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.
Yes, most of my family members who do not have any college degrees make more money than I do. Maybe slightly less an hour but regular hours and overtime. Most don't have to flex down and lose a day of pay every check so they end up with a higher annual salary.
I believe that there is a distinct advantage to going into nursing at a later age; that being real work experience has shown you that a job isn't quite what the hype says, ever. Also you've dealt with a variety of co-workers, customers and other humans in general so you have a better idea of what may be expected and you know that no nursing job is like the dreamy portrayal on ER or the soaps. It could be said for a career change of any kind at a more "mature and experienced" age.
Agreed. And can't forget to mention that we're usually footing our own bill for school (while still tending to all of life's other bills), which prompts far more realistic research and soul-searching before signing up. When I observe some of my younger coursemates rolling their eyes through lecture or praying for a clinical snow day, I know they've got little or no personal $$ invested. Meanwhile I'm squeezing each minute for everything it's worth.
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
I am not sure,but what i have saw on Allnurses is that a Bsn in the Philippians takes 3 years,while ours take 4.
The Bsn is the minimum entry to practice in the Philippians
Most Rn's in the Usa have an Adn.
Here is the kicker...most of us ADN nurses really did spend 3 years in school for nursing,yet we still only have an Adn.
No, in the Philippines they only go kindergarten to grade 11 BSN is still 4 years but is often considered 3 years post HS as countries like US & Canada basic schooling is through grade 12. Then 4 years of college/university education.
For an American employer to say that they're hiring Filipino nurses because "American nurses aren't educated enough" is absurd. Complete nonsense. They're hiring Filipino nurses to save money. Period.
QI agree to a lot of your points, but disagree with others. I thought the same thing you thought when I was in nursing school. That it seemed like every person you know is going to school to be a nurse or moving up the nursing education ladder. The cna's are in school for it, everyone you run into working in nursing seems to be going back for more. But after I finished and was waiting to take my boards, I realized that I didn't run into anyone that had anything to do with nursing. I think we feel that there's too many people going to school for it, when in reality, it's all relative to our experiences. I do believe though, that the for profit schools, are creating a bit of a pickle, but like
There are some who feel like they are destined for a career, but once that day comes, more often than not, things are not how they are pictured in that persons mind and it just doesn't work. It can be a self discovery at that point. As long as the person's reasons are not going to harm a patient, it really doesn't concern anyone else why they chose nursing.
Your post doesn't sound as if you love nursing, or that your love for nursing shines. It says you're an unhappy employee who is trying to discourage others from joining the profession. It sounds angry and bitter. Your "hard truth" isn't my truth.
It's unfortunate that inferior nursing schools are accepting students who cannot get into a good school, and that they're cranking out graduates who cannot pass the basic licensing exam after umpteen tries. Those nursing schools need to close. The schools that are so difficult to get into -- those are the schools whose standards ought to be lauded. Perhaps those standards need to be, well, standard across the country. If anyone who cannot get into the brick and mortar University of "My State" school cannot then get into an wildly expensive for profit school (and rack up tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt) perhaps we wouldn't have such a glut of nurses on the market. But that's not the entire problem.
I have no problem with the associate's degree as an entry level to nursing. Some of the best nurses I work with have associate's degrees and (dare I say it?) diplomas. It makes a lot more sense to me than requiring a Master's degree as entry level. I've precepted ADN nurses and MSN nurses -- the difference is in the size of debt accumulated.
While it's true that our wages were frozen and our benefits declined for several years (while the economy in general tanked), my husband and I both had jobs. And I got a very nice raise last year. I don't know what the CEO of our hospital got, but I'm not unhappy with my paycheck at all.
There isn't a nursing shortage right now -- we all know that. There IS a shortage of experienced nurses to precept all the new grads that the nursing schools are cranking out -- most of whom only intend to stay in their new job as long as it takes to get into anesthesia school or to graduate from an NP program. There IS a shortage of nurses who want to actually take care of patients, stay at the bedside and take satisfaction from what can be (and has been for me) a very challenging, interesting and satisfying career. And there IS a shortage of new graduates who have some idea of what a nursing career (or even a first nursing job) will entail. Nights, weekends and holidays are all part of the package. As are poop, pee and 12 hour shifts. Anyone who graduates from whatever program expecting to be a nurse leader from the start clearly hasn't done their homework. Yet we find these new grads every single semester.
