New Grads With Attitude

Specialties Geriatric

Published

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.

I'm glad I'm nearing retirement age.

Rant over.

I think the push for increased education has inadvertently created a toxic environment. I see so many 22yr old nurses stepping onto the unit with no respect for experienced nurses. There is a terrible stigma against LPN's and associate's degree nurses. Please, put me in the care of the 20yr experienced LPN over the brand new RN. Unfortunately, I don't think that nursing schools do anything to address this. These young nurses haven't had to deal with adversity and expect their workplace to function like nursing school. Just because you took a class on delegation doesn't mean that you are going to have a tech available at all times. Though I will also add that they aren't graduating in a time of sign on bonuses and we all know that management often needs at least a little push-back from staff in order to protect our profession.

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Soon to grad in December. I expect to work weekends and holidays but I will not work nights. Really hoping I can find afternoon shift.

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I just finished a paid summer externship at the local hospital. I was amazed at how many of my classmates couldn't fill out an I-9 Form. I went into NS eyes wide open fully expecting to work nights, weekends, holidays. Not sure how some people haven't figured that out by the time they hit the floor.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

They're also coming out of school without a healthy fear of the reality that if they mess up, they can hurt or kill people.

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I am a new RN & am starting my first job this Monday -- and I am so Excited!!! I am working nights, every other weekend & every other holiday. Exactly what I expected. Hospitals are open 24/7/365 -- if you don't want to work those kind of shifts, maybe you need to apply then only to medical offices or find a new career. Hospitals don't have "office hours."

I am 43 and sacrificed a lot to get where I am today - and understand that although I am older & have a lot of work experience - I am new to the nursing field so I expected to start off on nights. I know that if I want to move to days I will need to put in the time to earn that spot. I am not entitled to anything.

I agree w/several things people have said here 1) that age/maturity and work experience can = a better work ethic (but not always...of course) 2) that today's generation don't know how to communicate with co-workers/supervisors appropriately because they communicate digitally (not face to face) and think it is ok to say what they want, when they want & don't expect any consequences.

I think entitlement and bad attitudes of course though really boil down to the individual person ... my great friend/study buddy from school has a great work ethic, but she is 20 years younger than I am & I see a big difference in our expectations of things & our abilities to communicate.

It is the same thing w/where you end up working - I want to be a NICU or Labor/Delivery nurse - but landing those job esp as a new grad are hard. I am thrilled w/my new job as a AMCU nurse - I am going to learn so much on that floor!

On the topic of pay - I was thrilled to find out that I get a pay differential for nights, another one for weekends and got a new hire bonus... I was not expecting any of those things and am very grateful that I landed a job with them.

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Specializes in Med-surg, telemetry, oncology, rehab, LTC, ALF.

I don't agree with the perspective that millennials are lacking in work ethics. I am a millennial. My parents were not lacking worth ethics. Both of my parents worked as CNAs for most of my childhood and then later worked whatever job they could to provide for our family.

I've never had a problem with pay, either. When I first graduated, I was happy making $22/hour at the hospital. I got shift differential for working nights, weekends and time and a half for holidays. However, I interviewed for and seriously considered one LTC job on day shift that paid $19/hour. I will be interviewing for another LTC job soon. Due to the location, I expect it will pay around $19. *shrug* $19/hour is better than $0/hour. :)

I've personally never had a problem with wanting to learn as much as possible about nursing. I'm glad to see that there're so many experienced nurses on here who are willing to teach the newer nurses what they know. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case in my area. Nurses usually get straight up irritated when I ask them a question. (I usually just leave them alone and find someone else to ask.) There are exceptions, of course. On the floor that I used to work, there were nurses nearing retirement who used to work with the nuns back in the day (it used to be a Catholic hospital). They were the type of nurses who would get their stuff finished early and walk around the unit to see if anybody was struggling and would offer to take over so that the RN could take a break and/or go to lunch. Sometimes they would just ask what you needed done right then and go do it. It was a rare but welcomed sight...sadly, I never got to work in such an environment because night shift was a completely different beast.

Anyway... Please don't group my entire generation under one stereotype just because you've met a couple of bad apples. We're not all like that.Schedule

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Specializes in Med-surg, telemetry, oncology, rehab, LTC, ALF.
They're also coming out of school without a healthy fear of the reality that if they mess up, they can hurt or kill people.

Absolutely.

Schedule

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I am a new RN & am starting my first job this Monday -- and I am so Excited!!! I am working nights, every other weekend & every other holiday. Exactly what I expected. Hospitals are open 24/7/365 -- if you don't want to work those kind of shifts, maybe you need to apply then only to medical offices or find a new career. Hospitals don't have "office hours."

I am 43 and sacrificed a lot to get where I am today - and understand that although I am older & have a lot of work experience - I am new to the nursing field so I expected to start off on nights. I know that if I want to move to days I will need to put in the time to earn that spot. I am not entitled to anything.

I agree w/several things people have said here 1) that age/maturity and work experience can = a better work ethic (but not always...of course) 2) that today's generation don't know how to communicate with co-workers/supervisors appropriately because they communicate digitally (not face to face) and think it is ok to say what they want, when they want & don't expect any consequences.

I think entitlement and bad attitudes of course though really boil down to the individual person ... my great friend/study buddy from school has a great work ethic, but she is 20 years younger than I am & I see a big difference in our expectations of things & our abilities to communicate.

It is the same thing w/where you end up working - I want to be a NICU or Labor/Delivery nurse - but landing those job esp as a new grad are hard. I am thrilled w/my new job as a AMCU nurse - I am going to learn so much on that floor!

On the topic of pay - I was thrilled to find out that I get a pay differential for nights, another one for weekends and got a new hire bonus... I was not expecting any of those things and am very grateful that I landed a job with them.

Congratulations on your new job and second career! You sound like you have your head screwed on straight!

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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.

It really isn't a picnic for me either. When I was hired, I was told it would be temporary...only a few weeks. The few weeks turned in to more than eight months, but I did it because I had the least seniority and the hours needed filled. The new nurse agrees to it when she was hired, did it a few times, and decided it was too hard.

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"What do you MEAN I have this many patients?!"

(Um, were you not present on your orientations days?!?)

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It really isn't a picnic for me either. When I was hired, I was told it would be temporary...only a few weeks. The few weeks turned in to more than eight months, but I did it because I had the least seniority and the hours needed filled. The new nurse agrees to it when she was hired, did it a few times, and decided it was too hard.

I agree that the person with seniority should get the schedule adjustment first, and would be upset if someone who was just hired got the schedule that I'd requested.

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