Do you think you are adequately compensated in your job as a nurse?

I also work at a small rural hospital. The initial pay is okay, but we do not have health insurance, disability, life nor retirement.

No, we as nurses, are definately not compensated. I recently started back to school to get my BSN. I wanted to become a nurse educator. But after I found out that nurse managers get more pay than a nurse educator, I decided against it. I might go back to school at a later time this year, but it will be because I want to get my BSN degree, not necessarily because I intend on doing something with it.

I have just recently became a traveler and I'm on an assignment in Amarillo, TX. There are two large hospitals here. I was talking to one of the charge nurses the other night and this is what she shared with me. NWTX paid over $10,000 to bring many foreign nurses to the Amarillo area. Their contract will end some time this year. Instead of offering them a good benefit package, they are going to lose probably all of those nurses. Simply because they refuse to offer/pay them an adequate amount. Most, if not all of these nurses, have moved their entire families with them. The hospital has placed many of these families in nice, new homes. So who has lost here??

Many hospitals should pay a 'retention' bonus, instead of losing good nurses.

Kathy

Its a pity that our remunaration is not standardised and that we get paid according to the employer's wishes, and not necessarily performance, experience or education. If we had a mandtory minimum, it could probably be better. And I wonder, in the better places where medics are compensated for injury, how come its rated according to job group and not extend of injury? Does a needle prick deeper if your job group is higher and v/v?

Another factor that is globally not rewarding is the societal attitude towards nurses. We (nurses) have to stand the malevolence of patients and their relatives yet the health care team is quite large. No one really understands our job hours and especially that our job taxes us both mentally and physically.

All said and done, I particularly get some small time satisfaction like when i get results from my nursing care, and occasionally appreciation (verbal mostly). Oh, and the hope that my real reward is in Heaven!!!

Yes- I am well compensated, I have good insurance and adequate paid time off.

Lets talk figures, what do you people make? I make $0 as a student, lol.

What kind of retirement benefits do you have from your empoyer? Do they include any type of medical retirement benefit????

Not even close. I am a dual degree BSN with my former in Computer Science and I took a substantial pay cut making this transition. The majority of my friends are union laborers, linemen ~45 hr., plumbers., ~36 hr., HVAC ~26 hr. Here in the Midwest the pay for an RN is much lower than any of those jobs listed above. I think the only method that has worked in obtaining more appropriate wages for nurses is through collective bargaining such as the nurses on the coasts. Its also the quickest way to get fired by talking about it, at least around here.

>>> I recently read that a mascot for a professional sports team makes on average $60,000 per season. Yep - the person dressed in the dog or pirate outfit, jumping around, doing push-ups. I didn't feel terribly undercompensated ... until I read that! >>>

West coast, new grads start at around $32, I passed $100,000 last year. Yes, it costs more to live here, but it was a good move for us.