I have an offer to enter into a Critical Care Nurse Residency Program that will give me seven months of training for critical care. However, I will need to sign a contract to stay at this particular place of employment for three years. And if I decide to leave before the three years I will have to pay a penalty of $8,000.00 for early termination of contract.
So, I would like to know other nurses opinions about this before I make the decision because I do not see it as being a very good deal.
Remember that the $8,000.00 is NOT for a signing bonus!
Thanks for the slam on small towns. I used to live in a big city. I GUESS NOTHING LIKE THAT EVER HAPPENS IN THE BIG CITY CAUSE THEY'RE MORE SOPHISTICATED THAN US SMALL TOWN FOLKS.
Huh? I've been here for four years, and have said nothing about sophistication at all. I can say that I got a lot of grief simply because I came from a big city.
Of course there are problems in cities. This weekend, when it was snowing, I stopped the car and said to a young woman who was slogging through it, "You want a ride?" and she hopped in. That certainly wouldn't have happened where I used to live.
But to say that my take on the insular and clannish nature of small towns is a slam isn't fair. It's true. Just as I was more likely to be mugged downstate, I am more likely to be excluded up here.
That's the truth. It isn't a slam. It has taken four years to carve a niche for myself up here, and while some of it was my need to adjust to the mores here, a buttload of it was "them." The ADON is related to the med nurse who is related to one of the aides. The charge nurse is related to two of the aides. The charge on the other units is related to the MDS nurse who is married to the ADON's nephew. And on and on it goes. Do you really think that that is only me "slamming" small towns?
$8000 sounds like a high amount. I definitely would make sure it was worth your while to stay there for 3 years. You mention this facility is in a small town. What kind of patients are you going to have there? Is this an ICU in a facility that is equipped to handle a diverse patient population, or are you going to be shipping really sick patients to larger facilities? If you're going to be able to learn a lot and care for patients that will continually challenge you, and you think you can handle living in that area for a while, the $8000 is moot since you'll complete 3 years there. The time really flies! Ask questions about staff seniority and why people leave. Are people with only 1-2 years experience considered the most senior nurse on certain days? If so, that's not a great sign...there's so much to consider.
Like many have said, the facility is investing time and money into your training for a long period of time, so it isn't necessarily unreasonable to require you to reimburse them if you aren't going to invest time there as an employee. On the other hand, it is a very scary proposition to lock yourself into the unknown for 3 years...what happens if you hate it? Three years of ICU Hell?
Besides you, who said anything about city people being more sophisticated? She was just sharing her experience moving from a large city to a small one... Take some deep breaths!
Taking DEEP BREATHS now.
It was an implication that I recieved and I was being ironic, which obviously did not come across very well.
In general it is true what she said about the clannish nature of small towns, but to make ABSOLUTE STATEMENTS such as "if you are moving to a small town you will have a terrible time making friends - yeah, it's safe and friendly, but you will be the outsider, you will have a hard time creating a social life, and you will have a hard time fitting in on the unit, which will be full of unspoken local traditions to which you are not privy" is not quite fair to a lot of people and facilities that I've worked with in small towns. I've had a lot easier time meeting people and making friends in small towns than in the big city.
That's true, it did sound like a sweeping generalization. Not everyone has the same experience. I did find my small town hospital to have some insular and clannish tendencies, however.
I didn't find it to be a sweeping generalization when she appeared to make it quite clear that she was talking about and giving examples from her own experience.
Anyhow...back to our regularly scheduled AN post...something about $8000... am I right?
I didn't find it to be a sweeping generalization when she appeared to make it quite clear that she was talking about and giving examples from her own experience.
Anyhow...back to our regularly scheduled AN post...something about $8000... am I right?
Yep, it's so easy to get sidetracked, but it was a lot of fun.
I think it makes good business sense and that you should base your decision on the same kind of reasoning ... do you think you can live up to your obligation under this contract or not?
If yes, then go for it ... critical care training and certification is worth a fair bit of money to you so maybe three years of your life is worth it.
If you can't fulfill that obligation, find a richer hospital willing to train you for free.
As other posters have pointed out, many hospitals just cannot afford to train you then see you take off for greener pastures as soon as you get credentialed.
In Mass, the MNA did a study of training costs for new hires. They found that hiring and training a new critical care nurse costs over $60K ... that includes recruitment, pay during your training and the cost of the training itself.
Yes, hospitals need us, but they don't owe us free training if it means they won't get the benefit of that training in their own facilities.
As for the "what if's", perhaps you should read the contract and find out if it covers such unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances as extended illness or disability.
I agree, $8000 is a steep penalty. A lower amount would be more acceptable. The facility should have some faith in their own ability to pick, train, and retain nurses. Are there any other fields that holds new trainees hostage like this? Do engineering or other professions have these sorts of penalties?
I'd see what other alternatives there are out there with less strings attached. My daughter went to nursing school at a really nice hospital in Central PA. The hospital was wonderful. It was a tertiary center, but in a very small town about 100 miles from home. Although she liked the hospital and they would have reimbursed a lot of the tuition for a work committment, she returned home after graduation. The area just did not suit her and she missed us. Honestly, I wished she had stayed there for financial reasons, but you have to do something that you, in your best estimation, can live with. Good luck!
After a year or two if you find the situation intolerable then with the increase in pay in another place, $8,000.00 may be very manageable. Maybe you should plan ahead and start saving for it just in case.
However, I would make sure it was intolerable instead of irritating before bailing out. It's a small world. Managers, administrators and co-workers have a strange way of popping up again in different places. They also network as most others.
From the perspective of someone who waited almost 30 years before going back to school, three years is not a very long time. Just think of it as going to advanced nursing school but being paid a lot of money for clinicals.
Are there any other fields that holds new trainees hostage like this? Do engineering or other professions have these sorts of penalties?
Clinical social work does, to some extent. It is pretty typical for an agency to require 1-2 years of service post supervision if they provided or paid for the required clinical supervision hours for independent licenseure.
SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN
10,263 Posts
Huh? I've been here for four years, and have said nothing about sophistication at all. I can say that I got a lot of grief simply because I came from a big city.
Of course there are problems in cities. This weekend, when it was snowing, I stopped the car and said to a young woman who was slogging through it, "You want a ride?" and she hopped in. That certainly wouldn't have happened where I used to live.
But to say that my take on the insular and clannish nature of small towns is a slam isn't fair. It's true. Just as I was more likely to be mugged downstate, I am more likely to be excluded up here.
That's the truth. It isn't a slam. It has taken four years to carve a niche for myself up here, and while some of it was my need to adjust to the mores here, a buttload of it was "them." The ADON is related to the med nurse who is related to one of the aides. The charge nurse is related to two of the aides. The charge on the other units is related to the MDS nurse who is married to the ADON's nephew. And on and on it goes. Do you really think that that is only me "slamming" small towns?