I am sure many people have heard of the social issue/ cause "school to prison pipeline" that many civic groups are trying to eradicate. I am here to draw attention to a similar related problem , the college to welfare pipeline.
Due to an intricate , intimate, and covert relationship between big government politicos, higher education, Bureau of Occupational affairs, and the Federal/ State Department of labor, we have a serious student debt problem in the nursing field that is only going to get worse. Nurses need to wake up and take note of the LPN to RN hoax, and the RN-BSN hoax. These are all well publicized , propaganda driven falsities that are crushing nurses into debt driven higher education requirements. These propaganda driven requirements brainwash nurses into believing that without the extra education, they will not be employed.
And to a certain degree, they are correct, but its important for nurses to see the pitfall, before taking the dive. There is little to no difference in responsibility or pay rate from LPN to RN, and most RNs are taking the lower wage, just to have a job. There is zero difference in job responsibility or pay from RN to BSN, but the dollars spent to get there are substantial. The RN to BSN pipeline is a grotesque narrative that is being sung, for the sole purpose of enriching nursing schools. The NCLEX exam is identical for RNs and BSNs, the scope of practice is identical, and so are all the pay rates. A staff nurse is a staff nurse, is a staff nurse, too.
So why go for your BSN? Its because the hospitals and other various 24/ 7 institutional care providers say so. They have all built a united wall against the ADN RN. We are becoming an extinct species, because no one will hire us. Is the BSN a job guarantee? Of course not. Is any higher education a job guarantee? Nope. Big government politicos want student debt to skyrocket , so that they can fly in and save everyone with free bailouts, loan forgiveness, and thousands of more votes on election day.
May the buyer beware, until that utopia comes to fruition. In the meantime, take a serious look inward into the pitfalls, tricks and traps of higher education in the nursing field. The powers that be want you to keep jumping hurdles , spending more and more money, hoping to get hired, and falling deeper and deeper into debt, during the process. The higher you jump, the more you spend, and the less you earn. For many nurses who fell for these schemes, the financial devastation has been both swift and severe.
If I had to do it all over again I would have stayed in the military a little longer and then went into a trade or just done a trade after graduating high school.
I'm a second career nurse. If I had to do it all over again, I would have accepted the job at half the money years ago, during an enormous round of layoffs in my other career. I opted for severance and nursing school, which turned out to be a big mistake. I was a suit and tie, white collar professional who was accustomed to basic dignity and respect in the workplace, which is completely extinct in all matters nursing. (in my experience). A hard lesson learned that while I got the grades and performed the skills, I have seen a gruesome lack of respect for nurses as professionals, at all levels.
I too am a second career nurse. The lack of respect really is something. Not all patients are like this (thank god) but sometimes patients and their family members? All I can say is wow. It also doesn't help with the surveys the pt gets after discharge and reimbursement from CMS. More hospitals are pushing the whole "customer service". Sorry, I didn't go into debt and bust my tail to be a glorified waiter/waitress. This is part of the reason why no one says at the bedside long term. Well, that and the disrespect, workload, staffing ratios etc.
I too am a second career nurse. The lack of respect really is something. Not all patients are like this (thank god) but sometimes patients and their family members? All I can say is wow. It also doesn't help with the surveys the pt gets after discharge and reimbursement from CMS. More hospitals are pushing the whole "customer service". Sorry, I didn't go into debt and bust my tail to be a glorified waiter/waitress. This is part of the reason why no one says at the bedside long term. Well, that and the disrespect, workload, staffing ratios etc.
While sometimes its the patients and their families that make the profession grueling, for me its more the institutions, or should I say corporations , the upper echelon of management, and various levels of mid-low management all ready willing and able to deep six their nursing staff every six months to save $$ on salary and benefits. Its been a race to the bottom for quality care, placing more emphasis on constant profit. I have seen hospitals let go of entire departments, and nursing homes now requiring nurses to wear 4 hats, in jobs that used to be occupied by 4 people. What is really the most infuriating is that nurses are being let go for the benefit of the bottom line, yet mangers , given the opportunity will instead call the nurse into a room and explain that he/ she is a worthless mess that pissed off too many patients and made too many errors. Its a true horror that not only do they cancel your employment on a moments notice, but they steal your confidence on the way out the door. And they get away with it, because they always have a fresh pile of resumes on the table.
See my previous comment about re-locating. I'm not on here to argue, and shove my point of view down the throats of everyone dead bent on insisting I am wrong. I wrote the article based upon 20 years of displaced nurses in PA who have been hit hard by market saturation and endless education requirements of hospitals constantly moving the goal post to the right. PA was a manufacturing / coal mining state that was devastated by entire industries being shipped overseas, and consequently there are a horrifying number of people unemployed here. (Stats say differently , but that is a whole different ball of wax) Those seeking career placement were directed into nursing or teaching...2 professions which cannot be automated or shipped overseas. Now its market saturation for both.
You live in Pennsylvania. I have told you, over and over, in this thread that Pittsburgh has PLENTY of nursing jobs. You don’t need state reciprocity to move to a different area of your same state.
Look up jobs at UPMC and Allegheny Health. Excela in Westmoreland County even offers student loan repayment. The cost of living in Pittsburgh is far less than Philly so the hourly rates may be lower but they go farther.
