How hard is it really, to hire new nurses?

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I work in a 20 room OR as a circulator. When I got hired, I had to wait almost a month for the position I would fill to be approved, etc, by management. Ok. I can live with that. NOW, though, we have had 2 nurses quit, one got let go, one transferred to another area, and one is moving into a supervisory position (open due to one of those that quit) and will not be circulating regularly, unless a need unable to be filled, arises. Soon, another nurse will be leaving for planned reasons. We went from 9-10 actively circulating nurses to 4 plus two new nurses (hired within the last couple months and not fully trained.) My question is, how hard is it for a department manager to justify filling and/or opening positions in such a situation? Call hours----are OVER the top right now, and burn-out is knocking on the door. Management seems to think we'll be ok since we have two new nurses (leaving us in a deficit of 3, then 4 once the last one leaves.) What does it take to open and advertise positions to get nurses to fill the vacancies that we have and really need to fill? Thanks!

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It may be that they're having a hard time getting approval from the people above them. I know that was the problem at my last job. We were short four nurses because people had quit, but there wasn't room in the budget for training of new hires until X date. :( It sucks.

Plus, with you still training 2 nurses, there's not really anyone to train anyone new, is there? That would mean all four staff nurses would be actively orienting brand new nurses, with no one to pay full attention to the case. What would that mean for the surgeon and the patient? I'm not an OR nurse, so I don't know, I'm honestly asking. It doesn't sound like a great situation for anyone involved to me, but I could be wrong.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
It may be that they're having a hard time getting approval from the people above them. I know that was the problem at my last job. We were short four nurses because people had quit, but there wasn't room in the budget for training of new hires until X date. :( It sucks.

The budget thing is getting old really fast. The stock market dropped precipitously starting in mid-2008. The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and NYSE charts--including the changes in my own personal investments--all look the same. Precipitous drops starting around August of 2008 through the early second quarter of 2009. They have increased and stabilized since then. To me, budget woes are beginning to sound like an excuse driven by greed of higher profits due to fewer workers to pay. If they can make do with less, why pay for more?

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I don't want to thread-jack, but the prevailing opinion in the economic community is that we could be headed for a double dip recession. Although things are starting to see a little bit of an uptick, it will likely be short lived before the second downturn starts. http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110344/what-the-double-dip-recession-will-look-like

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
I don't want to thread-jack, but the prevailing opinion in the economic community is that we could be headed for a double dip recession. Although things are starting to see a little bit of an uptick, it will likely be short lived before the second downturn starts. http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110344/what-the-double-dip-recession-will-look-like

The article starts out with "a growing and vocal minority of economists say..." which is not necessarily a "prevailing opinion."

In a serendipitous move, I googled the search term "self-fulfilling prophecy economists." Oh boy. Jackpot. ;)

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

God love our nursing HR dept. I know they work their behinds off. We have a new nurse orientation every two weeks!!!!! Isn't that disguisting? And we're still short but working on retention like wildfire. It's not too bad of a place with a new manager.

I'm finding that the HR people have quota's, the new nurses simply want in and they can transfer to another unit in 6 months. So we're not always getting the best fit in areas and the noobs are moving as quick as they can once they are internal and can now just switch. Maybe we need a years time for new hires? Don't know that answer. But they are way too quick to jump into "anything" and OR is a particular environment just as my ICU that fits fewer than the average bear.

Just food for thought.

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Specializes in ICU.
My question is, how hard is it for a department manager to justify filling and/or opening positions in such a situation?

That likely depends on both the dept mgr's ability to "spin" the need in a politically acceptable manner, along with the higher-up's level of intelligence. If the higher-up sees only the great improvement in dept payroll (due to the lack of personnel), you're not in a good place.

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where are you guys?? I will come work ANYWHERE!! I am in an area where there are NO jobs for new grads--I'd sign a contract and stay there....

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

The reason we are always given when a vacated position is not filled is "we have to improve productivity" (meaning, the current productivity numbers do not support hiring another staff member). However, we, the lowly staff nurses, have identified several (obvious) errors in how productivity is calculated....meaning, we CANNOT improve it, no matter how close to the "grid" we staff (and we are meticulous about following it). We have let admin know our concerns, and nothing has changed.

It's a no-win.

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I don't know. The unit I just left is bleeding out nurses, yet they will not hire to replace a SINGLE one of them. I guess they don't give a crap about the current nurses or the current patients ....yet they still want all the standards met, all the high satisfaction ratings .....it's really hard to comprehend.

I wonder who "they' are . . . ..I never seem to see "them" on the floor working in such chaos ... :confused:

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If they can get the same amount of work done with less people (on any floor or unit) why hire anyone else. Look at all the money they are saving.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Another take on things- my hospital had been holding back on hiring because they were planning to close several units due to low census. Rather than laying anyone off, once it was decided which units were closing, those folks were shifted into the unfilled positions that had been held open for them. Not saying that's the case with you, but there may be other reasons out there.

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