It Annoys ME HOW SOME PEOPLE CAN SAY "THEY ARE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY"

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 2, 2006

Ah, well, let me say this:

There have been numerous threads here at allnurses.com, arguing the points that either:

*people should go into nursing ONLY because they care or are somehow "called" to it---that no other reason should exist, lest they make poor nurses.......

Or

*people should not martyr themselves and in so doing, be "lowballed" as far as wages/compensation and rights go. That going into nursing "for money" is not at all wrong or unfair.

I feel somewhere, in the middle ground, may lie a compromise or maybe a mix of reasons, like mine.

I would be a complete bold-faced liar if I told you THE reason I became a nurse was to be someone's angel or mercy. That is not true. I did it cause I had a reasonable expection of solid employment in a high-growth field. And it surely would be a means to care for myself and my kids, if something happened to my dh, the primary wage-earner in my family. I do happen to love working with people and do love being a nurse. But I would not do this for peanuts or little compensation....nope.

I would advise anyone to be very careful when questioning others' motivations and their legitimacy in becoming nurses. Unless you yourself have been a nurse for many years, or walked in their shoes, it's hard to judge fairly what motivates them. And , it may not even be your right to.

Personally, my feeling is this: All I want in a nurse that cares for me and mine is: caring, compassion, competency and integrity. I am not bothered by people who enter nursing for economic reasons. The fact is, people have to work for a living in most cases..... Those are their legitimate reasons, not my concern.

Be careful who you judge and how harshly.

LPN1974, LPN · Mar 2, 2006

Gee, there are alot of careers that give more money than nursing.

Why not go sell real estate if money is what they want?

I don't think that would be as hard as nursing.

I'm not judging anyone....just saying there are careers that do give more money, but nursing is not a so "poor" either.

I do take home a pretty good paycheck, and I do like what I do.

It's hard, but I like it.

antihippie · Mar 2, 2006

I for one chose nursing as a way to help others and be well compensated at the same time. If someone truly believes that money should have nothing to do with becoming a nurse, more power to them. They can graduate and then just volunteer as a nurse for no pay and their salary could be used to purchase more supplies or lower the patients medical bills. That would be the truly altruistic thing to do.

But since this is reality I think all of us are at least partially motivated by the money or there would be a lot less grousing about salaries and benifits than there is.

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Mar 2, 2006

I absolutely did not go into nursing for the money nor did I go into nursing to help people. My parents had an expectation of us that we would have professional respected jobs. Brothers are Electrical Engineers.

I tested for nursing school thinking I wouldn't get accepted. I did. Okay I'll go make the parents happy for now. They were paying all my expenses, I was living at home for free, bought me a brand new car and gave me spending money as well. My parents never wanted us to work while we were in school. After several semesters went by I started getting into Nursing.

My motive was, hey, alot of people tried to get in here, couldn't, I did and now I'm going to pass with all straight A's. And I did.

Once I began working I thought the money was wonderful. $3.75/hr, minimum wage was .95/hr. Soon I was enjoying my job and thankful to my parents for insisting that I become a nurse.

I would never insist my child get a degree in what I wanted for them. My daughter has a BS in Fashion Merchandising. I never said anything although I just knew it wouldn't work out. She has been out 3 years now, working in a dept store and made more money bartending when she was in college. You betcha I let my kids work while in college!

She is seriously considering going back to school but wants no part of being a nurse other than getting to buy cute scrubs and collect a nice paycheck.

My son wants to be a college level history professor. I have no problem with that. I did tell him the money is not good. He thinks once he's graduated he may join the Navy anyway and perhaps be a pilot. We'll see. Two more years till graduation.

clee1 · Mar 2, 2006

Let me put it another way: I am going into nursing BECAUSE I have always wanted to be a nurse AND it pays a living wage.

Lemme put it to you straight - I care for my patients and consider myself to be a kind, compassionate person; but I wouldn't even consider this career for ONE SECOND if it didn't pay reasonably well.

Altruism is wonderful; but it doesn't pay the bills.

