Where are all the nurses?

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So I read posts here which bemoan the fact that new grads can't get jobs. Where do they all live? I have 2 32 hour positions I have not been able to fill. My facility is only a year old....looks like a hotel. Our staffing is better than any other skilled facility around. I'm saying...the nurses do meds,treatments, and charting..that's it --for 20 residents days and evenings. I have one nurse for the unit on 11-7. Why do I keep reading about all these new grads who can't get hired and I can't find enough nurses to fill my shifts? My pay scale is as good, if not better, than the other facilities around. What do I need to do to attract some good nurses?:banghead:

why not hire lpn/lvn's instead of rn's, that's what most ltc's do in nc, a rn is overkill for the limited duties u stated, maybe it's a state requirement n ur state.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

My facility is not 'most LTCs'. We have many medically complex patients and, on a good day when there are no tourists, are 90 minutes from the nearest hospital. I need RNs with excellent assessment skills who can spot a problem early on and get the proper treatment so the resident does not have to go out to the hospital. I also have a large number of hospice patients and the hospice providers want an RN on duty 24 hours a day in case the person dies and an RN pronouncement has to be done. Most of the facilities around here hire LPNs because it's cheaper for them.

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it's not only cheaper for them, but it gets care to the patients, a lpn is better than no nurse caring for patients, an experienced rn n ltc is a luxury. most rn's don't go to nursing school to work in ltc, ltc n nc have to pay several dollars more an hr than hospitals pay to attract rn's, then there's the problem of keeping them. if ur having a problem getting/keeping rn's n this economic environment, it's gonna be even worse when the economy heats back up. it sounds like the one new grad that has stayed for now sees ltc being beneath her (probably why she's combative), she'll move on if she can find something better. sounds like you could also be located n an area where not many working class people live, so there's the double downer of working n ltc and having to commute, so pay would have to be even more to attract/keep rn's.

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What shift are you hiring for? What part of the Cape are you in? I currently work in a LTC facility and live in Middleboro. I had an awful time last year when I was a new grad trying to find a job. That's great that you will hire new grads!

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

I need nurses for 7-3 and 3-11. I am way out in Provincetown...where the Pilgrims FIRST landed. Plymouth was their second choice.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, med/surg.

I live in an area that got hit hard by the economic recession right when I graduated from my BSN program. We had been told for four years: Sure, getting a job'll be easy! Great pay! Great benefits! When reality set in, I applied for 144 jobs around the entire country and got TWO interviews. I finally ended up staying in the same area in a LTC setting.

Once I got started I figured out what a huge mistake our nursing program had made. I had NO idea how to do this, and my expectations about how "easy" it was going to be was erased. It is hands down the hardest job I have ever had, I work nights with one aid and 25 people. Any new grad who would turn their nose up at LTC needs to take a second look.

No, you won't get that job paying $$$ an hour on a tele/icu with zero experience. Working LTC gives you EXCELLENT time management skills, assessment skills, and even management skills. I guess my bottom line argument is that you can't be "too good" to do a job.

And to the "Dude" touting LPN's over RN's in LTC care environments: HA. HA. We had an LPN take over day shift (and no inexperienced one, mind you, she had been doing this for 5 years) and she had no idea how to clear the med sheets, no idea how to chart correctly, do wound care, didn't know/give a crap about pharmacology and just literally pushed pills and pudding all day. Sometimes you need an RN because while LPN's are great, they just don't cut it all the time.

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lila, i'd guess the only reason you're in ltc is because of the economy, only 2 interviews out of 144 apps says it all. the reality is what i stated, lpn's are the backbone of ltc, as the person trying to hire n this thread has also stated, that's what most ltc facilities n her area do too, it's the case across the country. ltc is a biz and it's about cost effectiveness and employee retention, rn's generally don't offer that for ltc, there is the rare rn that does though (they planned on doing ltc b4 or while n nursing school). we've all come across lpn's, rn's, md's and others that didn't know how to do job tasks. someone higher up failed n hiring the right person and/or training them.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.
CapeCodMermaid, if I could move from Jersey to where you're at to apply for the position, I would so be there. :)

I do agree with what Moogie posted about the perceived lack of "glamour" of working in skilled facility, as opposed to a hospital. It's still considered more prestigious to work in a hospital than in a skilled or LTC facility. Plus, from what I've been told by a few RNs, they believe that working in a LTC/skilled facility would somehow "hurt" them, and that it would make it harder for them to be accepted at a hospital. I don't get that at all. Is that what some hospitals believe? (As if it's "easy" to work in LTC.) :uhoh3:

I agree as well...I've been working for a year now at a skilled facility on the TCU (new grad). I cannot even count how many "so you just work in a nursing home?"/"you must not be getting much experience" sort of comments I continue to get when I tell people where I am working. I ignore such comments and tell people that I love my job, because I do.:heartbeat

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CCM, you would hire nurses here in a heartbeat. The recession has hit us hard and new grad spots don't exist, nor do spots in LTC. I have applied everywhere. Finally heard back from a magnet hospital in which I would love to work so cross your fingers for me.

Those who don't think you learn in LTC: My dad had terrible pneumonia and a horrid decub. Mom was caring for him at home and he was non-ambulatory. The hospital kicked out this still-febrile man to an LTC where he was on an IV for weeks, is on a nwound-vac, and he went the DAY AFTER they inserted a PEG tube.

His care is PLENTY skilled.

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I need nurses for 7-3 and 3-11. I am way out in Provincetown...where the Pilgrims FIRST landed. Plymouth was their second choice.

I love P-Town!

I'd work there in a heartbeat... but unfortunately it would be a really long commute from Honolulu...

;)

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Do you have any first shift positions? I live in Rhode Island, but if it is as good as you ...I will drive :)

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Specializes in LTC, rehab, medical review.

I live in MA near the cape and am an LPN...

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