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

People seem to either forget or don't think about all the responsibility that nurses have and how technical our jobs truly are. Every day I went to work I knew that I was responsibile for the lives of at least 25 people if not more. I had to be on the top of my game every work day or something really horrible could happen. Somehow, I had to leave my personal problems at the door, not think about how tired I was or how much my back hurt, how I just didn't want to deal with any more stress in my life right now...forget all this and be a nurse.
I think nurses even tend to take all of the stress and sickness for granted because we do it every day and have become "used" to it. Nurses are the ones who deal with patients and family and doctors for 8,12,16, etc hours a shift. We do things for patients that no one wants to do, even us, yet we do it anyway because it is needed.
I had to demand my days off, demand to go home after a shift because I just could not do overtime, demand my requested time off, demand to stay home when I was sick, and demand to be treated with respect from my peers and others.
The very least a nurse is deserving of is health care for the rest of the nurse's life. I was paid alright at the end of my career (pay that my union had to fight for since it was not given readily by any of the hospitals I worked for) but when I left, I left with nothing. My teacher friends, my firemen friends, my company friends, all have pensions and benefits for life. Nurses must depend on medicare or what they were able to save while working.

I'm in the Kansas/Missouri area and I believe RN's start out around $20/hr with good benefits. Maybe by the time I'm done with school it will be up to $30/hr. LOL

I have been in nursing as an LPN and then as an RN for close to 25years. There are two areas that bother me about this profession: First, nursing is a HIGH RISK profession and secondly, with the power we have as a group why are we still struggling to make a living in this profession. Why the shortage in nursing? lack of respect for the profession and poor pay.

I'm in NE Ohio and work for a large healthcare system. As a new grad in June, with a diploma and Assoc. degree under my belt, I started at $22.50/hr. As of my last pay stub, I grossed about $28k from June-Dec, and 2 months of that was at a lower pay rate due to not yet being licensed. It is certainly an income that one can live on. Maybe not well, but it sure beats the $11/hour I was making when I processed claims for an insurance company. That being said, I don't believe we are fairly compensated at all. When you take into account the amount of responsibilities that we have--from pt. care to covering LPNs to dealing with docs, passing meds, etc, etc, etc, the scale is tipped far too far to the responsibility side and not far enough to the salary side. Never mind the wear and tear on our bodies, the stress, and the amount of education that we have to get to become RN's. If we could just go to work every day and do the job that we were trained to do minus all the other stuff, it would be fair, or at least in the realm of fair.
I do also think that like teachers, police officers, firefighters, and the like, nurses should be classified as public servants and should be entitled to the benefits as such.

For the amount of work we do and the way they seem to take pride in understaffing us, no, they are not even close in compensation. I have only been a nurse for a year, but I am almost 50 years old. I know that a new grad such as myself is not going to make top dollar, but after more than a year on the job, I am starting to lose my zest for what I got into this field for in the first place, to take care of people and make them feel better. I have a gift for making people smile and forgetting their troubles if only for a little while, but with staffing the way it is, I don't get to spend enough time with my patients. Maybe it is the place I work. I hope so because I really enjoy working with people and trying to make a difference in their lives. Time will tell.
In reply to 07rn2b, I think we work for the same large system in NE Ohio. I interviewed with a rehab center yesterday and they are starting off at 24.50 for 1 year exp. for an 8 hour shift basically passing meds. Something is wrong with this picture.

I make approx 7,000 a month (84,000 yr) which only 4,300 is taxable. This is after 6yrs in the USAF. Normally, we get approx a 3% cost of living raise each year, plus 3-6% raise every other year, and raises with every promotion.
It is a trade off, but I can't complain about the compensation or the benefits.

Just alittle advice: I was in the AF for three years and then got out. If I knew then what I know now, I would have stayed in for 20 years mininum and gotten out with a great pension. Think about it.

I can't get out till 6/2014, if all goes well I will graduate and have my CRNA in two more years courtsey of the USAF. When my payback is over I am seriously considering switching USPHS d/t promotion problems with nurses in the USAF.

Good for you!! I, personally, went to 10 years of college on good ole Uncle Sam after I got out. Would not trade my experience in the service for anything.

Patjohn, we probably do work for the same system. Let's face it, where we are, there are really only two choices. I don't believe that one is better than the other. I'm only 36 and have been at this for not even a year. When I started this career, I felt young, but feel older every day that I go to work. EVerything about it wears me down...the staffing issues; the resistance that we get from the techs on our floor; the patients--some, not all; the fighting amongst the nurses in my unit, and the demands placed on us by our employer. I'm tethered to this system for another year due to a loan they gave me for school, but I'm already looking for a way out and into something else.