNO RN I had no idea they revoke license for non payment on student loans! That's Crazy I've never heard that. I don't have student loans only the loan I got from the hospital contact. But thank you for the advise