I have seen what I consider to be a trend in newly graduated/newly licensed nurses. Many of them are so entitled. "What do you mean I have to pass meds? What do you mean I have to work every other weekend? I'm not going to have someone from the pharmacy watch ME do a med pass! I didn't want to work in long term care but I don't have any experience so I couldn't get a job at the hospital." It goes on.
What happened to the new nurses who were eager to learn from nurses who have experience? Who volunteer to assist or watch or do something new under supervision so they can learn? Saying NO to the DON when it's something clearly she has the authority to ask you to do...being insubordinate.
Specializes in Huntingtons, LTC, Ortho, Acute Care.
Most of these nursing schools only give students a taste of what real nursing is like and it's very different from that 1-2 days a week with an instructor keeping you in check.
this is the generation of entitlement to begin with anyhow... I have had a few nurses at my job that this is their first job ever and it's not a good feel for them. We're not your mommies and daddies we don't have to cave because you don't like something, and it's a hard reality for some of them to swallow. While I'm a younger nurse I was raised by old school parents and I'm grateful because some of what I'm seeing right now is terrifying. Some of the ones I have precepts changed their attitudes quick because I don't sugar coat things but some of them are still in their "me me me" bubble and ain't coming out anytime soon
Holiday pay is $1.25/hr at my job - I don't love it. That also happens to be my job's weekend differential. I always was psyched to work every single holiday when I could make time and a half - but $1.25/hr comes out to $16 for a full time shift and I probably get $12 of that after taxes. Is it worth missing a holiday for $12? Not really. Is it worth giving up a weekend for $12? Nope - I was way happier to work weekends at my first job, where I made $4/hr for the weekends, and I could actually notice the difference working weekends when I looked at my paycheck. Now, my paycheck is pretty much exactly the same whether that two weeks is full of weekends, weekdays, or holidays.
I have noticed my attitude with working holidays/weekends has gotten worse since being faced with minimal incentives.
I'd be curious how many people who notice especially loud whining from new grads work in environments where the weekend and holiday differentials are practically nonexistent.
I'm in shock to read that a new grad would question what is required of them at work which are also opportunities to learn. I am a new grad and I've interviewed for several positions which I have been offered a job. One thing that I believe that has stood out in all my interviews has been my zeal to learn to be a nurse. The pay is not that good in my area but more than that I want to learn more and make an impact in what I do. Nursing school gives you the basics but working as an RN teaches you to be a nurse. It is sad that a new grad would have a sense of entitlement for any reason. That would be starting off on the wrong foot!
Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
I appreciate the input from the new grads who've responded. Perhaps your parents or your school clued you in to the real world. I only know what I've seen in this area.
PS....still looking to hire more nurses....message me!
I am on the older end of the millenials, and my first job was a year of LTC/SAR. I did everything I could to be a safe, caring nurse, but I was working for a facility where the doctor was lazy, the management couldn't have cared less, and the nurses were burned out. The final straw was a preventable patient death that could have been on my head if it had happened 30 minutes later. That job put me through the mill, and I'm grateful to have escaped with my sanity, my integrity, and my license intact.
During that year, I read LTC nursing threads on AN and managed to regain some small amount of hope that there were well-run LTCs out there, and your name is one of the ones I remember from that time. I would have LOVED to work with you when I first graduated.
I am a new grad, and 26yo. Of course I expect to work nights, weekends, holidays, etc. Nursing is a 24/7 job, we don't just close up our units and go home at 5pm. That aside, I am actually looking forward to working weekends. Shift differential is a very nice thing. And maybe it's just that I'm boring, but I really don't mind that my 'weekend' is Monday and Tuesday (or similar). Friday and Saturday are just days to me and hey, if I get paid extra for working them, even better.
I also don't understand anyone who goes through nursing school that hates hard work and learning new things/skills. What did they think they were getting themselves into? "Oh you've graduated nursing school, congratulations! You'll never have to lift a finger or do something new ever again!"
I'm a cranky ol' nurse of 26 years. I work PRN for case management and Utilization review right now. I know if I took a full time position that required weekends and holidays, as the new dog in the kennel, I'd have to cover them. It's only fair. Back in the day when I was just a prn case manager, I wasn't required to take call, but I did simply because it didn't seem right to be the only one not taking a turn.
