Poor nurses

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I have been at my facility for 2 years now. I am not complaining about the work--we all know that it is exhausting, patients never satisfied, endlessly busy BUT....now that I have gotten to know some of the nurses at my hospital, it appears that they are POOR! I guess I might call them the working poor and this just does not seem right. My starting pay including diffs for nights is 19.00 per hour. Day shift makes about $18.00. I must also stress that everyone always says "well it is a low cost area of living". Well not entirely. My groceries cost the same here as they did in the city. While it is true that one can buy a very nice home for $180,000, there really is not much under 180k. Restaurant prices are the same. School supplies for my kids run about the same as those in the city. My car insurance is probably a little less but the price of the car was no different. What I am getting at is that there are nurses at my hospital that are in foreclosure. One I know has applied for food stamps. The reason is that we have not gotten raises now for 2 years. Also hours have been significantly cut. At the most I am able to get 32 hours per week. Our LPN's only get $10.75 per hour. I really do not know how they can live on that. I am considering getting a NP degrees online and leaving this area. The NP's around here start out at $23/hour I am told. Someone even thought that was really good! Are there any other poor nurses out there. I am sure someone will flame me and say be glad you have a job but I spent 14k to be able to do this!

Specializes in Med-Surg, Tele, DOU.

hmmmmm, it's so hard to read this thread without 1) agreeing that we're not paid properly for what we do, and 2) cursing loudly enough to wake up my children and the neighbors (sigh).

Specializes in Pediatrics.

I agree if you look at the responsibility of the RN vs say someone in another field say Labron James :eek::uhoh3: salaries based on what you do are way out of wack

Specializes in mental health, aged care/disability care.

I can't believe my 16 yr old daughter who is still in high school earns more than some of your CNA's. :eek: She works at McDonalds after school and earns $11ph. We live in Australia though, so maybe that has something to do with it.

"I used to work at Mcdonald's and they were TERRIBLE. Many were lazy and didn't do their jobs"

I'm quite sure such managers are not among the few making over $100,000.

I also am in Canada, and just increased my wage to step 5 (5 yrs FT equivalent) at $37.33 per hour + shift diff, charge, w/e diff etc. it works out to $46/hr on a w/e night. Last year I earned $95,000 but had worked more than FT and also they had missed 2 raises and had to pay retro pay.

I guess it depends on where you live. CNAs here start at around $14.50 and top out at $19 (so on nights can be making as much as $25/hr). LPNs start at $23 and top at around $30.

But here, an average house sets you back $225,000, gas is $1 a litre ($4/gallon) and to feed a family of 3 I spend about $500 per month on groceries, and I buy my meat at 30% off and alot of other things at 50% off, and have a garden in the summer.

I think at McDonalds they are paying around $11/hr to start, with lots of scholarship type incentives for kids who are in school. A while ago there was a shortage of workers and places like McDonalds and Tim Hortons were paying more than $20/hr to get people to work, and some of the people they had wouldn't get hired during normal times.

Specializes in Nursing Education, CVICU, Float Pool.

Now I do agree that sports and movie stars do get paid a ridiculous amount of money for throwing some leather and pigs skin around and being recorded and look at by people while you perform, but it is noteworthy that if they work hard even outside the spotlight they should be paid accordingly.

I must say that I never understood why people that play doctors and nurses and play sports so the real doc's, nurses, EMTs, PTs, and RTs etc.... Get paid paid a ton more than the real Health care professionals.

The world seems a little backward.

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
"I used to work at Mcdonald's and they were TERRIBLE. Many were lazy and didn't do their jobs"

I'm quite sure such managers are not among the few making over $100,000.

I guess that poster hasn't ever worked with a lazy and or incompetent nurse? :eek: The managers I worked with when I worked fast food were mostly very hardworking and had to deal with much of the same crap from customers and employees that we deal with also. My experience in the restaurant and bar industry is one of the reasons I was able to deal with the assortment of personalities and multitask which made my switch to nursing fairly easy. If things were fair the hospital houskeeping staff would be the highest paid among any of us, imo.

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
Now I do agree that sports and movie stars do get paid a ridiculous amount of money for throwing some leather and pigs skin around and being recorded and look at by people while you perform, but it is noteworthy that if they work hard even outside the spotlight they should be paid accordingly.

I must say that I never understood why people that play doctors and nurses and play sports so the real doc's, nurses, EMTs, PTs, and RTs etc.... Get paid paid a ton more than the real Health care professionals.

The world seems a little backward.

