money

suzy,
absolutely i can see what you are saying.
$8 might be decent for a pickle packer, but is it decent for an airline pilot?
how about a doctor?
is $8 an hour a decent wage for a police officer?
what about a paramedic?

even if you take the individual's perception of "decent" into consideration, you can logically see there is no comparison.

listen, would you agree that as a profession we sell ourselves short?

i do my job for the money. i do it well because i care.

and im saying the same thing. im not talking about new grads. of course a higher starting wage is an attempt to lure new grads into the hospitals. again...retention is not addressed and that seems to be the heart of the problem.

suzy..you ARE worth 40 bucks an hour not just to the patients but to the hospital as well.
for the patient:
after those years of experience you have seen most everything i would assume. you are confident and less likely to make a mistake. if i were having a complicated delivery i would much rather have YOU as my nurse than a new grad OR say a med/surg nurse like me, who is NOT experienced with deliveries.

so you are a SPECIALTY NURSE WITH EXPERIENCE..if i had to pay you out of my pocket 40 bucks an hour to care for me and my baby i would have no problem with that. i pay my primary that to look at a blood test.

from the hospital vantage point:
you have been there three years. you know the ropes. you know how the hospital works. you know the personell. you know what to do and when to do it. again...you are a SPECIALTY NURSE WITH EXPERIENCE AT THAT HOSPITAL...you are so much more likely to comply with the customer service they are constantly pushing down our throats.
consider this:
we have just started a flexible scheduling program where i work. nurses with 2 years experience are eligable. thats one less year than you. they are paid 36 bucks an hour. in other words...if you came to our hospital, even tho you are not a med/surg nurse...they would pay YOU $36 an hour.
our hospital feels you are worth it...why dont you?


and lets consider the ICU nurses..ill use burn/trauma as an example since i was pulled there a few days ago.

you know what burns are like. there are few other injuries like a burn. so many of the patients on that unit are vented. so you have experienced nurses that know how to care for these critically ill patients to keep them alive AND they know how to do the treatments. consider that they also interact with the families AND can recognize when things are going bad MUCH faster than any of us can..so essentially, they are the eyes and ears of the docs. ive seen them tell the DOCS what needs done because they have experience the docs dont.

do you think $40 is a fair wage for them?
i dont.
there are SOME nurses who DESERVE 80 grand a year. they are among them. of course, like you, i am basing this on specialty and experience.

suzy...dont sell yourself short. in the big scheme of things, and comparing what you do to other professions (and yes you have to) you are worth at least $40 an hour. dont forget, medicine is big business. even at that rate, how big of a piece of hospital pie is it?

now march on in there sistah and DEMAND a raise...lol