Anyone feel short-changed? (Sorry, vent!)

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Hey there! Just wondered if anyone out there feels a little jipped that ER and critical care nurses make the same exact amount as nurses on the floors. In our hospital we have one floor where the nurses pass meds to their 4 patients twice a shift, yet they make exactly what we do an hour for busting our butts with 15-25 patients per shift!!!! And that's not even going into the knowledge and psychomotor skills that we have to keep up with!!! Anyone work anywhere that has a DEPARTMENT differential????

I would say that until one stands in the shoes of the nurses who have those 4 patients no one can say what exactly they do. I can't imagine all that's done with those four patients is "pass meds" 2x/shift. How do you know that they haven't already d/c'd 4 and then admitted 4 more?

Each and every unit/floor in a hospital is a specialty in it's own right.

Nurses knocking nurses = not good.

Amen! I work NICU and don't feel slighted because I'm not paid more than another area's nurses. If anyone thinks another specialty has it so easy, perhaps they should transfer to that area.

Don't most areas require certain certifications? Each specialty I know of requires skill days every year. I see nothing wrong with getting a little extra for any certs you hold, as long as they are also available to floor nurses with the same certs.

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Having worked in an ER for many years, I think what the OP is referring to is the extra that ER nurses are required to complete. For instance:

ACLS - usually required of all RNs.

ENPC or PALS - you always must have at least one peds cert

PEPP, TNCC, PHTLS - you must always have at least one trauma cert

GENE - is becoming the standard of care for elderly trauma patients

In the hospital I worked at, there was a lot of talk about dept differential simply because the ER must care for ALL patients, from peds to geriatrics to trauma of all ages.

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I don't see anything wrong with extra money for certs. Just as long as you make sure things like NRP, FH monitoring, etc are included in there too:) Our OB nurses require ACLS, NRP and FH monitoring, our peds nurses are required to have PALS, I am required to have NRP, an EKG interpretation cert and PALS because I could float to peds... as long as the hospital provides me with those training courses, I'm happy to take them regardless of if there is a differential or not.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
:angryfire

OK OK OK!!!!!!!!!!!! I take it back. I think I'm done posting on here because nothing I write seems to come out right. I, in NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM intended to discredit ANY registered nurse. My only gripe is that one of my best friends works on a rehab unit where she has TOLD me that she passes meds twice a shift, and the rest of her time she spends checking in on her patients whille they work with PT's and OT's. Trust me, I KNOW med/surg floors are crazy....the ER plays a huge part in making them nuts with all of our admissions. I was just saying that yes, we have to be ACLS, PALS, TNCC certified, as well as taking numerous specialty classes, being able to start IV's and draw labs, and assisting and setting up procedures that are unheard of on the floors like throacotomies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm really sorry if I offended anyone.....and I'm no longer venting to any fellow ER nurses!!!!!!!!!!

Rehab is not remotely the same as Med/Surg, and not an appropriate comparison.

Many departments have certification requirements. Despite having chemo and OCN, every single assignment requires me be rechecked off on chemo skills. I routinely obtain at least 40-50 CEUs per year.

The current assignment that I am on does conscious sedation on the floor as well as nurses that insert PICC lines. We take vent, CVHHD, art lines, insulin and cardiac drips, etc. We assist w/ bone marrow aspiration, lumbar punctures and place chest tubes on the unit. Central lines, PICCs, Hickmans, are placed on the unit, with administration of the attendant meds. We order our own blood products per parameters, and replete electrolytes 1-3 times per day. That is in addition to administering high risk and/or research chemo with extremely high rates of anaphylaxis potential.

Yet if you look at the employment ad with my agency, it reads "med-surg oncology".

Withe the exception of the vents, CVHHD, and conscious sedation, most of these tasks I have had on other "med-surg oncology" units. Add in, having to go to the ER and other units, to access ports and give chemo.

(PS. I always love receiving patients from the ER, where someone has used a regular needle to draw blood from/access a port....nothing quite like your pancytopenia patient being sent to the unit - at shift change - bleeding out from a punctured port - with pressure dressings reinforced at the site - nothing in report about it. It has happened at least 3 times)

Add to this, those patients that are a total PITA/PIA to you for the 2-5 hours, and whose family members in the WR are driving you nuts....guess, who has to deal with them for 2 days up to 3 monthes or longer, on the floor with the inability to limit the family or send them to the waiting area.

You think someone has it easier and that you should be paid more. There is a simple solution - change jobs.

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And about Rehab, trust me, it is much harder to make a patient do something than do it for them. PT/OT are not there 24/7 in most places. Rehab can destroy your back quickly.

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Specializes in HEMS 6 years.
:angryfire

OK OK OK!!!!!!!!!!!! I take it back. I think I'm done posting on here because nothing I write seems to come out right. I, in NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM intended to discredit ANY registered nurse. My only gripe is that one of my best friends works on a rehab unit where she has TOLD me that she passes meds twice a shift, and the rest of her time she spends checking in on her patients whille they work with PT's and OT's. Trust me, I KNOW med/surg floors are crazy....the ER plays a huge part in making them nuts with all of our admissions. I was just saying that yes, we have to be ACLS, PALS, TNCC certified, as well as taking numerous specialty classes, being able to start IV's and draw labs, and assisting and setting up procedures that are unheard of on the floors like throacotomies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm really sorry if I offended anyone.....and I'm no longer venting to any fellow ER nurses!!!!!!!!!!

:wakeneo: Did you really expect to post to a international nursing forum dissing every nursing specialty other than the ED and receive some sort of validation ? Do you really think 3 years of experience in the ED entitles you to such ego centrism ? Based on your theory of relativity; PARAMEDICS should be paid considerably more than YOU because they do more procedures, work in the elements, and have to listen to some (not all) prima donas of the ED ask them "why did you come here?"

:welcome: To reality... now put on your big girl pants AND get over it !

At least admit you're wrong....

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Specializes in ER.

ORIGINALLY POSTED BY RIO:

Quote:

https://allnurses.com/forums/images/smilies/Wake%20Up%20Neo.PNG Did you really expect to post to a international nursing forum dissing every nursing specialty other than the ED and receive some sort of validation ? Do you really think 3 years of experience in the ED entitles you to such ego centrism ? Based on your theory of relativity; PARAMEDICS should be paid considerably more than YOU because they do more procedures, work in the elements, and have to listen to some (not all) prima donas of the ED ask them "why did you come here?"

:welcome: To reality... now put on your big girl pants AND get over it !

At least admit you're wrong....

:angryfire Holy hostility. If I knew how to retract a post, I'd "put on my big girl pants", and I would do it in a second because apparently I've UNINTENTIONALLY pushed some people's buttons. Like I said, it was a REHAB floor I was referring to, I've ALREADY apologized, and I'd really appreciate not having my head bitten off anymore. I don't plan on coming back to allnurses and I'm sorry I said ANYTHING. I was not at all DISSING anyone!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for putting words in my mouth and have a nice day.

PLEASE forget I said anything and I promise I'll never post another thing again!!!!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Okay guys, lets slow this down. I'm going to give this a 24 hour cool off because its getting waay too overheated. Let's debate the topic not the poster. I do agree that if you are required to have certs to work on a particular floor/unit, then the facility should provide them and should provide them during work time and should pay for the time.

So...I think we all agree that we ALL work hard - its just different type of work. Take care, have a good evening...traumarus

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