Experienced, competent RNs are not treated like children, morons or menials. CEOs have managed to figure out that hospitals exist to provide nursing care. Surgery is a moneymaker, to be sure, but why have beds in which patients can recover without nurses to care for them? Becoming an APRN isn't the only safety net -- schools are cranking out too many NPs as well. Our area is fully saturated with CRNAs as well. Bedside nursing is still needed, and if you go into it with a positive attitude it can be a great career. Unfortunately, all too few new grads want to actually be nurses.
My friends who went to college for business degrees, engineering or teaching all expected to graduate and move to wherever they could land that first job. Yes, some had a preference for the home town and some wanted to live in Boston or New York or LA . . . but they all expected that when they graduated, they'd have to move somewhere for their job. And they were willing to do that. Nurses, unfortunately, don't seem to be as willing to move to get that first job and the much-needed experience. Yes, it sucks that the most jobs are in rural North Dakota and you want to live in Florida. Yes it sucks that new grads don't make enough money to immediately buy that three bedroom house in the suburbs AND a brand new luxury car. New teachers and accountants are pretty much in the same boat, and most of them had to have roommates the first few years. Now people expect to live with Mom and Dad (and Mom and Dad paying the bills) until they can afford that three bedroom house in the suburbs. So if the new job is in Kansas and Mom and Dad live in Milwaukee, that's a problem. But the problem is in expectations, not in nursing.
Good deeds? Caring for the sick and dying is our JOB, not a good deed. If you need recognition for doing your JOB, then you're not self-motivated. Think about the last time you recognized your accountant for getting you that tax refund or the mechanic who saved your life when he repaired your brakes.
This is long enough. I'm going to see what other folks had to say about your negative post.
Your post resonated with me on a personal level because I am one of those new grads who moved 2000 miles across the country for my first nursing job. I realized that There was no nursing shortage before I graduated and mentally prepared myself to relocate. I am now in Fargo, North Dakota and I actually like it here. I graduated from School in Florida and I knew that the future for new grads in the state was grim. One must be willing to move to get the experience they need. I am currently enrolled in a RN to BSN program and I know I want to stay at the bedside for at least 5 years. I don't see how one can want to be a NP or CRNA without 5-10 good years of bedside experience. I am a new grad and trust me I know nursing is not glamorous like they portray on the flyers but I am prepared to deal with the good and the bad of the profession. I think this separates true nurses from assembly line nursing..I am fairly young, only 25 so I'm willing to give nursing 5 good years of me in good physical shape. I want to further my education and credentials but I also want to make sure I know the essential functions of the job as well.
I believe that there is a distinct advantage to going into nursing at a later age; that being real work experience has shown you that a job isn't quite what the hype says, ever. Also you've dealt with a variety of co-workers, customers and other humans in general so you have a better idea of what may be expected and you know that no nursing job is like the dreamy portrayal on ER or the soaps. It could be said for a career change of any kind at a more "mature and experienced" age.
I may be taking this post too personal, but I disagree with you on this. I am one of those young new grads at only 22. I believe I can handle situations with the maturity as someone older than me with no problems. I worked in customer service at a grocery store since I was 16 and I know how to work with people... I also worked as an aide. I worked three jobs while going to school full time, and I was serious about school. I never had expectations of nursing being like the tv shows and I am completely satisfied with working on the floor, I don't think I could ever do any other career. I also know of older individuals who made career switches that had such unrealistic expectations of what nursing is. Honestly I think I've seen more older people making career changes with too high of expectations. I just disagree that age will make you understand nursing better.
I may be taking this post too personal, but I disagree with you on this. I am one of those young new grads at only 22. I believe I can handle situations with the maturity as someone older than me with no problems. I worked in customer service at a grocery store since I was 16 and I know how to work with people... I also worked as an aide. I worked three jobs while going to school full time, and I was serious about school. I never had expectations of nursing being like the tv shows and I am completely satisfied with working on the floor, I don't think I could ever do any other career. I also know of older individuals who made career switches that had such unrealistic expectations of what nursing is. Honestly I think I've seen more older people making career changes with too high of expectations. I just disagree that age will make you understand nursing better.
I don't think the poster that you quoted meant that AGE itself is what determines the expectation. '
Just like in anything in life, a person's experiences shape how they will handle a demanding education.
I often said the same thing while I was in school- I could look around the room and tell you who was taking their education more seriously than others.
golson
96 Posts
If we cut summer breaks out, we could have BSNs in ununder 3 years.