Nursing pay..Check this out!

Nurses General Nursing

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Why is nursing pay across the board not standardized? What I am referring to is, why do nurses get paid more or less according to the cost of living across the USA and not according to skills a nurse possess? I am not sure for other nurses but my quality of care does not fluctuate as our pay does across state lines etc. If a nurse was getting paid a lot more for the same job in a different city then moves to a city where the pay is much lower for the same job, are we allowed to decrease the quality of our care just like the pay decrease the nurse will receive?

Market demand for nurses and cost of living, just like any other job out there. I don't know of any career that is totally standardized. There is probably more variance between teaching salaries than nursing salaries though, just to compare. Schools having totally different funding sources would be one reason.

It also would be very hard to pay nurses differently based on their skills. How would one quantify how skilled a nurse is? There's hands on skills, teamwork skills, leadership skills, communication skills, etc. It would probably jeopardize the harmony of whatever unit to pay each nurse per skill. And why would one nurse help another to learn a certain hands on skill, for example, if they will then be less needed and this would effect their own salary? If the more "skilled" you are effects salary in a big way, then the less teamwork I think.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Well like many people, I do not trust an employer anymore. Employers will do anything to pay you as little as possible but expect you to perform flawlessly.

Yes, that is true. Everyone wants to get the most bang for their buck. Think of anything you spend money on. Don't you want the best deal for the lowest price?

As far as trusting an employer: some are kinder and more trustworthy than others. But their primary consideration is never going to be you.

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Specializes in PMHNP-BC.
Does the cost of cellular service packages vary from city to city even though coverage varies from location to location?

Does a cell phone have to feed a family? You are comparing goods with services it isn't a fair comparison. If you don't like the pay where you are, move...if you are happy with it, stay...simple as that. We make more money in California but pay state and sales tax whereas many states have one or the other but not both.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.

Well, since you don't want to take into account the cost of living, let me give you an example. I live in a large urban area. I took Lyft from my home to the airport. Distance, according to my app, is 6.7 miles, and the ride cost me $22.76.

At my destination city that has a much lower cost of living, the ride from the airport to my hotel was 10.75 miles. That ride cost me only $16.87.

This wasn't surge pricing, as the costs for the two reverse trips were about the same.

Cost of living matters!

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Take a look at this article

Nurses stretched to 'breaking point' over pay, finds RCN survey | News | Nursing Times

We are not paid enough is my beef here, ma'am's and sir's.

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It's economics & capitalism. Labor is a commodity that hospital & other care providers purchase. They seek to spend as little as possible on this commodity / expense. It's like a physics experiment. They seek to apply as little force (money / resources) as possible to keep a nurse doing their job. Many of us do the same thing when we shop. If I want to purchase something I look for the cheapest price available for that commodity. For example, if I want to buy a particular model of TV I compare prices and go with the best deal. It's not a mean decision I just have to decide if I want to give the TV dealer more or less money. It's why there are no Mom & Pop TV stores left and Wally World and Amazon are booming. Ultimately its up to the individual nurse to decide how much she is willing to work for. If they don't offer you enough to keep working stop. If enough nurses agree with you wages will go up. One way to attempt to make this happen is unionization. I'm in a Union and I make considerably more money and with better benefits than the Nurses who work next door at another hospital.

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Take a look at this article

Nurses stretched to 'breaking point' over pay, finds RCN survey | News | Nursing Times

We are not paid enough is my beef here, ma'am's and sir's.

I agree nurses should make more money. However, this article is about English Nurses I believe. The rules of capitalism doesn't apply to them because they work in an inelastic market place. Essentially, in England there is one payor for nursing services (there are minor exceptions) and that's the state as they have socialized medicine. Higher Healthcare costs lead directly to higher taxes in such a system and nobody is a fan of that so that single payor tries to squeeze costs as much as possible. Provider pay is a good way to do that. Here is a Nurse is willing to work hard, be aggressive in negotiations and improve themselves they shouldn't need a second job to make ends meet. At least I don't. I make about $40 per hour now and graduate with my DNP in the spring so I'll get a bump. It ain't swimming pools & movie stars but its enough for a descent life. I think one problem with low nurse wages here is many nurses engage in codependent relationships on many levels. You know "my significant other is a bum but he loves me", "other nurses treat me like dirt but they are having a bad day" and for purposes of this conversation "my poor employer cannot afford to give me a raise and of course I'll contribute more to my lousy healthcare plan". Here if nurses want more money they have options. No so much in Merry Olde England.

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Take a look at this article

Nurses stretched to 'breaking point' over pay, finds RCN survey | News | Nursing Times

We are not paid enough is my beef here, ma'am's and sir's.

That I'll agree with; it's a completely separate issue from whether nurses should be paid a flat rate across the country, regardless of the actual value of the dollar paid.

Does a gallon of milk cost more in Alaska than Indiana? Yes. So why should an IN nurse be paid as though they can't eat without paying AK cost? This would do nothing but cause resentment in, and exodus from, higher COL areas. When the value of a dollar is lower, you have to get paid more for living and working in an area to be worth your time. That's how things work whether we like it or not.

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Does the cost of healthcare services vary between states?

Yes, it actually does. The costs of a community hospital in a small rural area are vastly different then those of a major hospital in a large urban area, the population of a large urban area has much different needs compared to the community hospital population,( shorter length of stays, patients who are more stable, less complex,) and they likely have less of a homeless, transient population which require extensive case management, msw. They also likely transfer their unstable heart, trauma, neuro, gomer, patients to the large urban hospital which results in higher cost of care. Heck, I know community hospitals in my area that are transferring elderly rib fx patients to my teaching hospital across the state line.

To say that pay should be equal everywhere is a socialist statement. If pay rates were different for the same position in the SAME hospital that is something to complain about. Pay rates being equal in other hospitals in other states is ludicrous. jmho

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To FrankRN2017

My advice: Go back to school and get an advanced degree... Then you will make more money. We all do it for the money somewhat...because we have to eat, but it's not our #1 reason. If that's all you are interested in you should have gone to engineering school. Do us all a favor...please take an economics course. I'm assumming you are young and have not had much experience with market swings. However, I learned about cost of living, salaries, etc. in High School! I think what you are trying to say that in general nurses don't get paid enough regardless of where they live. If you had just said that.... I'm sure a lot of people would have agreed with you!

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
Take a look at this article

Nurses stretched to 'breaking point' over pay, finds RCN survey | News | Nursing Times

We are not paid enough is my beef here, ma'am's and sir's.

Are you in the UK?

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The primary reason I go to work is to get paid. That doesn't stop me from being a good nurse. I do the best I can by my patients but its a job. If I can get paid more to practice my profession in a different setting I'll take it. I make no apologies for that and honestly think its a good employment boundary to draw with an employer.

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