I definitely not recommend nursing.

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I basically gave up 2 years of my sons lives when they were 8 and 10 to complete my RN. I never saw them awake till the weekend. I had school from 0630 till 12:45 and worked as a secretary on a psych unit from 1400 till 2230. I thought I was doing it to provide them with a secure future. All it gave them was a mother who was stressed out, had back surgery twice, and missed their school concerts and PTA meetings because she was always at work. Luckily they are now grown and have turned out well. But I missed too much, and I can't get it back. I don't feel we are compensated for our sacrifices, nor are we supported or respected by "mahogany hall" administrators. And I would like to know where in this country an RN makes $25.00 to $30.00 an hour. I've been an ICU nurse for 10 years and the best I pull is $18.00. No it's not just about the money, it's about not having the time to give the nursing care you want to give. If I have a patient going for CABG, and they are nervous and scared, I don't have time to sit and explain and encourage, but I'm supposed to take the time to write on the education sheet the teaching I've done. That's hypocritical, but it's the facts. No I wouldn't recommend this back wrenching, exhausting , thankless, tiring, heart wrenching, disrespected job to anyone.

I've been an RN for 23 years (19 of them acute care med surg/icu/ccu) Then 3 years ago or so I switched to a nursing home. A very nice one with much potential where a majority of the residents can respond to you and interact with you even if only a little. It was a basic care residence, not skilled. I loved the residents!!! A great part was when they said you quit at 10pm you were home by 10:15....that hardly ever happened in the hospital. In the hospital you NEVER had enough time to do the things you were supposed to.........extremely stressful!!

Still you give up every other weekend, every other holiday, and then some because so many people call in and you pick up the slack.

If you have a family, nursing is not worth it, because of the all too real possibility these days of bringing home HIV and other bad things. I was lucky. An agressive pt turned on me suddenly and I got stuck with his insulin needle. Administration wasn't even going to have me tested!!! The DON told me to wash with betadine and put a band-aid on it and I'll be okay. Well, I insisted on testing because this guy had numerous surgeries with blood donations. The tests turned out okay, BUT I had to quit nursing my beautiful baby (this in a household where I did extended nursing with all my kids!), explain abstinance for 6 months to my hubby. The quitting of nursing the baby was devastating to all. I can't imagine if I had actually contracted HIV. It was too stressful a time and I wouldn't want anybody to go through that. BUT, its a real possibility and all too easy to do. The administration was just awful.

I quit work in Dec as my dh got a new job which requires travel. I now do home sales and think eventually I will be good at it and make more money. I still visit the residents as I really loved most of them. They are special people and it seems that too many people these days "forget" their family members in their old age. Geriatric people don't get the respect they have earned.

Why do nurses always talk about making a decent wage. The salaries in nursing are absolutely INDECENT!!!!!! One of the nurses commented that her husband made a good living, so that she could afford a low paying job in nursing. I bet that that attitude would change considerably if her husband had a low paying job, or she was the sole support of her family! Nursing salaries have not kept up with the cost of living for at least the last 10 years. The majority of us have no pension/retirement plans, and I personally know of nurses who are working into their late sixties, and seventies. They are not doing this because they love their work, or cannot bear to retire - they have no choice ! If i felt that nursing was a calling , and I didn't want to make a decent wage, i would have become a nun ! The majority of the nurses on the job who feel that there is no problem generally have some dysfunctional component to their personality. Either that, or thay have been downtrooden so long that they don't know how to stick up for themselves anymore. Shame on us for letting it get this out of hand ! The solution to the problem lies in our hands - we just have to have the courage to stand up for ourselves, and do something most nurses don't traditionlly do - stick together. We have an awesome amount of numbers and power IF we just stiick by each other !:rolleyes:

