None of you will like what I have to say. But let me kick the hard truth to you. Honestly about 50% of people I talk to are in nursing school or are taking pre-reqs for nursing school. This is a major red flag for several reasons. If you have not noticed, nursing wages/benefits have been on the down trend.
Pension?? goodbye.
Crud 401k 403b plans hello. Raise? LOL "sorry hospital is working out financial issues, maybe next year".
Nevermind if you work for a community/SNF agency. Yet insurance companies, medicare derived/gov agencies, and anyone else from the top 1% will continue to blast the RN as "shortage" in order to drive drones of students into nursing schools pulling each others hair out on the way to land a seat. Proof of this is, let's see (ABSN ***** ADN, BSN, diploma, LPN/LVN bridge to RN programs, RN to BSN) Why do these different routes exist? To flood the RN market as fast as possible to drive the wage, need, and profession into the ground.
Let's look at our oh so loyal CNA's. If you can find one that isn't in nursing school to be a nurse, ask them how much they make?
Look at LPN's 20-30 years ago and look at them today??
Surely the ANA and other organizations treated them with respect. The RN is next, so make sure to support your local nursing agency so they can do nothing for you. So they can be paid off by organizations so powerful that no one can say no and "not have the power to stop a bill". So they can continue to cry nursing shortage when this is not true.
RNs today are treated like children and are required to demonstrate fundamental task and other skills in inservices which were designed for nothing else but cut throat. To place blame of UTI's and poor patient satisfaction on the nurse.
If you are an RN today, your only safety net is to become an APRN if you want to live comfortably but in several decades the APRN will be under attack just like the LPN had been an RNs currently are. "OH the aging population is going to need nurses" You really think so?
Nursing homes are shutting down and now elderly people live at home with "24 hour care takers" that get paid **** wages and do things only an RN should be doing. You don't think so? Wake up.
None of this is to say that I hate nursing. I love helping people who are mentally ill, suffering from dementia, sick, or on their death beds. It is when we do great things for them that my love for nursing shines. There aren't other people standing around to reward you for your great deeds.
When the family comes in the next day complaining about everything, they never had a chance to see how well their dying loved one was cared for. Your good deeds will never be rewarded, but in a safe place in your heart.
I am just here to open the eyes of people who are intelligent and looking for a new career. I think you may find better job security else where. Invest your time in classes and money else where. Nursing is honestly under great attack right now and the future is black.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
WOW------You have a lot to learn. You WILL be in the "older" generation, before you know it, and having to be devalued and disrespected simply due to your age---I suspect you won't like that experience any more than the "older" nurses you complain about here and now. Age discrimination is alive and well, as anyone reading this post can see.
"Forgetful"???? "Unable to do physical labor"? REALLY??? You have no idea. This alone, is offensive.
And as an "older nurse" (older than you anyhow, but not old enough nearly, to retire)-----I have many responsibilities, only ONE of which is mentoring people like you.
@Heathermaizey . Thanks for your post. As I head towards nursing school, reading all about the surplus has made me scared, especially because I live in a very saturated state. There's a perception out there that some older nurses get bitter, resentful, and complain. Very negative vibe. It is not the younger generation's fault. While I respect the experience and knowledge older nurses teach us, older nurses should retire at some point. Do we want someone taking care of us who is forgetful and can't do physical work as much as younger nurses? Perhaps there should be a balance of older experienced nurses passing on knowledge to younger new grads.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Maybe and if that is true, that to me, is a problem. My cousin did not have to take the bar 10 times. I just think there should be a limit. But thanks for pointing it out.
Maybe more people would work in non-acute settings if the nurse/patient ratios and pay was similar.
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I'm sure more people would. But nursing homes and rehab centers can't have the same nurse/patient ratios as an acute care hospital. That's impractical. Different acuity levels require different staffing levels.
I think most nursing schools do a poor job of exposing students to LTC, subacute and rehab settings. This despite all indicators pointing toward these being the high-growth sectors, at the expense of hospitals.
And where I live, a new RN in LTC will make a few dollars more per/hr than a new RN in a hospital.
How can it be safe to have 1 nurse for 30 patients in an LTC where the patients require a lot of treatments and medications? The acuity level should require that 1 nurse = 10 pts.
I could pass meds for 30 psych patients who don't have other medical issues easier than I could pass meds and do wound care for 30 total care patients in a nursing home who require oodles of meds for diabetes, heart disease, etc plus do wound care, tube feedings, etc.
I love working with elderly patients, but the idea of having more than 20 patients in a nursing home setting scares me. I'll stick with my 10 psych patients where only 1 or 2 may need an insulin injection in an 8 hour shift on top of their psych oral meds.
Well, I won't say that a 32:1 ratio in LTC isn't overwhelming. It is. Do-able, but only if you're very task oriented and delegate most aspects of care to the CNAs.
But a 5:1 or even 10:1 ratio is just unrealistic. Never going to happen.
It is well known that northern nurses often quit positions in the south due to the working conditions, no support from coworkers.
Well known by whom? And are you really going to just throw a blanket statement over all the facilities in the South that employ nurses and say that coworkers don't support each other .. period? Perhaps that was your experience in a specific hospital but it by no means encompasses the entire South.
Nobody I know considers Florida to be "Southern" in the traditional sense of the word.
They are a strange land of their very own, unlike other southern states.
Well, except Texas; if you ask a person from Texas if they are from the south, they will tell you right-quick they are "TEXANS"!
Last time I was in Florida I saw more license plates from Michigan, NY and NJ than from Fla.
Anyway, that's neither here nor there.Much of what you've said about nursing in the south is true, I'm not arguing that at all. Just sayin' that Florida is not a true measure of the south.
(BTW, I'm originally from North of Boston, Mass.)
Actually as native Floridian, there are plenty of areas that are indeed Southern. Leave behind Miami, Ft.Lauderdale, Central Orlando, etc. the smaller towns are quite Southern in nature.
However I currently live and work just below the Mason Dixon. The conditions for nursing in FL are terrible and the pay is pathetic.
The lower east coast of the state and Miami does attract and create a special strangeness that kept Dave Barry writing for decades.
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
WOW------You have a lot to learn. You WILL be in the "older" generation, before you know it, and having to be devalued and disrespected simply due to your age---I suspect you won't like that experience any more than the "older" nurses you complain about here and now. Age discrimination is alive and well, as anyone reading this post can see.
"Forgetful"???? "Unable to do physical labor"? REALLY??? You have no idea. This alone, is offensive.
And as an "older nurse" (older than you anyhow, but not old enough nearly, to retire)-----I have many responsibilities, only ONE of which is mentoring people like you.