I think a lot of it has to do with the generation. Unfortunately the tone is society now is "you cant tell ME what to do". I have noticed a difference with the way people parent their children as well. So many unruly kids testing their parents, and the parents doing nothing. I remember seeing a child in the grocery store telling his mother all the bad things he was going to do (in detail) if she didnt buy him the toy he wanted. If I had spoken to my parents that way, they would have left the store, took me home and I would have spent a long time in time out. She just passively let him speak to her that way. I could go on and on, and even my own kids (10 and 8) notice kids acting like this and comment. This behavior carries over into adulthood. And dont get me started on the parents letting their kids opt out of standardized testing. You are teaching your kids they dont have to be accountable. The entitlement attitude is disgusting.
Holiday pay is $1.25/hr at my job - I don't love it. That also happens to be my job's weekend differential. I always was psyched to work every single holiday when I could make time and a half - but $1.25/hr comes out to $16 for a full time shift and I probably get $12 of that after taxes. Is it worth missing a holiday for $12? Not really. Is it worth giving up a weekend for $12? Nope - I was way happier to work weekends at my first job, where I made $4/hr for the weekends, and I could actually notice the difference working weekends when I looked at my paycheck. Now, my paycheck is pretty much exactly the same whether that two weeks is full of weekends, weekdays, or holidays.
I have noticed my attitude with working holidays/weekends has gotten worse since being faced with minimal incentives.
I'd be curious how many people who notice especially loud whining from new grads work in environments where the weekend and holiday differentials are practically nonexistent.
I have never in my nursing career gotten a weekend differential. EVER. Isnt working weekends and holidays part of nursing? Granted, I never LOVED it, but I really dont think a new grad deserves to complain about something that is a huge part of working in healthcare. maybe they chose the wrong profession.
The new nurse they hired was supposed to take over my evenings and I was supposed to do the day shift on the same weekend. She decided it is too hard to flip from days to evenings and complained to the right people, so I am back on the evenings.
For what it's worth, this is getting to be my personal line in the sand.
I'll work days. I'll work nights. I'll work weekends, and have worked at least one day every weekend for probably 75% of my career. I've requested one holiday off in five years (to take a trip out-of-state), and will generally pick up holidays if available.
But flipping back and forth between nights and days is absolute hell for me.
I have never in my nursing career gotten a weekend differential. EVER. Isnt working weekends and holidays part of nursing? Granted, I never LOVED it, but I really dont think a new grad deserves to complain about something that is a huge part of working in healthcare. maybe they chose the wrong profession.
It's definitely part of nursing, but I expect to be compensated for it. That's so weird that you've never gotten a weekend differential - I've never heard of a job that didn't offer one unless it was salaried. The job I worked at as a CNA offered RNs $7/hr for weekends - I've never managed to work somewhere with one that good myself, but it's not unheard of in my area. That same job paid $11/hr differential for the weekend option people. They were also the only job I've worked that didn't have trouble staffing weekends, for obvious reasons.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I think maybe one of the issues at play is whether or not the new grads have had a job before. I used to work at a non-nursing job that required 12+ hour days, weekends, holidays, random hour long shifts at night, etc. I never had an issue with it, but that's probably because I have been in the workforce since 14.
I noticed a lot of people I went to school with would say things about how they didn't know how they could give up weekends, but they had never had a job before and I think they didn't understand a lot of workplace dynamics as well. The dynamics thing includes following instructions from a DON, etc. and also just in general interactions with co-workers.
I do have to disagree though that new nurses who say they are working in LTC since they couldn't get a hospital job are entitled. I mean, personally I wouldn't want to work in LTC over a hospital due to future career goals but I don't think that makes me entitled, just not my thing.
A new nurse telling her family and friends that they are only working in LTC since they couldn't get a hospital job is one thing. Telling her colleagues at work (in LTC) is quite another thing.
Mhsrnbsn
104 Posts
Most of these nursing schools only give students a taste of what real nursing is like and it's very different from that 1-2 days a week with an instructor keeping you in check.
this is the generation of entitlement to begin with anyhow... I have had a few nurses at my job that this is their first job ever and it's not a good feel for them. We're not your mommies and daddies we don't have to cave because you don't like something, and it's a hard reality for some of them to swallow. While I'm a younger nurse I was raised by old school parents and I'm grateful because some of what I'm seeing right now is terrifying. Some of the ones I have precepts changed their attitudes quick because I don't sugar coat things but some of them are still in their "me me me" bubble and ain't coming out anytime soon