Nurses Under 30 Years Old

13 A friend of mine is a manager who recently went to a management seminar. It was the same old thing until they asked what peoples' biggest problems are. One person said "employees under 30," and everyone in the room agreed. They find this demographic to be needy and entitled (I'm sure this does not apply to everyone, but is a much bigger trend than in past years).

My department recently hired MANY new nurses, and all but one is under 30. They call in when they are hung over, go home early, and they're lazy at work. The only thing I can depend on them to do is get their coffee break. I'm sure these nurses have many fine qualities, and maybe the rest of us are just martyrs (put in the full 46ish hours a week, mop our own ORs, etc), but it's just a whole different attitude. People in other departments note a similar trend. Radiology techs will refuse to go to certain cases because it will interfere with their lunch.

I'm sure I will get a bunch of posts from 20-somethings about how hard they work, and I'm sure there are some out there who really do work their tails off. But managers (and coworkers) are starting to take note of "generation me." Last edit by Joe V on Nov 16, '10 : Reason: edited title - was 'Nurses > 30'
Nursing is my second career, so I've seen this trend in other professions as well as nursing.

It's not just nursing, but you are right. I am 29 and often find myself saying "these kids today have no work ethic".

So, if your like me and fit in that over 30 category; you are either a martyr or an overachieving dinosaur? Getting older really does suck...However, I've seen good and bad in all age categories. I'm not sure such a sweeping generalisation should apply to all people of a specific age group. This "generation me" concept seems to live and thrive through all ages among people in the United States IMHO.

OK I am a <30 nurse... at the age of 23! I have seen this trend through nursing school and in the world of work. If it continues, nursing is in great trouble. I can say that this is not my behavior but I have been employed since the age of 14 and had many "old school" instructors in nursing school. Funny, but most of the nurses I work with that are my age attended on of the pricery private colleges in the area... hmmm???

Quote from GilaRNSo, if your like me and fit in that over 30 category; you are either a martyr or an overachieving dinosaur? Getting older really does suck...However, I've seen good and bad in all age categories. I'm not sure such a sweeping generalisation should apply to all people of a specific age group. This "generation me" concept seems to live and thrive through all ages among people in the United States IMHO.

Quote from GM2RNThe OP was clear in clarifying that this does not apply to "all people" in the under 30 age group. Although I agree that the "generation me" concept has crept into other age groups, it is still much more prevalent in those under 30.

At my place of employment I dont' think one of <30 RN's is what was described by the OP. In fact, it is several of the older generational nurses that I dread taking over their patients during change of shift because more often than not I get to spend a portion of my shift cleaning up what they didn't bother to take care of (such as orders, IV starts, dressing changes, calling the doc and on and on).

It ll goes in trends; when I was a kid they were complaining saying the same thing and it will continue to do as history does in fact repeat it self. Not only in nursing but in all aspects of life. The previous generations always complain about the other and so forth and so on.

Nursing is full of battle axes

Quote from dhammo01Nursing is full of battle axes

If allnurses was around 30 years ago this topic would have been relevant then also. The older cohort of the baby boomers were also considered the "entitled generation" and their work ethic was also wildly criticized; particularly by the then old battle axes who received their nursing training during the 1930-1940's.They learned that work ethic wasn't just a cute phrase but rather a necessity. Those that didn't learn weren't successful in any career. The same will happen to this and succeeding generations of <30.

Honestly, I don't think age is a factor as much as personality, work ethic, character and morals. During LVN school, I was in the minority. The majority of my class was over 40. I noticed that the students that didn't do as well all slacked off, took short cuts, did the bare minimum, ect... And a lot of these types of students, regardless of age, had an "easy" life. Husband/wife/fiance/ect supporting them, easy upbringing, and the like. I'm 27. Learned at 18 that to make it in this world, you have to have a strong work ethic. In both my nursing and non-nursing jobs, I've brought my A-Game every shift. If I'm hung over, thats my fault and I deal with the consequences. I'm constantly picking up the slack of the over 30 nurses that have become accustomed to short cuts and the bare minimum. This will always be a problem, and I honestly think the fingers of blame will always be pointed at the younger nurses. Its easy to blame the kids.