Nurses Under 30 Years Old

RNJill · Nov 8, 2010

So, maybe I'm going to sound kind of cranky about this (or, gasp, overly opinionated for someone my age!) but I just have to say that posts like this REALLY upset me. I'm in my early 20s, a new grad, and guess what? I work HARD at my job and truly do my best. I DON'T expect that I won't have to work holidays, have NO issue with working weekends, help my fellow nurses as much as possible, and certainly don't feel that I know everything.

Although I lived in a very financially comfortable family growing up, I was expected to be working during the summers/holidays/etc. as soon as I could. Starting at the age of 15, I taught swimming lessons in the summer and piano lessons to neighborhood kids throughout the year. I continued to teach piano throughout high school (at one point I had twelve students), and held various other jobs throughout high school and college as a lifeguard, CNA at a nursing home, personal care attendant, and nurse extern. Obviously, I did not hold all of the previous jobs at the same time, but hopefully this will show you that this is one 20-something who isn't exactly entitled.

Laziness and strong work ethics exist in ALL AGE GROUPS. I could tell you stories of both from literally every age denomination. If someone came on this board and started talking about problems with older nurses, they would be attacked from every corner about how discriminatory they were being (and the attacks would probably be mostly correct). It is just as discriminatory to paint all younger nurses with the same brush.

Oh, and BTW, I'm one of those scandalous younger nurses who...are you ready for this...usually puts on a little makeup and fixes my hair before going to work. No mass chaos...yet (insert sarcasm here).

msmoore · Nov 8, 2010

I'm 21 and I will have to agree with the OP. I consider myself to be old school and hardworking, (thanks to my father for putting me to work at a young age) but unfortunately some of my peers want to start at the top without working to get there. Life does not work that will and it never will.

In nursing school I had a fellow student say "I did not get in to nursing to get my hands dirty." Hearing her say that made me absolutely sick, I told her something along the lines of, "you need to find a new career." Not only that, but in clinical some students would whine when they actually had to do something. Blew me away, but hey, if they weren't going to do it I would take advantage of it and learn while they sat in the lounge gossiping. Needless to say some of these students disappeared after that semester.

Where do these people get these ideas, "I'm going to be a nurse cause its easy money and easy work."?????? Wrong. Nursing is hard work and is not for the lazy or careless, we deal with peoples lives everyday and there is no room for slackers. I know it has to be frustrating for the more experienced nurses, having to deal with these select young RNs, therefore I will try my best to start off right and work hard and give quality care.

Don't forget the young hardworking nurses, we are not all bad.

(like RN Jill said there is laziness in all age groups) :)

Katie5 · Nov 8, 2010

A friend of mine is a manager who recently went to a management seminar. It was the same old thing until they asked what peoples' biggest problems are. One person said "employees under 30," and everyone in the room agreed. They find this demographic to be needy and entitled (I'm sure this does not apply to everyone, but is a much bigger trend than in past years).
My department recently hired MANY new nurses, and all but one is under 30. They call in when they are hung over, go home early, and they're lazy at work. The only thing I can depend on them to do is get their coffee break. I'm sure these nurses have many fine qualities, and maybe the rest of us are just martyrs (put in the full 46ish hours a week, mop our own ORs, etc), but it's just a whole different attitude. People in other departments note a similar trend. Radiology techs will refuse to go to certain cases because it will interfere with their lunch.
I'm sure I will get a bunch of posts from 20-somethings about how hard they work, and I'm sure there are some out there who really do work their tails off. But managers (and coworkers) are starting to take note of "generation me."

Just cos you work with a set of Generation Y whose work ethics are deplorabble, doesn't mean we all are.

It just means, your recruiting manager has to sit up more!

Katie5 · Nov 8, 2010

In nursing school I had a fellow student say "I did not get in to nursing to get my hands dirty." Hearing her say that made me absolutely sick, I told her something along the lines of, "you need to find a new career." ( :)

This is inconclusive- dirtiness is relative.

Katie5 · Nov 8, 2010

Okay on a more rational note- this is only an outcome.

You get what you put in. How did these age range develop this attitude- it obviously did not spring out of nowhere in most cases. Nuture has a very important role to play.

A poster stated, that she still saw these less that 30years old adults as kids?Really.Commit a crime and see if you don't get tried as an adult. But when you have people thinking like that, yes it does give this age-group that sense of entitlement.

Then again, it is individual and not collective.Until a research is conducted to prove it so, let's try not to overly generalize, myself inculded.

