Why such high new RN turnover?

silly32girl · Mar 12, 2012

Good question...I have heard this as well.

MJB2010 · Mar 12, 2012

Very few places willing to pay for appropriate training. Many new grads are thrown to the wolves. Nursing schools now teaching students based on passing the nclex, not actually being a nurse. A lot of people get into nursing based on what it used to be, not what it is today. Today it is long hard shifts with bare bones staff and a lot of liability. Oh and in some places, the nurses are not welcoming to newbies. Newbies need help and have lots of questions, which with todays staffing rates, drains the already stretched too far thin nurse. When orientation is too short, they need more help.

Also as a newbie it is hard to get that first RN job in parts of hte country. So the ones that will take a new grad are often the worst of the worst kind of places to work. One of my classmates was hired at a snf, 40 patients and 3 days orientation as a new grad. She is now bartending.

Calder · Mar 12, 2012

I'm hoping to become a newbie, myself. Would working at a nursing home as a CNA for a year help get the training I need to survive being a newbie?

Palliative Care, DNP · Mar 12, 2012

Personally, I never worked a day as a CNA and do not see it as particularly beneficial. Unless of course you see your whole future as an RN as cleaning poop and repositioning patients etc. The roles are completely different and while nurses do a large amount of patient care that is something anyone can do. Now a days many places like to hire RNs who were a CNA in the facility first but that is because they know you and your work ethic etc. Networking is always important for newbies. All of this said anyone who has read these boards even a bit knows why there is such turnover. These are things like: lack of respect, high demands, staffing issues, expectations of doing more with less, heavy patient loads, and of course the all encompassing patient satisfaction scores that are all so important now a days. The expectations are enormous and becoming harder to reach by the day. My pay hasn't increased for all of this extra effort and stress though. The hospital has now become the Burger King Drive through where patients "get it their way" and now. Do not be late with that pain medicine and by all means make that ice a little colder. I digress as surely you get the picture:twocents:

RNperdiem, RN · Mar 12, 2012

As a new grad, I was overwhelmed and didn't realize that the feeling would pass with time and experience.

I didn't know that I would feel that way in almost any setting as a new grad.

I was convinced that the grass was greener elsewhere.

I was hoping for a slower pace, and fewer patients, less responsibility and less paperwork.

I was looking for a job that didn't exist.

DemonWings · Mar 13, 2012

Personally, I never worked a day as a CNA and do not see it as particularly beneficial. Unless of course you see your whole future as an RN as cleaning poop and repositioning patients etc.

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

anotherone, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2012

No working as a cna will not be a ton of help. You will be faster at the very basics but that is a VERY small amount of your responsibility. It might be of some help or hinderance if you stay on the same unit because you already know who is who etc. New nurses leave because it is a very stressful job. Until you are on the front lines with any amount of training, you do not know how you will be able to handle it and burn out from all the death, illness, patients, co-workers, unrealistic excpectations, staffing etc comes fast and eventually all the cons outweight the pros.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2012

I found working as a CNA useful because it helped with time management skills though I don't think it alone gives you anything close to the skills you need to survive as a newbie. The stakes are much higher when you're the RN.

And I agree that most facilities do not provide adequate support/training for new grads. Their orientation is about 1/2 what mine was when I went through a "new grad program" 5 years ago.

LemonIndiscretion · Mar 13, 2012

i feel like being a cna helped me tremendously in my program, allowing me to more time to learn nursing skills because i already had patient care/hygiene/body mechanics and didn't need to learn that aspect. you don't have to do it, and i'm not saying i'm better or worse than any other nursing student but i was so glad i had the experience and i think it made me more confident in talking with people and touching people than i would have been without it. i think cnas do more than just clean poop and reposition patients- but i am obviously biased.

i think i'm getting way off track from the op's topic. there are some articles on this topic...i imagine some of these reasons in this article below are reasons why new nurses leave jobs. maybe the reasons why they leave are the same reasons why they have a hard time getting hired.

(also i think being a cna got me used to working all shifts as well as working weekends and holidays-just throwing that one out there too. not that i know anything nursing because i am not yet an rn, i'm a senior in a bsn program, so in reality i won't know how much being a cna actually helped me or not until i've been a nurse for a while)

medscape: medscape access"unrealistic expectations. many, although by no means all, new graduates are holding on to unrealistic expectations about the type of nursing position that they will be able to find. nurse recruiters report that they often interview new graduates who state that they are seeking only a day shift position, or one with minimal weekends. others want to work part-time, right out of school, which is generally not acceptable to the hospital that must spend money to orient, or extensively train the new graduate, depending on the clinical area. some new graduates even go into the interview requesting a position in critical care, the operating room, or other specialty area -- areas that typically hire few, if any, new graduates. demands of this nature will significantly hinder the new graduate's chances of landing a job."

tokyoROSE, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2012

In this area, those who work at the hospitals as CNA's get hired first as a new grad because as mom to 4 stated, they know you and your work ethic. This is my #1 mistake while in nursing school and it took me a bit (relatively speaking) to even get interviews while my classmates had jobs lined up before graduating.

helster83 · Mar 13, 2012

I honestly haven't known any new graduate nurses to have unrealistic high expectations (such as asking for the day shift), I personally would never ask of such things. But I will say that hospitals do throw their nurses to the dogs, especially their newbies. Management seems to have had unrealistic expectations, mostly because they are becoming obessessed with press ganey scores, medicaid/medicare was screwing over hospitals (aka nurses) over anything and everything, budgets suck, on top of it a new nurse have a million things to learn on top of all the typical b.s. And I'm sure you all know how isolating working the night shift can be, you see family/friends less, less time for personal life. This is a breeding ground for misery, exhaustion and high turnover. At the very least, for all the work and dedication new nurses put into their trade, they should be supported by staff, rather than thrown to the dogs.

Also, b/c I worked as a CNA in nursing school, it was extremely helpful in getting my first and second nursing positions. Hospitals love knowing you have some hands on experience in patient care.