Tremmi,

I have been a nurse for 16 yrs now and have worked in just about every setting. I definitely would not encourage others to pursue nursing as a career. The most enjoyable work I have done was in a Pediatric Clinic. Easy job, friendly staff, great docs, but low low pay. I guess it makes up for the no-nights, no weekends, no holidays. Nursing homes remind me of Nazi Death Camps. The owner lives in a mansion and the poor residents hardly have food to eat. It is just too dreadful. Home Health may allow nurses to have more 1:1 contact but where I live (rural Arkansas) it can be scary and dangerous to go way out to those needing care. It can be lonely too because there are no other nurses to talk to. I worked agency most of my career. No benefits but higher pay. No regular schedule but more freedom in scheduling work the way you want to work it. One does not have to get involved in all the squabbles and politics going on but you do not get the feeling that you are "one of them." Now I work 12 hour night shifts (shift diffs = much better pay, no doctors, etc. to fool with, less hectic) - in a geri-psych unit 3 nights a week. I wish I could get away from the paperwork and actually get to know my patients but every time we think we have a routine down pat, we get a new unit director and start all over again. For the most part I would say that the best thing about nursing is job security. "We can always get another nursing job" we say to console ourselves for not being considered a profession. Doctors seem to be getting better at respecting nurses but administration values them very little. Also maybe because most nurses are women, there just does not ever seem to be the cohesiveness that one encounters with doctors (they stick together no matter what!). Nurses are unkind to each other, making the adjustment to being fresh out of school extremely frightening and disheartening to those new on a unit. I have heard it is the only profession where they eat their young. So true......

You go girl... see my reply on an earlier post... I REPEAT.... DO NOT GO INTO NURSING..UNLESS you want a MISERABLE life!!!!! kim

Do you know what the infrastructure of a hospital is? how about the infrastructure of an investment firm that invests and manages your portfolio's, your retirement accounts? What about the infrastructure of an insurance company that keeps all your insurance records....is there a human on the other end of the line when you call about the billing of your kid's last dental visit? Who do you think is paying her salary? Who is paying for the phones, computers , the building , the salaries ..? YOU, The hospital employees. You make 33% less than the agency nurse, because when she walks out the door, that's it....no expense to the hospital...no retirement plan to manage for the next 20 years, no $$$ calculations of any kind....the last job i left, they didn't even know i was gone...not even an exit interview...da nada....If you really think about this, it will be mind-boggling what it takes to keep your benefits going. Who do you think is paying for that?..

Hi everybody. After reading some of your replies, I wanted to

quit nursing. Its a shame that we all can't take all our frustrated

feelings and wonderful ideas and put them to good use. Nurses

as a whole is a huge group of talented and caring people. Just

think how we could change the face of nursing and patient care

if we all banded together and actually did something instead of

using up all that energy to moan and groan. We are a huge

group of people! Lets face it, hospitals and docs can't survive

without us!!!! We are a hot commodity with skills that our

communities need. We do have something to bargain with!

Course, you may think I am dreaming, which I probably am. I

am not a new nurse. I have been in this business for five years

now working all across the country and in many settings. Your

compliants are the same everywhere. Why is it we all can't band

together and get something done?????? I know we are all

exhausted from working short. I feel the frustration as much as

you when I have to prioritize who gets the better care on my

shift because I have no help and a heavy load. In face of this

nursing shortage, how can we corporately and individually change

the face of our profession??? Its up to us. I still think its possible.

How strange to see this topic. I have been having this discussion with my nursing friends. We are all VON's (Very Old Nurses:rolleyes: ) and we dearly love our chosen profession...butlet's face it; given the opportunites that are out there I really don't think that too many intelligent young people will choose this profession. It's hard to reccommend it either. I am extremely proud to be a nurse as are my friends, but unless you have a "calling" this profession will probably not woo you.

Hang in there Tremmi....you sound like a great and caring nurse. Hang out with some nurse budds that you really respect and admire...there's nothing like moral support from like minded friends to make things easier to bear.

