why pay rate is so good for cna's and nurses

SitcomNurse, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN · Aug 10, 2005

i have an upcoming interview as a cna at a local facility. it will be in the casual pool. so i would just work two weekends a month. i'm hoping for midnight shift. Anyway, the rate there is 15 for cna's to start and 22 for lpn's. this seems like a red flag and i'm wondering if i should even go through with the interview. why else would a place offer so much unless they were desperate for staff.?? the place in question is modern and provides a wide array of medical services.

ALWAYS go for the interview. Then decide. If nothing else, it provides practice for the interview that you have, for the job you DO want. What I mean to say is.... No matter how much that person wants you to work there,(citing short staff and your apparant happiness at the pay scale) YOU decide that in the interview. Feel free to say, if you are not pleased, that you thank them for the time/opportunity, but it dosent seem like the place for you if you dont like it. BUT GO. Thats the jumping off point.

Trust me.. the first interview I went to, for a job I really wanted... I froze, and couldnt think that dehydration is a primary concern for the elderly in heat(I mean the heat of summer). I couldnt think of where insulin is secreted from in the body...

The pay is what it is. After you start working, then tell me that you think the scale is askew.

:nurse

Everyonce in a while God turns on the SitcomNurse channel for a good giggle.

ZZTopRN, BSN, RN · Aug 11, 2005

i have an upcoming interview as a cna at a local facility. it will be in the casual pool. so i would just work two weekends a month. i'm hoping for midnight shift. Anyway, the rate there is 15 for cna's to start and 22 for lpn's. this seems like a red flag and i'm wondering if i should even go through with the interview. why else would a place offer so much unless they were desperate for staff.?? the place in question is modern and provides a wide array of medical services.

I have been out of nursing and it was suggested to me to start at a skilled nursing facility. I sent them my resume and they called me next day. My pay as an RN was 24/ph. I was hired immediately. I had made it clear to them that I wanted to update my skills only to find out they only wanted me on the LTC. After seeing the workload, I quit in 6 days. I too, also wondered why they were offering me 24 for someone that had been out of nursing for 10 years.

I agree with going to the interview, but also I would encourage you to be very careful. I also was concerned about the person training me that would see that I was slow and started giving some of the meds and did not chart the meds he gave until the end of the shift. I have always had a habit of charting the meds I give right after I give them, and it was confusing to me to have this going on. I had enough to do without remembering who he told me he had given them to and him not charting until the end of the shift. I also noted that after I did the narcotic count with the previous shift, a couple of times the person I counted with did not sign the narcotic sheet and left. That scared me. Hope nothing comes of it. Just be very careful. As I said before, I felt the same as you about the thought of desperation and the high pay rates.

ZZTopRN, BSN, RN · Aug 11, 2005

i have an upcoming interview as a cna at a local facility. it will be in the casual pool. so i would just work two weekends a month. i'm hoping for midnight shift. Anyway, the rate there is 15 for cna's to start and 22 for lpn's. this seems like a red flag and i'm wondering if i should even go through with the interview. why else would a place offer so much unless they were desperate for staff.?? the place in question is modern and provides a wide array of medical services.

I was told by one of the LVNs that graduate RNs never stay. I thought it was amusing when I saw their next ad was for LVNs.

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Aug 11, 2005

I agree, definetly go to the interview and then decide. Good luck to you. :)

babynurselsa, RN · Aug 11, 2005

The idea of going to the interview is good. I would be wary, especially if what the yare offering is well about the local average. It may be a sign that they have problems.

I remember seeing some ads for a facility I think maybe in Pheonix or somewhere therabouts that was offering RNs with a 24,000 sign on bonus. Call me jaded but I don't think that they were doing so because they respect nurses as valuable.

elkpark · Aug 11, 2005

Definitely go on the interview, because it's always good practice, but if the pay rate is much higher than similar facilities in the area, it's probably because there is something else about working there that is so unpleasant that they have to pay that much more to keep staff.

I guarantee you that it's not because the management just wants to be generous ...

You can always ask to talk to some current staff alone (not chaperoned by management) -- they may not be willing to let you do that, but it's a perfectly reasonable thing to ask. And if they won't make staff available to speak with you privately, that tells you something right there ... I have done that in the past and gotten the straight scoop from current employees, and have also warned off others from taking a job when I was the "current staff." It's kind of "traditional" to ask to speak with the most recent hire (of your same role; RN, CNA, whatever) who is present when you're there -- that gives you an opportunity to ask about what kind of orientation s/he got, etc. (did they promise her six weeks orientation, and then throw her to the wolves after a week and a half???)

Best wishes --