I was cruising the hospital websites as I do everyday as a new grad and came across this:
The Department of Nursing at Massachusetts General Hospital is running a New Graduate RN ICU Residency Program for six months from April 2011 to September 2011. RN residents will be hired and trained to work successfully in an intensive care setting.
Qualified applicants MUST have:
- a Baccalaureate of Science Degree in Nursing
- a current MA RN license
- less than 10 months of professional RN experience in a healthcare setting
- completed a clinical practicum in an ICU or experience in a patient assistive role in an ICU.
RN Residents will be eligible for benefits and paid a salary of $11.44 per hour. The schedule will be 40 hours per week with five 8-hour shifts. Day/Night rotation with weekends and holidays required.
11.44 an hour? They can't be serious...can they? They pay their CNAs more!
I know for a fact that information was false. There were 36 of us hired for the ICU internship positions. We will be assigned to a "home" ICU for the 24 weeks we are there and then go on to staff the new unit. Maybe information should be checked and verified before people come making claims of 150 being hired for 40 positions. Ridiculous!
Are you kidding? MGH administration HATES the word union (I should know as an MGH nurse). Having come from a unioned hospital prior, I see pros and cons of working for a unioned hospital as well as non-unioned. But, MGH has to be competative with non-unioned hospitals in the area, it's still a business. I'm content with the base pay I make as a nurse with almost 5 yrs experience so can't complain and benefits are decent. What does suck is that cost of living raise was eliminated as a budget cut and annual wage increase on anniversary date of hire dropped from 3% to 2% (nursing is ALWAYS the first thing they cut back on, of course not CEO/administration salary....). Raises take a while to accumulate and we don't get "bonuses" like in the corporate world, however at least it's job security (once you're in a position) and steady salary after a few years of nursing but will take 25+ yrs to make "the big bucks." MGH was ranked the top 3rd best hospital in the country for 2010-2011 by US News and World Report and certified Magnet as a desirable place to work for RNs. It's why I'm working here in the "medical Mecca of the world." As soon as I shadowed the position I now have at MGH, I thought this is where I'm going to work. Congrats to new grads who scored an internship position even if not guaranteed a staff nurse position. While I do agree the wage for the internship should be higher, your experience from it will take you far in the end whether that be within MGH or another hospital in MA or out of state.
It's a disgrace that 4000 people are willing to work a full time schedule for 11.44/hr and not even have a guarantee that they will be walking away with a job at this institution. CNA's receive about $14.40/hr at MGH but BSN graduates have to receive 3 dollars less?
CNAs are full time staff members, new grads in this program are not. Again, it's an INTERNSHIP.
Some have called this internship an insult, but what they don't seem to get is that this is more an educational opportunity than a job. It will lead to a job directly for those nurses hired by MGH. It may lead to a job indirectly in that any nurse who can put this internship on a resume will likely be a great deal more marketable in a tough economy. But to view this through the lens of employment is to miss the point.
You usually have to shell out a hefty amount for education. Once in a while there are free classes or seminars. But how often do you see something as worthwhile as this program where the powers that be will actually pay you to participate?
Considering the ginormous expense involved in teaching, training, and preparing nurses for critical care level positions it's easy to see why MGH is paying a minimal amount during the internship. How many hospitals have invested huge sums in getting a new nurse up to speed only to have her fail because too much was expected too soon or have her leave after a short time for greener pastures?
Having new grads agree to low pay during this training period is to ask them to match the investment the hospital is making in their education.
Viewed as a rare transitioning opportunity that will all but insure their future success, new grads should see this six month internship as priceless.
Specializes in Psych, Chem Dependency, Occ. Health.
The internship is not the problem. It is the low wage. Period. And nurses should be viewed as a resource, instead of purely an expense.
