What nursing shortage?

RNfaster · May 16, 2007

Come to New York City...
We love new graduates, and we can't live without them.
Starting salary is $62k.
And there are a lot of jobs here...
I only work 13 days a month and I still be able to work one or two days for an agency. And this agency sends me to NY Presbyterian, and I get $500/shift. If I work hard, I can make over $100,000 a year....and I am still getting 2 days off a week
However, you must get the NYS license; but this should not take long.

Chuck - how long are your shifts? Eight, 10, or 12 hours? - Thank you!

chuck1234 · May 16, 2007

Chuck - how long are your shifts? Eight, 10, or 12 hours? - Thank you!

12-hour shift.

RNDreamer · May 16, 2007

Shortage of CNAs in NY? I wish! I've been looking for jobs since November! :angryfire

I live in Staten Island (borough of New York City) and it was hard to find a job too...I had to take a float position after a month of trying to find SOMETHING...My recruiter said that she's never been so swamped with resumes...??? But, they are looking for CNA's...Apparently there is a storage here in NYC...But at least I have my foot in the door, and hopefully will make some friends to get the good floors (let's face it...that's how it works)

hope3456, ASN, RN · May 16, 2007

when I graduated nsg school, I applied to a major health system in N. CO. You see advertisements for them everywhere-for RN's. The nursing recruiter outright and abruptly told me they were not considering 'new grads.' They do give out a certain number of 'contracts' to nsg students, most who work for them as CNA's, ect. in which they reimburse them for tuition in exchange for a 2 year employment agreement.

I just thought it was ironic. What good does it do to put more students thru the nursing programs if they can't get hired by the hospitals and how are they supposed to obtain the needed experience?

Rnandsoccermom · May 16, 2007

Come to the Chicago area. I have friends that work all over the city and suburbs. Hospitals are still using travellers, agency and nurses from the Phillipines.

I have a friend that works at a Level I trauma center, they have hired new grads into the ICUs' there. Have 4 RN's pregnant in the SICU and not all of them are returning.

hope3456, ASN, RN · May 17, 2007

If you have experience in a given area (ICU, ER, med/surg, ect.) you will get hired elsewhere into a position easily, but the key word seems to be experience.

As a new grad, it isn't always so easy. There was a big article about this in NURSEWEEK a couple weeks ago. In response to the 'shortage,' nursing schools have really began to pump out the new grads (in some geographic areas more than others), and the hospitals just can't hire them all, d/t the time and expense of training them.

In my hosp for example, d/t the above reason, it is quite competitive to get a new grad position, even though this facility is using travel RN's and has over 50 open positions listed. For many, they simply won't consider new grads.

julietoo · May 17, 2007

Does anyone know the starting salary for Connecticut RN's? I worked for 3 years as a med/surg /womans health RN ...then "retired" to raise my kids. Fast forward 17 years...here I am trying to find a job. I've been told I have to take a refresher course which includes some clinical time (takes about 4 months), when completed I can then resume my career. Thankfully I have kept my license current!! So, are there really jobs here in Connecticut?

Kim O'Therapy, BSN, RN · May 17, 2007

I am currently a CNA at a hospital. I have already been told I'll have a job waiting for me when I graduate from nursing school. Good luck with your job hunting.

Texas1996 · May 18, 2007

Well... It has been a hard road for me. I "diversified" my BSN and went corporate. Now I have kids I want to go back to bedside nursing. Called the state board and I'm current active and in good status. Traveled all over the country worked with the finest health institutions and not able to get a bedside nursing job. We have nursing schools graduating couple hundred students a year in my city so getting a job is very competitive (I guess). I think I should just shorten my resume and say I just graduated. It really makes me ticked off so I called the Dean of my school and wanted a conversation about this supposed "nursing shortage." This is either a fluke or bad luck. I'm not even interested in the money...I don't even know what a nurse makes anymore. When I graduated from undergrad I made something around 25K in Dallas. Now it's 10 years later and I would still take 25K. I want to go to grad school so I need the 1-2 year experience in ICU and need a JOB. Anyway...I do sympathize with those who are experiencing job hurdles and hope that this is not another crisis turned up by the media.

trepinCT · May 18, 2007

Does anyone know the starting salary for Connecticut RN's? I worked for 3 years as a med/surg /womans health RN ...then "retired" to raise my kids. Fast forward 17 years...here I am trying to find a job. I've been told I have to take a refresher course which includes some clinical time (takes about 4 months), when completed I can then resume my career. Thankfully I have kept my license current!! So, are there really jobs here in Connecticut?

http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=6532404

this was in the news today in Connecticut. Nurses ARE needed, but money is tight in many places and they fill up with unlicensed staff instead. Because you don't see a lot of places hiring doesn't mean that there is no shortage..medicare funding has been cut back and many hospitals have suffered financially as a result, they cant afford good nurses, so they understaff RNs and fill up with CNAs, Techs, etc...viscous circle

Kiren · May 18, 2007

You may have to be willing to re-locate. Different parts of the USA are different in regards to nursing opportunities. Although this was 10 years ago now, my husband had just graduated from RN school in western, upstate NY. His school pretty much told them that they would be lucky to find a nursing home job, let alone a hospital job! At this time, not only were nursing jobs hard to find for experienced nurses but nurses were actually getting laid off, hospitals were closing down or eliminating floors, etc.
We were already planning to move to somewhere in the Southeast USA. My husband found a new grad RN position no problem in South Carolina. He had multiple offers! As an experinced nurse, I found a new job after we moved. And to make things even better, the pay was BETTER than western NY, and the cost-of-living LOWER. It was a win-win situation. We have made a new life down here in the south, love it, and would never go back to NY.

Maybe 10 years ago there wasn't a nursing shortage in WNY but there is now. In the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area they are offering tuition reimbursement and other perks to new grads. Recruiters are chomping at the bit to get at the new grads now. Some facilities are allowing new grads to train in the ICU, OR, and the ER. The housing prices are low here but the taxes are high and the weather is not the best, but you can get a job pretty easily now. GN's start at about $20 - $22/hr

chuck1234 · May 18, 2007

Maybe 10 years ago there wasn't a nursing shortage in WNY but there is now. In the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area they are offering tuition reimbursement and other perks to new grads. Recruiters are chomping at the bit to get at the new grads now. Some facilities are allowing new grads to train in the ICU, OR, and the ER. The housing prices are low here but the taxes are high and the weather is not the best, but you can get a job pretty easily now. GN's start at about $20 - $22/hr

Twenty dollars an hour to $22/hr is an LPN salary in the City of New York.