I recently lost my job and started applying. Seven years of experience and a bachelor's degree, I thought I'd be a hot commodity. It's 2019 and things are no different than when I graduated shortly after the recession. I apply to jobs and my applications are instantly rejected because I don't have medical/surgical experience. I don't fit the requirements for a new grad program, either.
Well there is this supposed shortage where everyone is understaffed and desperate for nurses. I don't see it. Nobody is willing to train new staff and nobody will hire those of us who got screwed during the recession.
I think it's all BS. I've met a lot of nurses in similar situations and they all struggle trying to get out of this low level line of work.
My last job was at Kaiser where I had a benefits plan worth my annual salary. We were horribly understaffed too. But, I would look at the jobs page for anything available so I could tell my friends where to apply. There were never any jobs there. Management always told us they were going to hire more, but they never did. When the Joint Commission left, they got rid of the travel nurses and stopped hiring. Then, they started instituting mandatory overtime and overloading us past the ratio policy limits.
Honestly, I think hospitals and facilities are just happy the way things are. They know there are nurses who want to get in. I've never been in management before, so I don't know why they make that decision. However, I suspect it costs more to hire a new employee than it would to pay overtime for current staff.
The nursing shortage is in LTC. The sad thing is that a lot of nurses feel that LTC is beneath them or that they will lose their skills. Both false. All LTCs are begging for RNs, LPNs and CNAs.
I don't think LTC is below me as a new grad but the situations LTC puts staff in is unacceptable. Classmate of mine took an LTC job. After 1.5wks of training she was put in charge by herself on an overnight. She quit the next day. That isn't a safe situation for a newbie RN and that's why folks don't want to work LTC.
The nursing shortage is in LTC. The sad thing is that a lot of nurses feel that LTC is beneath them or that they will lose their skills. Both false. All LTCs are begging for RNs, LPNs and CNAs.
Yeah, dont confuse losing your license with being beneath a RN.
LTCs are notoriously known for understaffing and putting RNs in compromising situations.
I guess I must work in a pretty good facility. Over 20 years there and only 1 nurse lost her license. She was caught diverting narcotics, then refused any treatment. I do wish all nurses the best. We all find our place somewhere. Just was trying to give an option for nurses trying to find a job. Have a great night everyone!
I guess I must work in a pretty good facility. Over 20 years there and only 1 nurse lost her license. She was caught diverting narcotics, then refused any treatment. I do wish all nurses the best. We all find our place somewhere. Just was trying to give an option for nurses trying to find a job. Have a great night everyone!
Then you're working at a very good facility as that's not the usual experience with LTC around these parts. I had a recruiter try to push an LTC job on me and she admitted to me that I would have to learn by myself as I would only get 2 weeks total of in-class and on the floor orientation as a brand new graduate. Two weeks isn't enough to be supervising LPNs or any other staff.
Then you're working at a very good facility as that's not the usual experience with LTC around these parts. I had a recruiter try to push an LTC job on me and she admitted to me that I would have to learn by myself as I would only get 2 weeks total of in-class and on the floor orientation as a brand new graduate. Two weeks isn't enough to be supervising LPNs or any other staff.
Ha! My preceptor called in sick my first day. I was told to take the cart and do what I could. First job as an RN, new grad. It went about as well as one would expect. I eventually got 3 days orientation. I can’t remember if it included that first day.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
On 10/26/2019 at 9:33 AM, SolosGirl said:
Something you aren't mentioning.
The hourly pay is $22-26/hr.
The average rent is >$1000/mo for a decent 2 br without having to commute an hour each way through the worst traffic you've seen since....L.A. Raleigh traffic is a nightmare---and if the rent's cheap---you're living in a dangerous place.
Schools are so awful that most move to Wake Forest and pay for private education for their kids.
So---wanna know why the jobs are open? Not because Duke, UNC and Wake are horrible places to work. They are great places.
The pay is substandard for an area that is "very expensive" if you are making that crappy hourly wage.
They collude to keep the wages exactly the same for all levels, so you cannot just "go down the street" and get a better paying job.
Be careful what some here tell you about areas of need---they forget the biggest priority---paying your bills and having some type of work/life balance.
This is not accurate either! I moved to NC to be a teacher. I live in Johnston County and the schools are not bad anywhere near Raleigh. Durham is a little trickier but doable. My kids got a great public education. There are also very affordable places to live that are not dangerous.
As far as pay, that is appropriate for the area and COL. I am originally from Chicago. COL there is 5 times what it is here. I have a 3500 sq ft home that, for what we paid, I would have to pay well over 4 times as much.
This is a wonderful place to work and live. Durham is an amazing city and as soon as my youngest finishes high school (he's a sophomore), we are moving closer.
I love my job, the benefits, the work culture, the medicine that I am exposed to, the amount of learning that I continue to do.