I have thought this for years and years. And I remember hearing somewhere that most movie actors anyway, may only work 6 months of the year, and have the rest off. And they still complain about working long/early hours! I have also heard though that some do charity work as well so that is a bonus using their famous name to drum up money, resources, etc for worthy causes.

Specializes in ER.

To the OP, I feel your pain. I make more then that, plus my hubby's salary, and we live on a very tight budget. His hours were cut almost two years ago and not likely to improve anytime soon. Each year that goes by, despite good evaluations and raises when there are raises, our actual take home pay decreases.

Someone making $19 an hour in my area with a family would be hurting**. Let's say her name in Jane, she's a new nurse, married with two kids. Her husband lost his job when the plant closed, and unemployment ran out. They were that perfect and rare family... they had six months of income in savings, but it's gone as well. In my area, there are few choices now. All the plants moved overseas so there're not many jobs. Very few that pay much more than minimum wage. Assuming that Jane buys health insurance and has the good fortune to pay $500 for housing**, that's about $950 a month to spend on everything else. Dept of labor estimates the average monthly food cost to be $535. One can do much better by being frugal, so let's say $400. That's $550 a month for utilities, clothing, gas, optional car payment, mandatory motrin, lol, car insurance, etc. Ok, that's doable with good planning. Now, say my coworker needs new tires. Yikes! Or her kid has strep. Or there's another long cold snap this winter and her power bill is hgh. If she wants to retire and contributes 5%, that's $135 a month, but I doubt she can afford that. Jane has a gross income of $35,500. She is just on the borderline of qualifying for food stamps and medicaid. She probably qualifies for the school lunch program. I bet she qualifies for EIC.

Jane always has the option to move. She can make more in one of the larger cities, and her husband could possibly find a decent job. First, she has to save up enough money to move. Secondly, Jane is a good nurse. It's a shame to keep losing our good nurses to the city. Thirdly, any new nurse in my state, city or rural, could have a hard time finding a job.

I don't personally know any Janes, but I bet I just described a coworker's situation perfectly.

The fact is, this is the situation in much of the southeast. I shudder to think how it is in some areas of the northeast... same story, higher cost of living. Admittedly, I am unfamiliar with the economy further west but still.

**In reality, Jane would most likely make at least $20 base pay with a decent shift diff at my facility. However, one county over where the 'big hospital' rules and the cost of living is higher, I can see a new nurse making $19. That hospital is part of a larger entity that owns just about every other traditional employment opportunity for healthcare, so they pay what they pay and there's no competition.

I think that finding decent housing in my area to rent for $500 would be very difficult. Decent as in clean and safe, not necessarly 'nice'.

To the person who lives well with a family on $19, I ask... how? I'm not being sarcastic, truly. I'm all for being frugal. I use coupons, shop goodwill and the like, almost never dine out, and have cut our budget to the bone. Admittedly, medical bills have hurt us more then anything, but even when those are gone we won't have much breathing room. I'm willing to try almost anything so long as it legal :)

Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

wow. I knew nurses wages varied-- but I didnt realize quite how much. I make close to $40 per hour, plus differentials, all the overtime I want.... I do work at a large teaching hospital, but 6 years ago as a new grad the starting wage was never below $20 per hour. I am on the east coast.

have you considered relocating?

I live in the southeastern US. I am not a nurse (yet) but I can offer up that it can be very very easy down here to get those wages. Current GN's down here (if they can get a job) make $21-22 whether BSN or ADN on average. When my husband didn't work I made $32k & managed to keep him, myself & our newborn child, car, dog & mortgage afloat. But it wasn't easy.

Those wages unfortunately are too common down here because of "the cost of living" but it's out of proportion with everything else. That's something that career changers like myself have to take into consideration. I'm already making a little under $19/hr at my desk job. It may be kind of hard to live with $0.37 more an hr. after hacking through school.

I honestly say those nurses have to downsize ... seriously... and go out on that limb to move to another place if need be.

Yes it is crazy the amt of varying wages across north america. It seems in canada nurses make somewhat similar amts from province to province. About 9 yrs ago here in B.C. nurses were making close to the lowest amt in canada at top level 26.50/hr, at that time there was a huge amt of job action and we got a large raise to take it up to the 30's, now top level 1 RN is 40/hr. Where I live the cost of housing in very high, I live in a small 1 bedroom apartment just outside the city worth about 225,000, 20 mins away inside the city the same place would likely go for atleast 400,000. A house anywhere around where I live?? 500-1 million plus (not a mansion for 1 mill either) very easily.

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