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 2, 2006

Altruism is wonderful; but it doesn't pay the bills.

well said.

clee1 · Mar 2, 2006

well said.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm here all week... :behindpc:

nursewannabee · Mar 2, 2006

I haven't read any threads about this kind of topic yet... so thought I'd start one. It's about those people saying they are only doing nursing for the money. I mean, that should not be your main reason of taking up nursing. It just gets me so annoyed. I am a current pre-nursing student and will be applying for the ADN program this fall, and the other day in my A&P class I overheard (actually they were speaking kind of loud to eachother) 2 students talking about the "only" reason they're taking nursing is for the "money" to buy anything they want etc...and began laughing :rotfl: and the other student said their family are forcing her into nursing and always wanted to business. I just feel disgusted about the fact that, first of all, nursing is no joke and healthcare in general is no laughing matter. What is wrong with these people? I wanted to just tell them how wrong they are and then suggest them to change their major because their 2 sears should be saved for those "serious" nursing students wanting to be in the program (like me for example :) ). I mean sure the money is great but what's important is aknowledging what it takes to become a nurse, having compassion for your job :redbeathe , and just loving what you do , am I right?
Anyone else share the same feelings or know of someone who says they're "only in it for the money"??[/quote
I feel that students like this will have a really hard time getting through school if money is their prime motivation. Nursing school is really tough scholastically and emotionally and I feel in order to get through it you should at least have the desire to help people. I know that I would not be going into nursing if it did not pay a decent wage because it is a tough job but I feel there has to be other factors involved as well such as compassion and kindness.
peace and grace
Nurse wannabee

JVanRN · Mar 2, 2006

I'll just chime in and say ditto to what smilingblueyes said. I'm lucky to be in a job that I love (NICU). I love that nursing is flexible and that I have many options as to the type of environment I can work in. I also like that it pays my bills.

Honestly when I started college, nursing was not on my list of things. I was one of those that didn't even know you had to go to college to be a nurse. I didn't know what a nursing education entailed. At the time I had a friend who was a nurse and I was kind of intrigued. So I did reasearch on it and decided to give it a try. I was looking for a job that was stable, not boring, made some sort of positive impact, and was emotionally fulfilling (not I'm not a martyr, but I do feel a sense of satisfaction knowing I have made a difference in someones life, no matter how small), and a job that pays well. I found that in nursing,and have loved it ever since.

Of course I'm still fairly new and was lucky enough to get right into a field that I really like (NICU). I can't say I would still feel the same if I was still working on the telemetry floor I used to work on.

It does get on my nerves when people think nurses make "sooo much money". That is usually one of the first things people comment on when I tell them I'm an RN. ("Ooooh, making them big bucks") True, coming fresh out of school, my starting salary was significanly higher than my peers, but in about 5 years their salary will likely be equal to or pass mine up. My job allows me to live comfortably, but it's not as lucrative as people seem to think, especially if you have others to support.

I think it's important to be satisfied with the career you go into, whether it be nursing, teaching, engineering, whatever. You could go into anything "for the money" and still perform your job satisfactorily (spelling?) but if you hate going to work everyday...you're only hurting yourself. Eventually that takes a toll on a person.

Nutmeg5575 · Mar 2, 2006

I also think that is a bad reason to go into Nursing. To me it is a benefit.

I remember I got a job in the ER working as a Registrar when I started going to school for my marketing degree. I was the one who bugs pts for their insurance and gets all their info. Well, I'll never forget the first time I got a Trauma patient and my eyes just lit up when I saw the nurse. I said that is what I want to do! After that I would dig through all the names to try and get the Trauma patients lol. The other registrars didn't mind. I would try and help the nurses and sometimes my boss would catch me and she would say, "Why are you doing that? You aren't a Nurse." I just looked up to them lol. I'm such a dork. After that I changed my degree.

IWANT2BE · Mar 2, 2006

I UNDERSTAND ENTIRELY HOW YOU FEEL. THE ONLY THING I WOULD OFFER IS THAT PEOPLE MATURE INTO WHO THEY ARE AT DIFFERENT TIMES FOR DIFFERENT REASONS. PRIORITIES CHANGE AS LIFE PRESENTS ITSELF. I AM GOING INTO NURSING FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS THE LEAST OF WHICH IS THE FINANCIAL ASPECT. I BELIEVE THE DISPLAY THAT SPARKED YOUR COMMENTS WAS PERHAPS MORE A REFLECTION OF THE MATURITY LEVEL OF THOSE INVOLVED RATHER THAN NOT CARING ABOUT THE HUMAN SIDE OF NURSING. I AM NOT THRILLED ABOUT THE COMMENTS YOUR CLASSMATES MADE BUT CONSIDER THE HARD WORK THEY WILL HAVE TO PUT INTO THE COMPLETION OF THERE STUDIES AND FURTHERMORE WAIT UNTIL THEY HIT THE FRYING PAN(IF THEY ONLY LOVE THE MONEY THEN A COUPLE OF YEARS OF NURSING WILL GIVE THEM PLENTY TO HATE!)

:angryfire ANGER CONSUMES, BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOURSELF LET GOD DO THE REST.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR CAREER!