HELP...... Need Your Advice!

ERNurse752, RN · Sep 16, 2004

Ask them what % of nurses get a job with them after completing the internship. Then you can decide whether it's worth the risk. Good luck! :)

NeuroICURN · Sep 16, 2004

They're essentially asking you to pay for a job...I have a problem with that! Yeah, you say that you'll be reimbursed after a year...but guess who's making interest on YOUR money during that time!!!! :angryfire

There are plenty of OR jobs out there that don't make you pay to work there...and then not even guarantee that you're gonna get the job!!! :eek: :uhoh3: What are they thinking?????

My opinion....you'd be crazy to do it. My advice....keep walking.

babynursewannab · Sep 16, 2004

:eek: Move on, Man!!!! Too many other opportunities (you don't have to pay for) out there. I've never heard of up-front expense for orientation and then no job guarantee. Where the heck is this? It sounds more like a school than a hospital. IMHO.

Good luck on your search...please keep searching.

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 16, 2004

It is not uncommon for hospitals offering the AAORN training program to charge people who want to take it ... or to have some other sort of special financial arrangement. This program requires much more investment on the part of the hospital to provide than even the big new grad internships that some hospitals provide cost. Hospitals willing to make that investment need some sort of investment from the student in order to minimize the chances that they are just being taken advantage of by someone who will take the course and then immediately leave for a job somewhere else.

If you really want to be an OR nurse, you may have to make such an investment in additional training. If the hospital is a good employer and you really want to work there, I certainly wouldn't let $1000 stand in the way. In the long run, it's a small price to pay for a career you really want. Make the investment in yourself, your specialty education, your career. Then impress them with your ability to learn the job and be a good employee -- and then enjoy the career you chose.

Now ... if you don't really want it ... or that hospital does not have a good reputation as an employer, etc. ... then that's a whole other story.

llg

NeuroICURN · Sep 16, 2004

I have to disagree with you llg.....

there are PLENTY of hospitals that will hire you and DO NOT require you to pay this "tuition".

Unbelievable!!

andre · Sep 16, 2004

If they were guaranteeing a job, I'd possibly be tempted--but what happens if you sign on and then they don't offer a position? Are you obligated to pay them the $1000????

RuthieRN · Sep 17, 2004

I would be leery of any job that made you pay for them to train you. A few years back I was hired into a level 1 trauma training program that paid you for your classroom and clinical time, (which meant you had the job, who's gonna train someone and then not hire them????) and the hospital had a hiring bonus. I would find a place that wants you to work for them, not have you pay for the privilage to work there.....:stone

happystudent, RN · Sep 17, 2004

Hey Ari!

Will you be the only one training or is there others with you? The reason I ask is because they probably will pick the "best" (which is you of course) out of the group and hire respectively...I dont now, take some time to think about it...Check out other options in the mean time.......

Happy....p.s. good luck! :)

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Sep 17, 2004

Ari, the facility that trained me for OR had a similar stipulation. They did not require us to pay tuition upfront, but we would have to pay it back if we left before having worked there for a year. The OR director said this was because they had been burned in the past by nurses getting through the training program and then leaving for higher pay shortly thereafter. Periop programs are a large investment for the hospital - for every nurse in the program, they have to pay for 2 nurses per OR: the "orientee" and the preceptor. So after 4 months of paying for 2 RNs (we got our regular RN rate of pay during the program), losing the orientee was a big loss, because they are out the new staff member.

They hold interviews for these programs (at least this is how it was when I did it) because they only plan to accept as many nurses as they plan to hire, not everyone who applies. We were not guaranteed jobs after the program either, but every single one of us had jobs there at the end of the program. The hospital has to give that stipulation because they do not want to be "stuck" with an RN that isn't suited for the position, just because they were accepted to the program and hired on, and they don't want to be out the tuition money if the nurse does not work out (esp. if it is due to the nurse not being able to handle the job or suddenly deciding that OR wasn't what s/he wanted after all).

I hope that made sense. :)

Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

zacarias, ASN, RN · Sep 18, 2004

Ari,

What a tough decision!! I know you really want to work OR (I would too) and while I'm sure the OR program is good, giving them $1000 is a big deal. Is it at a hospital in NYC that has a good reputation? And they said they don't necessarily offer a job after the program? That sounds strange to me. Usually when you're in a program, you already HAVE the job.

Anyway, stuff to think about I'm sure...let us know what happens.

weetziebat · Sep 18, 2004

I can see the hospital not guaranteeing you a job - after all, imagine it is just to protect themselves from having to hire a dud. (which, of course, you wouldn't be.)

And I can see if they said you'd have to sign a contract agreeing to work there for, say, two years if you were hired. But it does seem a bit tacky to me to make you pay for your training.

How is the reputation of the hospital? And someone made a good point about asking what percent of students wind up with job offers. I'd just suggest thinking about it and not jumping cause you are anxious to find a job.

Good luck, Ari :)