would you be a RN for $11.00/hr?

Nurses General Nursing

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Just for fun lets just pretend the starting wage for an RN (regardless of education just RN) started at $11.00 hr. Would you still be a nurse? Also, what would be an acceptable starting pay for you to consider the field?. Ill start it off by saying no I would not at $11 hr (to much risk, slave wage for the type of job it is etc) and even though our starting pay around here is $27 hr for new grads I would work for about $20 hr. Be honest with you answers :)

I started out at $12 an hour in 1999 as a new grad in Arkansas. I heard they raised the starting pay for new grads, I just don't know how much.

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Are you for real?

Are you insinuating that as nurses we should work for whatever crappy wage management deems fit to dole out? That at $11.00/hr we love our job as nurses so much we would do it for practically nothing?

The fact that you would even ask this question demonstrates how nurses in general have the politics of 50 years ago.

Nursing school is hell! Maintaining a license is tedious! Nursing is exceptionally demanding, at times draining, and without a doubt the most important function of a hospital.

The question you should be asking is: would I work for less than $22.00/hr?

We are not angels. We are highly skilled,we have degrees and are well trained health care providers.

Nursing salaries are starting to go down despite the "nursing shortage" Does this make any sense? Yes. Because (I don't mean to be rude) nurses asking your type of silly question are putting us there.

Do plumbers make 11/hr? Do carpenters? Do truckers? Why nurses?

Holy feak out batman!:trout:

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working for that amount of money is an insult!!!!:madface:

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To put this into perspective I have a friend who answers inbound calls at discover card who makes $16 an hour with only a H.S. education.....he makes almost as much as Cops do saving people everyday....something twisted there.

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Absolutely NOT! Those are poverty wages in NYC. I live in a cheap apartment in the Bronx and my rent is $998/month. $11/hr is $1540 a month before taxes, I would be homeless if I made that kind of wage. Nursing requires an education and I am investing my time and money in acquiring this education so that I can live a better life not a worse one.

I know that you cannot be into nursing solely for the paycheck but if I want to live in poverty and work for free (or almost free) I will join a religous order.

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Specializes in Case Managemnt, Utilization Review.

I work as a camp nurse all summer and I probably make about 5 bucks an hour, considering I work 24/7 all summer. It's all about the perks. If it wasn't camp, NO WAY! 7 years ago, I worked for 16 dollars an hour as a supervisor in a LTC facility. That was slave wage. I worked 6A-6P every day but Sunday and paid $880 bucks a month to put my 2 kids in daycare. It a good thing their older now and don't need a sitter anymore.

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I could make more than that as a waitress or in a clerical job. Nurses are educated and trained and in this day and age are worth a lot more than that.

I have heard starting salary around here is late 20's to early 30's depending on the shift. Agency nurses are making 40+ so I would go that route as soon as they would hire me.

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Specializes in Lie detection.
all i know is that im broke a$$ at $11.00 hr going through nursing school. no wonder lab has such high turnover...too much risk not enough pay.

i'm confused. your pay as a phlebotomist is $11.00 per hr? and you are asking us to consider that as rn wages? the purpose of this is?

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[color=#483d8b]and no i would never work as an rn for this amt. my hourly pay is approx $43 per hr. however. i have no idea what phlebotomists make. when i was in nursing school i workes ad a unit clerk and made about $14 hr about 10 yrs ago.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.

Pay is all relative to cost of living. I enjoy having certain comforts. If I could have those same comforts at 11.00/hr then I would not complain. However, I cannot when you figure the current cost of living. I started at 19.60...which I consider adequate. If the cost of living skyrocketed tomorrow, then that would be a different story.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

i actually was asked a similar question by a MD that i work with and when you think about it it is very insulting. what do people think nurses are? just a bunch of pitiful women that have some overwhelming desire to take care of the sick?? i think not. i like being a nurse, but when i am at work there isn't a day that goes by that i don't think " i don't get paid enough for this S*!" i am always thinking of my next stepping stone. i love the patients and the fast pace of the ER but nurses are soooo under compensated, and unfortunately most nurses don't see it until they have been a nurse 3-4 years (like me).

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Just for fun lets just pretend the starting wage for an RN (regardless of education just RN) started at $11.00 hr. Would you still be a nurse? Also, what would be an acceptable starting pay for you to consider the field?. Ill start it off by saying no I would not at $11 hr (to much risk, slave wage for the type of job it is etc) and even though our starting pay around here is $27 hr for new grads I would work for about $20 hr. Be honest with you answers :)

I am paying money to go to school so absolutely not. It wouldn't be fiscally responsible to spend 3 years of my life and thousands of dollars to come out making 11 bucks/hour. Even if it were on the job training and no schooling required, I think the risks and responsibilities would preclude me from following that path without proper compensation.

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Hell no. I have a BSN, am licensed by the state, am a professional. I deserve to be compensated for my educational level, professional licensure, years of experience, and professional knowledge and judgement. And I am still paying off student loans.

Would you pose the same question to physicians?

The days of nurses doing the work for "emotional rewards" instead of finanical compensation are long past, but pay still lags behind considering the education and professional responsibility of being a nurse, compared with other professions also requiring education, licensure, and responsibility. I am attracted to health care because it is intrinsically meaningful work, compared to pushing papers in cubicles, but I am also attracted to the salary and (relative) status being a nurse offers me.

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