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.
Like I said, in general it speaks to the characterisics at that point in time. The poster that originally brought up the 2.5 GPA, if he/she was speaking to science pre reqs, I'd be fine if that made a pre nursing ineligible until they repeated those classes and brought the up their GPA to 3.0 and then had to compete with the students who not only performed better, but also who may possess all of the inherent qualities that make for a highly competent nurse. I won't apologize for that opinion.
But I'm a bit speechlees, since when is 325 + 325 = 650 "remedial" math? That's so far BEFORE remedial status, that's what.. 2nd grade?!
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Gawd-a-mighty! I never said nuthin' 'bout workin' no FLOORS into my dotage!
I consider that I've PAID my dues and don't need to punish my body or my brains any more! After 30 years of energetic and demanding nursing jobs I bowed out of all that facility stuff. I did enjoy the hospital environment and challenges, but now after 40+ years, I enjoy doing private duty. You won't need to watch me limp and totter I promise!!!
It really perplexes me that there are actually new grads who expect to get the best hours, the best shift, and the best pay. I will be a new grad nurse in May, and when I was discussing my job offer with the nurse manager of the unit where I will work, she asked, "Will working weekends be a problem for you?" I was so surprised she asked that that I almost thought she was joking. Who on Earth would say they can't work weekends? It honestly reminds me of 16-year-old high schoolers that would apply to this restaurant where I used to work, and on the applications, they would say they weren't available to work weekends.
And honestly, new grads should expect to work nights at first. Day shift is much more preferred by the majority of people as opposed to night shift, so guess who gets first pick? The veteran nurses. Isn't this common sense? And the same with holidays. People don't stop getting sick on holidays. Why should a new grad be the one to get Christmas day off? I am only 20 years old, part of the "me me me generation" (as somebody here labeled it), and I don't have such a sense of entitlement.
New grads who have these expectations of the ideal shifts aren't just ignorant, they're naive. You would think one would do research before pursing a profession.
If you are already working as a CNA, are enthusiastic about the work you do, and find satisfaction in providing direct patient care at the bedside, I believe those are excellent indicators that nursing may be a very good career choice for you, and that you will have a better than average chance of finding a nursing job after graduating. Nursing, and patients, badly need nurses who want to provide hands-on patient care; who do not feel that their talents are being wasted or feel belittled by taking care of patients who, for example, are incontinent, or who have dementia. Nursing, and patients, need nurses who want to care for patients physically; who recognize that there are no limits to the critical thinking one can develop and use at the bedside, who along with very good clinical abilities have the ability to show patience and caring towards patients and their family members.
When I think back to nursing school, the people who were the happiest students, and who already had jobs upon graduating or shortly after (even though our class graduated at a time when jobs for new nurses were not easy to obtain), were the people who already knew that they wanted to be in the nursing profession. These people were were already working as CNA's or home health aides, or as LVN's. These students appeared to me to be even happier than the people who were working as ER techs, or paramedics. The people who really wanted to be nurses, and who really wanted to take care of patients, were content to take first jobs wherever they could find them, and were pleased to find their first jobs in long term care, or in sub-acute areas. Twenty years later, when I bump into some of these people where they are working in local health care facilities, the quality of care they have provided my family members with in addition to their whole demeanor, tells me that they are still happy to be working as nurses.
I believe nursing needs a lot more people like I mentioned above. I urge prospective students to try to choose nursing because you know you really want to take care of patients and their families, i.e. providing hands-on nursing care of a high quality, with patience and kindness. I am always shocked when I read people who are considering nursing, and even nurses, say that they fear they will not be able to use their critical thinking abilities sufficiently at the bedside, or that they are losing their critical thinking abilities by working at the bedside. Nursing requires life long learning, endless studying, to really understand the medicine and nursing involved in taking care of patients, and to be a really competent practitioner. This kind of experience takes years to develop; it doesn't derive from taking a few courses and classes. Nursing experience can't be taught; it has to be earned over many years of practice.
@ Susie2310. Thank you for your post. I've been told that nurses need compassion and shouldn't seek it purely for money. I think a prerequisite for applying to nursing school should be volunteering! It was totally different from studying and taking prerequisites. I learned a lot of positive things which will help me in nursing school. however, you also meet a lot of bitter, old nurses who are not happy in the profession, but are doing it because they need to pay the bills. They're such a turn off and not an encouragement for everyone else.
Honestly, I chose nursing because it was in the middle of everything I like and provides a stable living. Yes, you need to do what you love, but also be practical at the same time.
