To be honest this bb is almost always uniformly depressing to visit because people come here on their down days, weeks, months, life-times to air grievances.
How much is enough money in nursing?
I hear all of the time that we aren't paid enough, so how much is enough?
If I rate my job for financial satisfaction (substance abuse prevention in a school), rating is about a 2 on a 1-5 scale. I could be making more money. In truth, I haven't had such a poor earning capacity since I was less than 5 years out of school--I'm out 23 years this June. But I am happy. The work is meaningful. I'm getting a wonderful opportunity to help kids 1:1. I'm home most evenings (probably 5 out of 6 weeks I'm home every night of the week) with my kid. Holidays are spent with my family, not the dear, dear people I worked with in the hospital/units but had no blood kinship with (and I really do miss them, but not enough to go back...). I work in a school setting, where the main thrust is education, so my programs and what I do is always secondary to the ed mission. I'm pretty low status (though respected more and more every day--having only been in the job 1 1/2 years). Value placed on job satisfaction=4/5
Value placed on job that allows me to meet my goals in my primary role of mom=4/5
(Nuttin's perfect)
Do I worry that if my dear, beloved husband crumped tomorrow that I would have to get a "real job"? Yup, I do, but I'd be inclined to try to make it in this job so that I could be available to my kid since we'd need each other more than ever. (we have done some financial planning against this possibility.)
Bottom line: Nursing tries to attract men to nursing. Women who must do full time nursing to support their families face the same issues. How can I make the most money in nursing? That would be the hospital. You don't have to be a genius to see that some really good people are being eaten alive by their hospital jobs according to postings on this and other BB's.
I have always been happiest in nursing when I wasn't busting my chops to make a lot of money (and this includes working in the hospital times in my career). Learn to live on less. Yes, I mean you. Avoid making unit staffing your personal problem. Get caller ID or an answering machine and do not answer the phone on your day off unless you want to talk to those folks. Learn to say, "No I cannot come in extra." Get a life outside of nursing. Do not expect that nursing should be your sole source of love, gratification, acceptance, friendship and FULFILLMENT in life. Nursing makes a poor lover. Do not measure happiness, fulfillment, personal self-worth by dollars: IT NEVER WORKS.
And to those of you who say, "This kind of poo-poo has kept and will keep nurses poor for a long time." Probably true. I don't think theres a lot more money to be had in health care to juice nursing salaries up much more. I don't think the market will bear it. That's my opinion. Even in poorly staffed hospitals, it takes a lot of professional nurses to make it run. The service we provide is labor intensive, so we are not going to be at the top of a pay pyramid, like a CEO or COO or CFO is (of which you only need a couple.) I think health care is a house of cards that is wobbling, but to those of you that want to keep batting your head against this particular wall, be my guest.
Some of you might want to try to re-frame your thinking using some of my ideas or perhaps the ideas of other posters and get a little happier.
I am hoping to hear from those of you who substantially disagree with me BUT please would those of you who have re-framed your expectations of what you get out of nursing AROUND SOMETHING OTHER THAN MONEY please post.
Hope this gives another perspective on this issue.
