In Depth Medscape article about the current (2012) state of New-Grad Employment.

khrissi17 · Jan 14, 2012

Thank you so much for that..after working as a LPN for 4 years, graduating from RN school in Nov 2009, passing my boards in Jan 2010, getting hired in LTC in June 2010, I finally got offered a part-time position in a hospital Jan 2012 (2 years of applying to hospitals!)..unfortunately its 8 hr shifts and I have to pay toll $13/day BUT to God be the glory!!

I'm soo grateful!

Nice article on medscape that some here will find interesting..i am sure.
You have to register if you have not already done so..its Free..nice access to EB literature too :)
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/755051?src=top10

Sehille4774 · Jan 14, 2012

Funny LOL..I was told as a new Grad RN-BSN with an externship, and 6 years of CNA that if I had only been an LPN or EMT that I would have had a possible shot at getting hired in the hosp.

I got hired 2 months after graduating as a pedi home care nurse...still doing it and I like it now. I have worked on alll kinds of high acuity cases and I have worked to keep doing things keep my resume sharp so I can get into the hosp at some point.

I am SO grateful too...When I think about all the little things over time that could have easily derailed my dream of being a nurse..I don't think I will ever forget I lucky I am. (I hope not)

Congrats on your new job!!

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2012

I am soooo glad someone is finally writing the truth about this issue!!!!!

netglow, ASN, RN · Jan 14, 2012

That article is right on the money. I wish it was available to the public -- not having to sign up to read it. I am a member, but I'd like it to be reposted and linked to by all.

RainMom · Jan 14, 2012

Good article!! I feel so lucky to have my job, even if not my "dream" job (not sure what exactly that would be anyway, lol). I have a fellow classmate who was the first of us to be hired, even before we graduated this past spring. She moved & even bought a house, but then quit a few months ago! Not sure of all the circumstances there, but seemed like she just didn't like where she was at. Now she can't find a nursing job & just took a factory job to make ends meet....

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2012

Some highlights from the article that stood out to me:

"I'm surprised at the disparaging comments about practice in long-term care and other community-based care settings, where clinical judgment, multidisciplinary collaboration, autonomy, creativity, and excellent organizational and management skills are needed. With an aging population and declines in hospital beds/stays, these areas need our brightest, most energetic nurses. While new grads perceive hospital nursing as the ultimate in practice, this simply isn't true. What are we as a profession doing to bury this simplistic and stereotypical thinking -- that practice in settings outside the hospital doesn't really count or may be OK as a temporary job solution at best?"

Well said. In a similar vein, another nurse suggests that new nurses' perceptions about nonhospital jobs are mistaken:
"Nurses need to wake up and see the changing world of healthcare. All the stereotypes I believed while in nursing school are not true. Long-term care and community health positions have traditionally been staffed primarily with LPNs, and we RNs have decided that these jobs are 'not challenging' or require a lower skill level. You practice the same skills in community settings as you do in the hospital, but you have more time to really interact with your patient and their families. Another difference? Instead of spending most of your time in the hospital documenting that you have done 'education' (which primarily consists of handing out brochures at discharge), in the community you actually do real education. Outpatient care is the future and we need to get away from this idea that 'real' nurses work in hospitals, or that outpatient nurses won't develop skills."
Medscape: Medscape Access

The article talks about the lack of jobs for new grads, the desperation that leads to taking any job, and the obsession with acute care employment and lack of respect for jobs that are not in acute care hospitals.

AZMOMO2 · Jan 14, 2012

Some highlights from the article that stood out to me:
The article talks about the lack of jobs for new grads, the desperation that leads to taking any job, and the obsession with acute care employment and lack of respect for jobs that are not in acute care hospitals.

The article acted like new grads and RNs are totally without bias with regard to alternative places of employment... however, it's more like future employers are the ones who are biased. They are the ones that require all RN experience to be "acute care". Besides LTC needs to adjust its staffing ratios to reflect the acuity of the population they now have in this century, reform from 1987 is just not cutting it.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2012

That article is right on the money. I wish it was available to the public -- not having to sign up to read it. I am a member, but I'd like it to be reposted and linked to by all.