The pay at the facilities here is all about the same and, I feel, appropriate. We manage a house, 2 cars, my student loans and my oldest just started college.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
On 10/27/2019 at 10:22 AM, SansNom said:
I feel like a common problem nowadays is that the taskiness and simplification of nursing by computers and technology is making experience less and less valuable to employers. Most hospital nursing positions don't require a lot of skill or experience, just someone able to semi-safely pass meds and click a bunch of required charting boxes on the computer. Most med-surg nursing (and even some ICU) jobs are done by computers telling nurses exactly what to do, with little discernment required on the nurse's part.........chart this at that time.......give that at this time........titrate this drip for these numbers.........etc.
So the experienced nursing are expecting higher pay for their experience, but hospitals don't want to pay you $10 more an hour when wet-behind-the-ears new-grad Emily over there can just as easily click the boxes and pass the meds for a whole lot less money.
Sure, there will be some collateral damage in the form of missed signs and symptoms, or med errors, or maybe even a death here and there, but what they're saving by staffing with cheap new grads and young nurses who are just happy to have a job makes that collateral damage negligible.
That's the way it seems to me anyway. The ICU where I work is probably 70% staffed by nurses with 1-2 years experience. They don't want to hire a nurse like me with 8 years experience when they can get young nurses who can just complete the task and make their paperwork look good, and who's willing to shut up and do whatever they tell them.
I don't even intend this post to really be a complaint, but just an acknowledgement of something we have to adapt to.
I don't agree with this. I am a floor nurse with a MSN in Informatics. It is more than pass meds and click a few boxes. I actually find that a little self insulting, to you.
I am more than that. I find that as a nurse, I have the ability to make the pts feel like they are being treated as a human being BY a human being. We make the difference.
I'm sorry for those of you that feel like your abilities are being wasted.
I don't agree with this. I am a floor nurse with a MSN in Informatics. It is more than pass meds and click a few boxes. I actually find that a little self insulting, to you.
I am more than that. I find that as a nurse, I have the ability to make the pts feel like they are being treated as a human being BY a human being. We make the difference.
I'm sorry for those of you that feel like your abilities are being wasted.
I didn't say that you couldn't make your own purpose and be much more than a med passing button clicker, I was addressing what upper management cares about as far as pay is concerned.
I also do much more than that. I'm a good nurse and I enjoy my job, and I float through both ICU and med/surg floors in two different hospitals, but I acknowledge that to many upper echelons of our company I am a number on a paper that they have to give money to. They don't care that I made Mrs. So-and-so's day the other day by putting in a little extra effort. Or that I prevented a med error. Or anything else that doesn't necessarily go on paper.
They care about what I'm payed and if I fulfill my charting requirements and what I look like on paper.
That was my only point. Not to say that I personally do the bare minimum, or to denigrate the job as a whole. You took it the wrong way.
Have you considered getting OASIS and home health coding certified? With all your years of experience, there are many opportunities for remote OASIS and coding reviewers, provided you have the certifications. I've been in home health for way too long, worked my way up the ranks from field nurse to DON to Clinical Operations and now do this type of work remotely while working on my Post Master's NP. I'm so done with home health and all the changes coming down the pike. The work is pretty laid back, you work in your PJs and make your own hours. Hope you find zen in a new job soon :)
There is a reason why hospital experience is necessary out of school. Having your BSN, I find this strange. My wife, a diploma nurse, had a two year unemployment experience from 2014-2015, but the country was coming out of a depression. I knew of a nurse, also diploma, who left the hospital to do research and his department lost their grant. He never worked as a nurse again. Jobs are never guaranteed. Good luck and hope you are able to land that career that will be a perfect fit.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
On 10/28/2019 at 8:06 PM, SansNom said:
I didn't say that you couldn't make your own purpose and be much more than a med passing button clicker, I was addressing what upper management cares about as far as pay is concerned.
I also do much more than that. I'm a good nurse and I enjoy my job, and I float through both ICU and med/surg floors in two different hospitals, but I acknowledge that to many upper echelons of our company I am a number on a paper that they have to give money to. They don't care that I made Mrs. So-and-so's day the other day by putting in a little extra effort. Or that I prevented a med error. Or anything else that doesn't necessarily go on paper.
They care about what I'm payed and if I fulfill my charting requirements and what I look like on paper.
That was my only point. Not to say that I personally do the bare minimum, or to denigrate the job as a whole. You took it the wrong way.
I just get sad when I think people think they don't matter. It matters to us when we prevent a med error or make someone's stay in the hospital better. To me, that is one of the good parts ❤️
Once in a while, I feel like management "gets" it.
stockmanjr, BSN
131 Posts
I don't think LTC is below me as a new grad but the situations LTC puts staff in is unacceptable. Classmate of mine took an LTC job. After 1.5wks of training she was put in charge by herself on an overnight. She quit the next day. That isn't a safe situation for a newbie RN and that's why folks don't want to work LTC.