Working RNs and the CNA are to blame for new graduate RN program shortages .

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I am a new grad. A chief of staff of a major northern California health system told me, "RNs and their high salaries made new graduate programs cost prohibitive." I work in a hospital . And work with a few people who could retire. but they've opted to continue working, buying property, cars, while i work every day, rent a room in a house , wishing i had the same opportunities they were given as a new grad. The high paid bay area RN just isnt sustainable to the future of nursing.

No , I believe what the poster meant is that without needing monitoring/nursing care the pts could go home and have everything done as an outpatient.

Not to mention, nurses have to show up in inclement weather. The CEO doesn't. Housekeeping won't have a full crew show up, they'll just make the nurses clean. And it's amazing how often I have to fix the printer but IT has never come and passed my meds for me.

Nurses are the ONLY people that absolutely HAVE to be in the hospital 24/7.

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Not to mention, nurses have to show up in inclement weather. The CEO doesn't. Housekeeping won't have a full crew show up, they'll just make the nurses clean. And it's amazing how often I have to fix the printer but IT has never come and passed my meds for me.

Nurses are the ONLY people that absolutely HAVE to be in the hospital 24/7.

Nursing is very important, but we are part of a team, part of a bigger picture. I love being a nurse and very proud of what I do. The fact is that we are part of a team, but unfortunately many hospitals fail to promote teamwork. Each department constantly bickers and complains about the other and they never come up with a solution to fix the problem. If you think the patients do not hear that or see that then you are mistaken. They do, and yes these days the patients can pick and choose where they want to go. In reality without patients a hospital will not stay open. In addition, it is not just poor management that is at fault. We have all worked with those nurses that when you see them come into work, you think it's going to be a long day. They either grip constantly, are mad all the time, or just flat out lazy. Many of the changes that we want to see in our working environment have to start with us through actions, not just constant complaining. For the record I have seen admin come in during bad weather. I worked in Nebraska for year as a travel RN, and was very impressed that at one hospital I worked at one person from admin always made it in during inclement weather.

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excuse me?? first off you are just plain rude.

no, i'm blunt and realistic. unfortunately, american culture sugar-coats things far too much and isn't nearly honest enough regarding people who under-perform and then blame others for it. i was lucky my parents spoke to me just the way i'm writing to you, i had no delusions of grandeur.

secondly, what makes you assume i am a woman?

because your story reads as more feminine than masculine.

thirdly, maybe a component of this is that i do feel entitled. in fact, i had enough self-awareness to apologize about my initial post.

congratulations? just saying "i'm not entitled" doesn't make you not entitled though. adjustment of attitude and expectations along with increasing maturity take time.

was that a post at a 7th grade level too?

no, you took the time to properly capitalize this time.

lastly, i work nearly every day of every week, with 9 days in a row up until yesterday. look. there is a problem for new grads and i won't blaming anyone excep myself from now and i do apologize for offending any older working nurses.

maybe you work "every day of the week" in another field but that still doesn't entitle you to another nurse's job. network more, present yourself more professionally, send out more resumes, be willing to change locations, or whatever you have to do to land a job.

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Some may really disapprove of what I drive, where I live and how I spend my money, lol. I don't need to work for money, but I love my job, and I love to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I'm not going to walk away just because someone else might need a job and I do not. I don't need it, but I did earn it, and (for now) it's mine. The end.

The CEO at my company made over 3 million dollars last year in bonuses. I have no idea what his base is. To my knowledge, he has never met a patient, lol. But there are thousands of people, in this city alone, capable of doing my job, and maybe a few dozen nationwide who could do his job. They could replace me in a day, but other than being inconvenient for my patients, no one would founder. It would take probably a year of headhunting to replace him, and if he left the company without leadership the whole thing would collapse in weeks. Few to none of the posters on this thread could competently run a health care system of any size. It takes more savvy and education than most nurses have. There are far fewer people prepared to do that than prepared to do the job of a nurse, and that is why they can command the salary they do. Petty complaints about the salary and benefits of people with higher education and more specific experience demonstrates a real lack of knowledge about how the system works and make us (nursing) look ignorant.

I'm a raving liberal, so naturally I don't have much love for Ayn Rand, but I LOL'd at that suggestion. It would drive the point home. ;)

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I think the problem is the over proliferation of greedy nursing schools. There are too many. It is that simple. And do not think the hosital administrators are not thrilled about that as they take advantage of it. And then there is the stagnant economy.