Have you EVER had a nursing job? If not, apply for the new grad positions. You do NOT need your BSN to get hired in Pittsburgh. But you do need good references, good grades and a good interview.
See my previous comment about re-locating. I'm not on here to argue, and shove my point of view down the throats of everyone dead bent on insisting I am wrong. I wrote the article based upon 20 years of displaced nurses in PA who have been hit hard by market saturation and endless education requirements of hospitals constantly moving the goal post to the right. PA was a manufacturing / coal mining state that was devastated by entire industries being shipped overseas, and consequently there are a horrifying number of people unemployed here. (Stats say differently , but that is a whole different ball of wax) Those seeking career placement were directed into nursing or teaching...2 professions which cannot be automated or shipped overseas. Now its market saturation for both.
I have another viewpoint to the statement that nursing and teaching "can't be shipped overseas". Both can and have, in fact, been shipped overseas with the extensive use of "import" personnel. I saw an article about two businessmen in CA who were going to start a separate business entity to import teachers because they were already successful in importing nurses from the country that is best known for growing its nursing force for export. This way of looking at the situation is not my original idea, but I certainly see how it makes sense.
I have another viewpoint to the statement that nursing and teaching "can't be shipped overseas". Both can and have, in fact, been shipped overseas with the extensive use of "import" personnel. I saw an article about two businessmen in CA who were going to start a separate business entity to import teachers because they were already successful in importing nurses from the country that is best known for growing its nursing force for export. This way of looking at the situation is not my original idea, but I certainly see how it makes sense.
You are correct. I have seen, and worked, side by side with some of the "imports" that are being paid with subsidized government grants and relocation expenses. The hospitals that hire them advertise the "foreign nurse program" on their websites. Its basically a trap, because once they are here and working in the job, they cannot leave, except to return to their home country. Its a way to make more Americans unemployed by exploiting foreign labor who are willing to accept the toxic/ impossible work conditions hospitals have set up for us.
I was having a group conversation with some of the imports at work one time concerning this (it was new to me at my first LTC job). She was flabbergasted at the thought that employers would scarf up on the fact that they could depress wages by importing nurses. To her and others in the conversation, they were earning a "fortune" to send back home, while those born here were more averse to getting near minimum wage for work requiring a college education and a license.
I became an ADN/RN at 36 and immediately doubled my paramedic salary. Then my BSN two years later allowed me to seek a commission in the Army (they don't take ADNs). The Army and GI Bill funded my graduate degrees, both of which have paid off in terms of access to higher paying roles and different positions that I couldn't have held otherwise. My part-time teaching job has already paid me more than the cost of that degree. No student loan debt at all. So it can be done, without crippling debt and later in life, with planning as you mention.
But yes, seeing people going in blindly and without a thought to paying the loans makes me want to scream! I spent 10 years working for a government contractor in DC and it sucked the life out of me, so I understand the urge to chuck it all for what one might view as a career helping others (if only we could really do that all day, right?). I became a paramedic in an evening program while working 50+ hours per week and then left my corporate gig (with great pay, bonuses, nice office, etc.) to be an ER tech/paramedic. Huge pay cut. Luckily it all worked out for me, I am happy where I am 16 years later!
ADNs still get hired in Georgia, by the way. I work in an academic facility that prefers BSN, but ADNs are still hired here and in the four other hospitals in the area.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
4 hours ago, panurse9999 said:
And plenty do not. A lifelong friend of mine was speaking to a Dean of Nursing at one of the most prestigious universities in the area, who graduates about 40 BSN prepared nurses each year. She was lamenting about market saturation, because not even one had a job upon graduation.
If not even 1 had a job upon graduation, then it's not just the market. What's going on with the school? Poor reputation? Low NCLEX pass rates? There are programs out there that produce unemployable grads, regardless of the reputation of the overarching school/university.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
7 hours ago, panurse9999 said:
If we had sanity in the portability of nursing licenses from State to State, I would agree. We don't. I passed a national NCLEX exam. My license should be good anywhere. But it is not. I have to apply for reciprocity, and that is all dependent on how fast the State Board will approve it.
It's not just nursing that has to contend with transferring licenses. Doctors, lawyers, the list goes on. Heck, in my state electricians, plumbers, and any other number of trade professions must have licenses and go through the same process. Nurses are not singled out when it comes to the job market, relocation, or many other things. Why does it seem as though some think it is?
It's not just nursing that has to contend with transferring licenses. Doctors, lawyers, the list goes on. Heck, in my state electricians, plumbers, and any other number of trade professions must have licenses and go through the same process. Nurses are not singled out when it comes to the job market, relocation, or many other things. Why does it seem as though some think it is?
I've never heard of a plumber or electrician having to pass a national exam, (maybe I'm wrong) but lawyers, doctors and nurses do. We should be able to work where we choose, just like our driver's licenses are recognized in any state. If that were to happen government bureacracy would have to shrink, and the powers that be don't want that.
panurse9999
1 Article; 199 Posts
I'm a second career nurse. If I had to do it all over again, I would have accepted the job at half the money years ago, during an enormous round of layoffs in my other career. I opted for severance and nursing school, which turned out to be a big mistake. I was a suit and tie, white collar professional who was accustomed to basic dignity and respect in the workplace, which is completely extinct in all matters nursing. (in my experience). A hard lesson learned that while I got the grades and performed the skills, I have seen a gruesome lack of respect for nurses as professionals, at all levels.