I am so in love with this field!!! We have come a long way and instead of *****ing and complaining you need to stand up and do something. Fight for the RESPECT that nurses deserve! Fight for the pay you deserve do not sit and mumble and moan!!! The only way to make a diffrence is to do something about it that is the problem today with the nursing field. In michigan a NG can make about 19 an hour and as an RN 20 and it increases every year after. We get shift dif bonuses ect... But we fought for what we have and are not finished!!! Did anyone really become a nurse for your patient to thank you not really just knowing that I was a major influence in how that pt. recovered is enough that is all I need. I am so proud of the word NURSE do you gals and guys know what power you hold?? take a minute and reflect who else can run a floor? who else can teach the residents how it s done and what this and that is? who would make the split second life saving dec.? many many would have died without us in the wars. We are magnificant angels BE PROUD STAND TALL you make all the diffrence

i'm an english nurse working in an english hospital and i love being a nurse but would i encourage either of my daughters to enter the nursing proffesion?well not right now they're only 6 and 11/2 years so maybe there's time for change.In this country there are always the public who call us angels and say that we are under paid and then there are those that tell me that w don't earn a bad hourly rate approx£8.00 per hour as a newly qualified but then i say yes i know that it's not a bad hourly rate but when i think that i have friends and very good ones too who can ean £24.00 an hour sewing sofa's and chairs i get annoyed.I would probably nurse even if the pay was much less because that's wat i always wanted to do but i do think that in this day and ae we should be paid what we are worth.sometimes i feel like we should lobby the public to take to the streets with us and protest with us at our wages like i say they often tell me that i am worth my weight in gold .if they feel so strongly they should help us however if t was a choice about increasing taxes to pay for higher wages for nurses i would e very suprised if any one ever showed their face to help us .you see i believe that we now live n a greedy world where the majority of people say "i'm alright Jack"and don't want to get involved in any kind of dispute.nurses are wonderful and everyone needs them and where would we be without our angels of mercy?I've heardit all said but then nothing changes.we vote in our prime ministers but nothing realy changes.The hospitals that we work for woul rather pay an angency nurse to come and cover shifts than they would employ another nurse but the saying that no one wants to workas anurse anymore because we are all disillusioned with the profession.Would i encourage my childrento follow the path of nursing?I don't know,they would have to be extremely dedicated and feel that it was their vocation in life.i want my children to be happy but i also want them to obtain their qualifications and be paid accordingly :D:)

NurseDude, What type of work do you do now that you have quit nursing? I'm interested in the transitions people make out of the nursing field, and I find the "Nurses in Transition" board is undertrafficked, and most participants are too vague. P.S. Speaking of plumbing ;}, I used to joke with a fellow 30$-per-visit per diem home care nurse that we could make alot more money running a private mobile enema service, charging $100 a pop, er, poop. ( We had a number of home care patients who were hooked on enemas and saw PRN enema administration as one of the most signifigant benefits of having a visiting nurse ). I thought we could drive around town in a brown van, in brown uniforms, with a siren blaring, bravely taking care of those code browns.

I was laid off from the best job I had as a nurse in June- I was working for a small software company. They made a software package that paid insurance claims. It was the best job I ever had... I took a couple of months off and went back to my old ER job in a hospital. Last week I put in a resignation there as I am starting a job with an insurance company next week.

At the hospital I had: 0(zero) sick days, 0(zero) vacation 0 pension, tuition reimbursement up to 1000/yr. Oh and a bad schedule to boot- they just came out with the xmas schedule today. Been working there since August.

At the insurance co I have: 6 sick days/yr, 3 weeks vacation with option for a 4th week, 401k-day I start with matching 6 months later, steady schedule, 100% tuition reimbursement after 6 months, good benefits, more money...All start the day I walk in the door(unless otherwise noted)... Oh, and a $1000 sign on bonus...

NurseDude,

Thanks for the reply. I can't believe how bad the benefits were at your hospital job. News Flash to hospital CEO: two words- nursing shortage! Oh well, I guess they need one more nurse now. Good luck at your new job.

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