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

U.S.A. Massachusetts

Published

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!

Specializes in Cath Lab/ ICU.

. Why nurses think they're somehow owed this training for free, plus a full salary for graciously allowing the hospital to subsidize their education, with no obligation on their part, boggles my mind, a bit.

Absolutely!! The entitlement attitude is absurd! Sorry, but new grads bring nothing to the table but liability and debt. Then, many leave because they can't handle it, they hate it, or they move on to an APRN.

I do see this is as a viable trend. Start internships to see if the nurses are really committed at the bedside. $65k to train a new grad!!? This can't continue.

MGH will prove that this is a finicacially viable option, more nurses will stay at the bedside (because those that couldn't would have already left at the 6 month mark), hospitals will stop bleeding money over new grads, and new grads will become experienced and have jobs!

The more I think of this program, the more I like it..

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Specializes in Hospice.

Actually, that was for training a new hire ... I'm not sure the study was controlled for years' experience. New grads would probably ring up at a tad more in light of the increased need for preceptors to spend time on the basics.

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I have been a nurse for 22 years, and nursing has changed a lot. I went from total bedside care to all paperwork, to all computer savvy. Nurses have become so competitive in this job market, new grads don't have a chance. All of you experienced nurses out there take these new grads under your wing, because they will be caring for you some day ! As for that hospital program, it is for the college elite, not for actual real life people trying to make a living.

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Specializes in Cath Lab/ ICU.
Actually, that was for training a new hire ... I'm not sure the study was controlled for years' experience. New grads would probably ring up at a tad more in light of the increased need for preceptors to spend time on the basics.

Oh wow! Thats crazy!!

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Specializes in geriatrics.

Yes I would agree as a new nurse that I have a lot to learn. However, I do not have to work for low pay, even as a new nurse. The fact is, where I live 11.44 is barely above the minimum wage. If people choose to accept the position, fine. That's up to them. But many of us would not be able to even survive on that wage. I know I couldn't.

Anyway, since this is a discussion...that's all it is. And this doesn't affect me personally, either.

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Specializes in Hospice.
I have been a nurse for 22 years, and nursing has changed a lot. I went from total bedside care to all paperwork, to all computer savvy. Nurses have become so competitive in this job market, new grads don't have a chance. All of you experienced nurses out there take these new grads under your wing, because they will be caring for you some day ! As for that hospital program, it is for the college elite, not for actual real life people trying to make a living.

A. That wage is for 6 months, after which they either work for MGH or take their highly marketable new credential off to another facility, at prevailing cc wages.

B. By definition, a new grad has been educating him/herself with NO wage for 2+ years already ... why is actually earning a paycheck, albeit a really small one, during a six-month training is such a disaster? Would a binding contract to either work at MGH in cc or repay the cost of training be more acceptable?

C. Speaking of college elites ... that is what nurses are, these days. Whether a 2 year community college or a 4 year baccalaureate program, they require college credits to complete. It is true that nurses from a more wealthy background are more likely to be able to swing 6 months at a bit over minimum wage. However, there are, in Boston, hordes of people who actually have to survive on minimum wage alone. Frankly, I think a six month stint of living like your housecleaner has to is good for the soul.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I am happy to read the so many people are giving serious (and knowledgable) consideration to this new development -- and not just rejecting it automatically because of the low salary. The costs of training new graduates is enormous and hospitals cannot continue to simply absorb those costs, particularly when so many new grads (and nurses in general) accept jobs that they have no intention of keeping for very long.

We see it all the time here on allnurses: People say things like "I accepted XYZ job for now, but after I get my year of experience I'll be looking to move on to ...." Such people cost a large hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars (millions?) per year. It's inevitable that employers have started looking for ways to prevent that waste of resources on people who don't intend to stay -- either through contracts with pay-back provisions, or the institution of "training wages."

The marketing of these new grad transition programs as "educational programs" rather than as "professional jobs" makes a lot of sense as contracts with pay-back provisions are very messy. It's just a matter of finding the right level of compensation that the market will bear. At least the people will be getting benefits as well as education -- though I would like to see them paid as much as CNA's as I suspect they will be contributing to the care of the patient and helping out in general in the second half of their program.

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Look new grads ARE NOT IN DEMAND-to get that type of exp. from a Boston Hospital for 6 months would be HUGE. You could almost go ANYWHERE and in 6 months be making the big bucks.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
That is my opinion, which I am entitled to express in an open forum. You do not have to agree. 11.44 is too low to pay for a nurse. Any level of nurse. If the economy was good, no one would dream of offering that wage. So its purely taking advantage. And I am working as an RN. I don't need to work at The Gap. I made the comparison for argument's sake.
It is *not* taking advantage... it is the natural result of market forces.

It is simply the inverse of the signing bonuses that were offered when hospitals were having trouble recruiting.

Expect to see this more and more... and expect it to trickle up to nurses at all experience levels.

I'm not saying that I'm pleased with the situation, mind you, but it is just a simple manifestation of fundamental economics in a (somewhat) free-market economy.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Just out of curiosity... to all of those who believe that this is just as it *should* be:

Did you receive a paltry training wage when you obtained your first job?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Patient Safety.
Absolutely!! The entitlement attitude is absurd! Sorry, but new grads bring nothing to the table but liability and debt. Then, many leave because they can't handle it, they hate it, or they move on to an APRN.

Is this honestly your feeling about new grads? New grads bring 'nothing to the table but liability and debt...?'

This is a pretty insulting attitude towards new grads.

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Specializes in Hospice.
Just out of curiosity... to all of those who believe that this is just as it *should* be:

Did you receive a paltry training wage when you obtained your first job?

No ... it was 1972 and there was no training ... and the wage was still paltry: 11K per year for full-time work, including shift differential.

Besides, it's not a strict either it's as it should be/or it's outrageous. What we've been trying to point out is that specialty training is very, very expensive and that it's not so outrageous to expect trainees to carry some of that cost in some way. Free public education ends with high school. Past that, it is reasonable to look for the best deal you can get, but that no one owes you specialty training for free unless there's something in it for them.

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