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.
I volunteered in the ER for a year before nursing school for several hours a week. I also took a first responder course before nursing school. Volunteering in the ER involved stocking linen and bedside supplies, running errands for the staff, and hunting down wheelchairs. While volunteering was a good experience, it did very little to prepare me for providing hands-on nursing care on a med-surg unit during student clinical's, and provided no indication of whether I would like nursing.
I love nursing. It took me 30 years to get to nursing school and I couldn't be happier. When I go on job interviews I don't really care what the wage is I am just excited about helping people that need help. Come to find out the jobs around here average around $26 per hour to start. This is a very good starting salary to start. My "wage, benefits, pension" is in the smiles and hugs that each patient gives me. I couldn't be happier.
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. But 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 lets 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.
Lets look at our oh so loyal CNA's. If you can find one that isnt 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 if 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 dont 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 arent 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 dieing love 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.
You seem to have a bittersweet love hate relationship with nursing and you are far from alone. It is good that you like caring for the elderly.
It's true pay, benefits are down, but that is a problem in virtually every industry except for the CEO's and top management. CNA's by me make $10 to $15/hr at the most, but when raises are only 2-3% they will be toiling for years at not even a living wage. It makes sense that they see the reality and look for a way to advance. I say good for them if they are motivated and want to find a way to have a better paying job. People are not going to stop going into nursing when that is one of the few fields that pays a living wage and they also feel they are making a difference.
Burnout is rampant in nursing, many people suffer from it, but some do get out either by quitting entirely, finding an easier job or going back to school for NP. I think NP is the best option if you have the time to pay back student loans and are willing to relocate if necessary and think outside the box to finding a job.
About half of our new grad RN's return to school for NP shortly after realizing the reality of nursing. Of those that have graduated some have found a job easily and it works out well and they are very happy. Others it takes more time and then they change jobs several times because the first job wasn't working out for them. I think sometimes it is because they are such new nurses that they don't know as much as a senior nurse would and then feel overwhelmed with the responsibility and the Dr's they work with expect them to be ready without any real training or support. There is no new grad NP residency like they have for RN's in many places now. Granted hospital nursing is not the same as being an NP, but if you are experienced most likely you will have learned so much about different disease process, meds, treatments, etc and I think it would be an easier transaction. But the nurses going back to school for NP where I work are all the young ones, I rarely see an older nurse doing this and I think that is because of the day to day bills, mortgage, insurance taking care of the family, not to mention taking out student loans at a time when retirement saving should be top priority.
You're right administration doesn't value nurses and actually prefer new grads to experienced nurses because they see them as more malleable. When they push their top down orders and say jump the new grads will say how high because they don't know any better and they want to do a good job and be the best. What is so frustrating is the level of disrespect from admin toward the experienced nurses and they want to blame them for any problems. They are pushing bedside report I guess because of Press ganey and they are convinced it will lead to good scores, but I think we all know that is a fantasy! The happy patients are less likely to fill out a survey than the disgruntled. It is just a fact.
I promised to fill out some surveys myself when I bought a new car and had my dryer installed, for instance, but then never did. I even gave the dryer guys a tip because they were so helpful and saved me having to call a plumber or HVAC guy to connect the gas because it was an old house and not up to the current standards. They couldn't do the work themselves because of this, but walked us through it probably saved me $300!
Anyway we have shared governance but it is run by management they say what we will work on, suggestions are not encouraged. Management doesn't want to listen to the nurses when we say ok we'll do bedside report meet and greet, but we want to get the main report at the station first for legitimate reason such as pt is confused, doesn't speak English, doesn't know a bad test result yet, psych issues, family issues, etc, etc. But no there is no compromise and when the experienced nurses speak up about a workable system they are told no you must do what we tell you and if you don't it will affect your eval! Then they have spies that watch what we do! I'm all for the meet and greet, giving a basic overview and plan to the patient, but we all know bedside report doesn't work in all situations. Frankly bedside report ends up being more about customer relations and the actual report gets sidelined and key info is missed. Then you have to play catch up if you have the time to read the H & P and consults, etc! I don't know why they don't see reason and work with us. Geez we are the one's at the bedside doing the job, surely we know what we are talking about! I don't even bring it up anymore because I think it will just place a big target on my back! Sad!
I promise!!!
Cheercrazee23
10 Posts
I too have a B.S. in Sociology and after working 7 years in the field, decided to grow into nursing… Nurses are not born… they are developed.