Medscape is a valuable, interesting, and free resource. I find myself there all the time looking up disease management, medications, research findings etc.

kcmylorn · Jan 15, 2012

I found the article very interesting given the climate and attitude that has prevailed in Nursing over the past 4-5 years. I don't disagree with much of it. It conjured up the anger in me all over again about the statements made by NG's telling us older experienced nurses to "get out" so they could have a job. That is exactly the kind of sentiment these greedy CEO's liked to hear and gave credibility, fuel and encouragement to their actions in the recent years. It wasn't the smartest move in nursing. And in the end- it didn't pay off for either nursing group. It did end up hurting alot of people, young NG's, older experienced nurses and the patients.

So what is nursing left with now- a severe lack of experience on those hospital units in a time when patients are so complex, that experience is desperately needed. As I read some where - the NG's are orienting the new NG's. The blind leading the blind. Not a very safe environment or positive nursing information exchange, growth potential environment. The land of the "I don't know, just make sure all the computer boxes are checked and you're clocked out on time" There is no challenge or leadership to take ones ability to the next level of competence. It's stagnant. Lack of experienced judgement leading lack of experienced judgement and Yes, judgement is something learned and comes with experience-

1. through interacting with far more experienced nurses than one self in report, chit chat on the unit throught the working shift,

2. through ones mistakes and having an experienced nurse around to discuss those mistakes with- not through the manager's eyes which goes on youre silly little record forever.

Which is probably why there are now so many diciplinary actions up before the nursing boards now a days. I know in my state the State Nursing Association's job board has 2 job postings for "experienced nurses" not "BSN only", to join the BON doing investigations of practice complaints and disciplineary actions. I have NEVER in 30 years seen this job posted, let alone 2. This was a position you had to know some one to get!! Now they are screaming for help???

Like I have posted many times on this forum- these nurse managers are out of control- bogus write ups- I don't like this older nurse,"not a good fit" I don't like her scrubs, her hair, her shoes whatever PMS complaint the witch may have but it all boils down to one thing- age discrimination and their bonus check, and then there's the trowing the baby out with the bath water- the careless mistakes of the young NG's that had there been more older nurses on the unit, the action might have been intercepted much to the new nurses dislike.

This is the Nursing world the MBA's, finance people in healthcare have molded nursing into. When they had NO right to mold nursing into anything, They are not experts in the Nursing profession, they are not nursing theorists or educators. These people are lucky they can even spell "Nursing" and should be in Home Depot or Lowe's managing the accounts receivable dept. The restaurant industry doesn't want them, because they don't know nutmeg from cloves. They are idiots with calculators. So healthcare let's them in, run a muck, to jeapordize people's lives. It doesn't say too much for the Healthcare Industry, and the Nursing PTB has let them walk all over our profession.

I also take issue with the boo hooing about LTC nurses feeling inferior. When I tried to transition into LTC from the Hospital environment because it was still clinical skills, bedside care and is now a higher acuity- I was met with alot of resentment, distain, in your face disrespect and general lack of cooperation to even learn LTC. which came equally from administration(supervisors and DON's) and LPN's and CNA's. Bullying is alive and well in LTC. JMHO

I'm also having difficulty with NG's who are not able to find jobs, jumping into the NP programs. This is something the NP's I work with are alos having difficulty with. How on Go's Green earth can one be an NP with not hands on experience. I know I wouldn't want to go to and NP who did have any bedise experience outside their clinicals in school. I also followed a link to a well known university(Vanderbilt) that admits students with their BS or BA in another area of study- non nursing into their MSN/APN programS- I guess if Chuckles the Clown has a BA in early childhood education and the birthday party scene is not lucrativie enough, they can go to this university and in 5-6 semesters be an NP- WOW!! There's a comforting thought in patient safety.!! (Does anyone else have a problem with this??) and us 'baby boomers' are constantly being told there are many of us that will require care in the near future- Stay away from me. What are they thinking??

Sehille4774 · Jan 15, 2012

Medscape is a valuable, interesting, and free resource. I find myself there all the time looking up disease management, medications, research findings etc.

Yup! :up: I just learned about this from the AN website! So nice to be able find research type articles that I Dont Have to Pay for...

Going to try some of the CEU's too...I think those are Free.

jpeters84 · Jan 15, 2012

I really like the article except for... The military part. I saw what was happening with new grad jobs a year before I graduated and I thought I was going to have it beat because i was going to join the Army as a nurse...wrong! They weren't hiring. My recruiter said that after I completed the packet (that took 3 months to complete) there was only 3 new grad nursing positions open with the Army in the entire country. A year later (thankfully long after I got my job) I got a call from the recruiter saying a few more spots were open. So even the military isn't really hiring. Don't even get me started on that.