MGH is offering new grad ICU internship for $11.44 an hour?

[DisneybearRN]

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!

[coffeegirl7]

Just as it boggles my mind that internship or not, MGH would pay so little. The aides I work with make double that. Like I said, if not for poor economic times, they wouldn't dream of that pay.

Clearly, we must agree to disagree. You can advocate for an internship all you like, which no one is disputing. It's the pay that's insulting. Grocery store clerks make more, too.

But, these people you are comparing them to are not in an INTERNSHIP!!!! This is their permanent job...not an EDUCATIONAL experience beyond their completion of their BSN. It is a temporary position-for 6 months. As I said before, not everyone can afford to do it, but if you can, you are in a better position than your peers are who graduated when you did. You will have gained 6 months of critical care experience....

Your point is well taken, but we are comparing apples and oranges. One is a permanent job, and the other is a temporary learning experience. And, aides at your facility do pretty well...starting salary here for a new aide is 11.02 an hour.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Coffeegirl, when you bold words, that's essentially the same as yelling. You are entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine. We don't have to agree.

[coffeegirl7]

My apologies...certainly wouldn't yell at you...should have bolded and underlined to emphasize the words I was trying to emphasize.

And agreeing to disagree is a great idea because I am not asking you to change your opinion, just as I won't change mine :)

[Carrig RN]

This was a temporary job description but not a temporary job. The RNs who completed this program are currently working as staff nurses in ICUs at MGH and will be opening a new ICU in a month. I can assure you we are all paid as staff nurses now and are treated as such. I couldn't have asked for a better learning experience. Yes, it was difficult to make ends meet with the salary that was offered, but I got a full education in critical care, something that unfortunately is lacking in today's nursing education. I feel as though my practice has grown tremendously over the last six months and I feel comfortable taking care of the sickest of the sick (with the help of the other nurses on my unit). Many people don't get the opportunity we did right out of school.

[rn/writer, RN]

Thank you so much, Carrig RN, for sharing your experience. Any money you did without while acquiring this superior education and hands-on learning is an investment that will be repaid many times over. I commend you for seeing the big picture.

Best wishes to you and your classmates on the new unit.

[coffeegirl7]

This was a temporary job description but not a temporary job. The RNs who completed this program are currently working as staff nurses in ICUs at MGH and will be opening a new ICU in a month. I can assure you we are all paid as staff nurses now and are treated as such. I couldn't have asked for a better learning experience. Yes, it was difficult to make ends meet with the salary that was offered, but I got a full education in critical care, something that unfortunately is lacking in today's nursing education. I feel as though my practice has grown tremendously over the last six months and I feel comfortable taking care of the sickest of the sick (with the help of the other nurses on my unit). Many people don't get the opportunity we did right out of school.

Thank you so much for posting about the experience, first hand. Lots and lots of opinions regarding this program that MGH offers, and it's nice to see that it has worked out just as so many of us thought it would. I am glad for you that you were able to get the experience that you did. Every new nurse has to start somewhere, but starting in a critical care setting and being afforded the opportunities for learning that this program offers, is priceless. I know it had to have been hard to make ends meet during the internship, but now you have new salary that is commensurate with experience. No one can ever take the experience you gained, away from you. And now that you do have it, you are very marketable as a nurse...nursing jobs are few and far between right now, so you are definitely one of the lucky ones! Kudos to you for being chosen to participate, and being able to do the program!

[rn/writer, RN]

Check out this thread about a Georgia hospital asking for $15,000 payment for a preceptorship.

https://allnurses.com/georgia-nurses/15-000-preceptorship-642703.html#post5929279

[CCL RN, RN]

Wave of the future....

[PassionateRN2011]

all i can say with this thread is I would BE SO THANKFUL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY! It is soo nice to see carringrn's thoughts. What an excellant attitude to have. Does anyone know if MGH will be offering that program again this year? If so please let me know! Ill work for free if it means getting experiance in the field that I love. : )

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

all i can say with this thread is I would BE SO THANKFUL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY! It is soo nice to see carringrn's thoughts. What an excellant attitude to have. Does anyone know if MGH will be offering that program again this year? If so please let me know! Ill work for free if it means getting experiance in the field that I love. : )

I find it sad that educated nurses have to consider this to work.......it's wrong. I worked for free once.....I was a student.

[rn/writer, RN]

I find it sad that educated nurses have to consider this to work.......it's wrong. I worked for free once.....I was a student.

The interns at MGH aren't working for free. They may be educated nurses, but they have no experience, so it's not as if seasoned nurses are being offered terrible wages just because the economy is tight. And this isn't a typical job. It's an educational opportunity with a stipend.

One more thing--students in clinicals are not considered working nurses. They have supervision and structure that new grads don't have. Unless they're in an internship program like this one.

If you want to be sad, take a look at this link:

https://allnurses.com/georgia-nurses/...ml#post5929279

A Georgia hospital is also offering an internship program. Do they offer the stipend that MGH gives its interns? They do not. They expect to be paid $15,000 for the opportunity.

If you take the approximately $12,000 the MGH nurses would earn in their six months ($11.44 x 40 x 26) and add $15,000, the value of the internship, you come out with $27,000. That's not too shabby for six months effort.

At the end of the internship--after gaining extra education and acquiring some experience--the MGH nurses will immediately more than double their pay, so, no one's trying to put the squeeze on them just because people are desperate to work.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Still doesn't make it right. I was a new grad also not that long ago. I was paid a decent wage and I've been functioning just fine. New grads do need some assistance, but paying a wage as low as 11 an hour is a sin. They could still offer a wage more reasonable than that.

Based on various things I've learned on this site, American nurses are grossly overworked and underpaid at all ends of the spectrum. It's a shame.