Agreed. People just don't get it. Believe me this $11.44/hr plus 4000 applicants is showing up on powerpoint presentations and excel sheets of hospital executives all over the country. They are GIDDY with glee over having 4000 nurses willing to work for that. In fact a few of them are saying "If they will come in for $11.44/hr they will probably come in for $10.80/hr". It is testing the waters by upper management. If you think MGH is doing something to benefit new grads, you are naive. This is all about business, the bottom line, and executive bonuses. Nursing is one of the largest (if not the largest) expense in a hospital. This is not about this internship. It is the ripple effect across the profession. I don't care if the "internship" or "residency" last 6 days, 6 months or 6 years. They didn't do this to do a social good. Think about it, they got 4000 applicants for $11.44/hr. It is about the bottom line and their individual bonuses. It isn't about this one particular internship. It is 4000+ nurses willing to work full-time for $11.44/hr. I'd also wager that a good number of them, perhaps all of them would have applied even if it was a "job" and not just an "internship". Maybe they would of received 6000 applicants if it was a guarantee of a job at $11 an hour. If you are a nurse making more than that, you have to look at the big picture. How secure is your job? How low are you willing to go wage wise?
The internship doesn't matter. The internship is the petri dish. They put the $11.44/hr in there to see what would grow. The person who thought this up hit the leather off the ball on this home run. "Priceless opportunity" to the executives and administrators? You better believe it.
Agreed. People just don't get it. Believe me this $11.44/hr plus 4000 applicants is showing up on powerpoint presentations and excel sheets of hospital executives all over the country. They are GIDDY with glee over having 4000 nurses willing to work for that. In fact a few of them are saying "If they will come in for $11.44/hr they will probably come in for $10.80/hr". It is testing the waters by upper management. If you think MGH is doing something to benefit new grads, you are naive. This is all about business, the bottom line, and executive bonuses. Nursing is one of the largest (if not the largest) expense in a hospital. This is not about this internship. It is the ripple effect across the profession. I don't care if the "internship" or "residency" last 6 days, 6 months or 6 years. They didn't do this to do a social good. Think about it, they got 4000 applicants for $11.44/hr. It is about the bottom line and their individual bonuses. It isn't about this one particular internship. It is 4000+ nurses willing to work full-time for $11.44/hr. I'd also wager that a good number of them, perhaps all of them would have applied even if it was a "job" and not just an "internship". Maybe they would of received 6000 applicants if it was a guarantee of a job at $11 an hour. If you are a nurse making more than that, you have to look at the big picture. How secure is your job? How low are you willing to go wage wise?
The internship doesn't matter. The internship is the petri dish. They put the $11.44/hr in there to see what would grow. The person who thought this up hit the leather off the ball on this home run. "Priceless opportunity" to the executives and administrators? You better believe it.
Sue
Nobody could have said it better. Setting a bad precedent for all of us.
This is in no way a precedent. If you knew anything about the city of Boston, you would know that many hospitals are unionized and the non-unionized hospitals need to keep wages high in order to compete. There is no way of this becoming a trend in how to pay anyone outside of an INTERNSHIP. I wish people would stop giving opinions and stating "facts" about which they know nothing.
And just for the record, they are putting a lot of time into those of us who took the gamble on the internship. We are going to be training with preceptors on ICUs, taking classes on ICU nursing, and we get to start with a built in support system of 35 other RNs. I don't think there are many programs that can boast that. Most "residencies" I've looked at provide 8-12 weeks of preceptorship, with the basic classes all nurses are required to take upon starting a position, and then you get thrown into nursing head-on. I don't know about anyone else, but in the interest of patient care, I want to be the best nurse I can be, and MGH is making that possible for me.
Amazes me how many people expect highly marketable training and credentials for free and to be paid full-time fully functional employee wages to boot.
I suspect a good many folks going on about the wage have not read the thread fully enough to understand that the wage is for the duration of the internship, only ... after which the nurses, whether hired by MGH or not, will have critical care training, eligibility for certification and the right to add MHG to their resumes. I'd be willing to bet the hospital still books a loss on the training.
Carrig RN
165 Posts
I know for a fact that information was false. There were 36 of us hired for the ICU internship positions. We will be assigned to a "home" ICU for the 24 weeks we are there and then go on to staff the new unit. Maybe information should be checked and verified before people come making claims of 150 being hired for 40 positions. Ridiculous!