New nurses have been sold quite the bill of goods propaganda wise that this profession has a shortage. Which is BS.

Also, at age 49 I have years in and no way could I retire. Have never had any type of company match or anything else so I will have to work a long time, and if the social security disappears as it is slated too I will never be able to stop.

So, it is unfortunate that many new nurses got caught up in the hype provided by schools that want their money at any cost and "experts" who continue with predictions that have not been true for a very long time and are based on pre-recession economics and based on assumptions that there will be certain levels of hospitalization among againg baby boomers, but which do not account for the fact that many will not be adequately insured/incomed to obtain this care and do not acknowledge that hospital stays are much shorter and getting shorter all the time.

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I'm a raving liberal, so naturally I don't have much love for Ayn Rand, but I LOL'd at that suggestion. It would drive the point home. ;)

I'm a glorious mix of conservative (money), liberal (social policy), and federalist (states rights)... and can't stand Rand's "essays", but that book in particular is a winner! Put a lot of things in perspective for me when I was in my early twenties trying to figure out why no one was there to help me get a start on life lol.

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Specializes in ER.

Nice example for you about why you should think those comments are just plain garbage:

A friend of mine was told by the CEO at her facility that sitters "cost the system too much money last year" and they would have to give up their techs first before sitters were called in to sit on patients...

She looked it up: the health system has a budget over 100 million dollars a year. The sitters costs a grand total of $300k for the entire year. The C-ring had salaries well north of $10 million a year.

Go ahead and look up what the budget is at the facility and what RN pay constitutes. Bet its peanuts,.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

OP, did you consider that the mythical chief of staff with whom you had this deeply personal conversation might have had an agenda of his/her own? Or did you just take it as gospel truth?

And if you want to buy into that line of thinking, please be prepared to come up with a concrete number to which you yourself will adhere -- be prepared to step aside after working x years, or when your hourly rate reaches x dollars.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

I think this post is a great example of the struggle new grads are facing in this economy. Not just new nurses, but college graduates almost across the board.

We were raised to believe that by working hard and getting an education we ARE entitled to gainful employment and boundless opportunities. The tanked job market has been a reality shock to a huge number of people who truly believed that.

It's been estimated that somewhere near 17 million college graduates are working menial jobs such as waiting tables or bartending, just trying to make ends meet. A huge portion of these students accrued debt to get that piece of paper they've found no use for, and everyone knows that the government wants its money back regardless.

Do I think the solution is for "old" nurses to retire early as a form of charity? Not necessarily. But people are upset, they've been lied to about "recession proof" jobs such as nursing and teaching, and everyone wants someone to blame.

In the end, who cares if what the OP posted is true? More experienced personnel usually have higher paychecks. If there is a limited salary budget (and there always is) the higher wages of valued and necessary employees have to be accounted for. To be honest, the last thing the new generation of nurses needs is a "clean sweep" of older nurses. I don't want to be viewed as cheap, expendable labor in the long run.

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
thanks for your input. i actually personally know the nurses i mentioned. one told me, " i could retire but i like having nice stuff (her car payment alone is 600 plus every month) and the other nurse already has one home and just purchased a condo. i have no idea about who you are so please dont take it personal to mean your specific situation (if your not even a bay area rn)

How dare they!!!!

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Hi Murs - I'm sorry most of your thread was deleted but I just wanted to repeat what I had said. Please do continue to participate in our forums. I know you apologized twice and I respect that. You happened to hit on one of those very emotional issues that take on a life of their own here. Someone who says they still want to be part of the occasional insanity around here after getting trounced on is somebody I'd like to see stay around, anyway.

Check out the site map if you haven't. We have lots of sub-forums that relate to specific issues and concerns.

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northeast tennessee

Can you be more specific? I live in western NC so I might not be that far from you.

Some people have mentioned management and the salaries they draw while the nurses and other personnel take the cutbacks. Our local hospital just laid off nearly ALL their long term RNs (read: the ones who were getting the highest pay). There is a person in management, I know her personally, and her salary is equal to about four of those RNs who lost their jobs. While I'm sure she has some work duties, all I ever see her doing is lunching with other members of management and walking around socializing. Things like that burn me up.

After all those higher paid nurses were laid off, listings for their jobs are now showing up in the paper. The hospital, who is known for horrible employee treatment, just wanted to hire lower paid nurses. Who cares about the nurse who's been there 30 plus years...

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