FloridianNurse · Nov 8, 2010

I'm under 30, 21 to be exact. I think this is not a very nice thing to say. I'm not going to sit here and tell you how hard I work or try and argue. I just want you to know how you are stereotyping nurses under 30. Stereotype-a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group. What if I were to say a certain race of nurses don't work as hard? Would that get your blood boiling? All I'm saying is respect everyone. We all worked hard to become nurses. The world would be a better place if we didn't discriminate against each other...

Katie5 · Nov 8, 2010

I'm under 30, 21 to be exact. I think this is not a very nice thing to say. I'm not going to sit here and tell you how hard I work or try and argue. I just want you to know how you are stereotyping nurses under 30. Stereotype-a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group. What if I were to say a certain race of nurses don't work as hard? Would that get your blood boiling? All I'm saying is respect everyone. We all worked hard to become nurses. The world would be a better place if we didn't discriminate against each other...

I agree with you up to a point. But with laziness, EVERY discrimination is allowed.

mono2010 · Nov 8, 2010

I would agree with the previous post that this is not just in the nursing world. My office is full of young girls who really think that the 9-5 is a hard and fast rule. :uhoh3: I've never been one of those people and frankly don't get it. You work until the job is done and sometimes that means staying past "quitting time" and working through lunch.

I dunno what's wrong with these kids.

One2gofst · Nov 8, 2010

I just turned 29 and I am starting my ABSN in Jan. I think a lot of my peers and younger do feel a certain sense of entitlement.

That said, management, especially in nursing, is not going to have much choice regarding hiring these people long term. Even if managers wanted to hire older nurses and could do so legally they'd be getting themselves into other situations.

We know that organizations generally try to control costs. Most also self-insure when it comes to health insurance. You hire a bunch of nurses in their 40s and exclude nurses in their 20s you probably just at least doubled your health insurance liability.

The older the nurses you hire, the more recruiting and hiring you are going to have to do, as they can't work forever. Add to that additional cost the pay differential between a nurse with 20 years experience and one with a few years or NG. More $.

So, I'd say that even if the stereotype is vastly true, complaining about it isn't the solution, nor is not hiring younger nurses. Management needs to look into ways to get effective, acceptable productivity from these younger nurses.

Finally, as someone who could be lumped in with this group, I view it as a positive. Sure, not many people are going to say, "yep, that's me. I'm a lazy POS." However, I think it becomes pretty apparent, pretty quickly who is a good employee. With so many my age being viewed unfavorably, being viewed positively gives you a much bigger edge as far as promotion goes. IMO, the only ones who should take issue with this thought process are those it applies to.

Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN · Nov 8, 2010

I am 21. Way under 30 lol.

I have been at my job since February. I have not called out. I usually come between 5-15 minutes of the start of my shift. I always stay late because there's so much work to be done during some shifts. I work my ass off and what coffee break??? Sometimes I'm lucky to have enough time to take 15 minutes to eat my dinner.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Nov 8, 2010

I don't like seeing age discrimination at either end. We either were at the one end at one time, and we WILL be at the other end sometime. I don't like this thinking that "all nurses under 30 and all over 50" blah blah blah. That is stereotyping. It isn't acceptable. Yes, I do see a lot of texting in the under 30 crowd. But you know what? They get their work done. Patients aren't left soiled or in distress while they are doing it. I also see a lot of 50+ sitting at the desk a lot flipping through an Avon magazine, taking their time with their coffee/etc, lots of social talking with other nurses/staff (mostly about younger staff!), etc. I don't care as long as the work is done. One generation always complains about the other. "kids these days"- try telling me you didn't hear that phrase 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, etc. Well, who/what generation raised these kids? I don't think these "kids" got this way on their own. I think times are just changing, as always, and some people have a problem with change. I don't seem to have a problem with any generation. (I am 32, a generation Xer I believe, so I am not in either category)

earthcrosser · Nov 8, 2010

I'm a bit offended, to be quite honest.

Pretty much all generations have entitled, lazy people within them. To call out one set of people as the "troublemaker" or "problem" group just plain sucks. Yes, there are lazy nurses under thirty, but there are definitely ones that are part of the older generations. I've actually had the most problems with older nurses dumping work on me, as well as one throwing temper tantrums because they didn't like their assignment and made management switch them with me HOURS after the shift had started. It's honestly more about work ethic and all that good stuff, rather than "Oh, you're under thirty, so you automatically suck and are lazy and entitled...".

However, I'm not interested in disproving people's stereotypes about younger nurses simply by doing my job. It's probably not going to change their minds. I work hard and do a good job, simply because I want to. ... Or maybe I've just been fooling myself all this time and am actually simply a lazy brat because of my age...who knows?