Are you in Nursing for the Caring or the Cash?? Be Honest

1BlessedRN · Jun 11, 2004

Lisa, are you in a LPN-RN bridge program? Maybe that's why your fellow students are talking about the money. Let's face it- a $10/hr pay increase is reason enough to go from LPN to RN.
I don't understand why people knock the young ones who are actually in school, and making very wise career choices. At least they're not hanging around their parents' basements doing nothing, or out committing crimes, etc. How many of us have had other degrees, other careers, and later chose to go to nursing school? At least they're getting it right the first time. I say more power to them, no matter their reason for choosing nursing.

I am currently pursuing my BSN, and I interact with alot of nursing students on campus and for the most part all I hear is "you can make major money in nursing" or "I'm going into nursing just for the money" and to me that is the wrong reason I don't know how long you been nursing but even you know we are underpaid and if they are going just for this reason then honey they are in for a rude awakening and when I say students, I'm talking more about non-degree students not LPNs, and I am not knocking them I'm just letting them know we don't make this big money as we are perceived, at least most nurses I know don't, but the stability of knowing you have a job and caring for your patients is a plus. :)

zambezi, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2004

Both of those reasons and more. Certainly the pay is not bad (though it could certainly be more for all that we do!), especially in my area. Nursing is also one of the only stable, well paying jobs in my area and I don't have any current plans to move. I do enjoy working with people, working with patients and families in a time of need, teaching others about their disease process or healthy living. I can work with babies, children, adolescents, adults, and seniors. I can go into research, staff jobs, home health, education, administration, medical device/drug sales, even IT in the healthcare industry. I enjoy working a job that has a ton of flexibility. I enjoy working with new technology (though we are behind those big level one centers, but eventually it trickles down to us!). I like have a job that is always different, always making me think, and always changing and progressing as we learn new things about the human body. There are other reasons as well but this pretty much sums it up!

As a side note, I don't think that it is wrong to go into nursing for money, or whatever other reason one may have. I think that if someone goes into nursing and does not like people or working hard--they probably won't last long. Some of the crappy things that nurses have to put up with is made better by seeing a patient recover or hearing them say thank you! Coming from college, I agree that the money is not that bad starting off and you can find a job right out of school unlike many other professions, but after about five years, pay never increases by leaps and bounds, so that is a limiting factor...I think that nursing provides a liveable middle income in most areas, but it is certainly not one you will get rich off of unless you invest really well or have a good second income.

redheadindixie · Jun 11, 2004

hello i am currently in nursing school and the weirdest thing is how future nurses talk about how they are going to be getting paid!! it's as if caring is not involved in their frame of mind, this type of mentality is not going to help the nursing shortage it's only going to aide it because as we know we do not get paid for our actual services, but this younger generation feel since it is a shortage this is the field to go and make some quick money, so i'm curious and please be honest what are you in it for, caring or cash?

i enjoy nursing and i definitely care, but i definitely like pay day also.

when i was in nursing school i never thought too much about the money. i just wanted to ~survive to graduation~ and make good grades.

and if i didn't need the money i make nursing today , i would only nurse 8 hour shifts a couple of days a week for fun. probably 8am to 4 pm lol

your co-students may be surprised to find......, oh what is that song

~you work hard for your money, so hard for it honey~

rnmi2004 · Jun 11, 2004

I enjoy many aspects of nursing, but for the stress involved I wouldn't have become a nurse unless it paid well.

smk1, LPN · Jun 11, 2004

ok well because i have to have a job to make ends meet (i am not an heiress) i guess you could say that i am in it for the paycheck. I know i would most likely not spend money to go to school, expend the time and effort away from family strictly for charitable reasons. However since I would be working anyway, i picked a career with a large capacity to affect other peoples lives and help them in some way , so for me the two go hand in hand. But if I had to choose I would not work at all. (maybe community volunteering or something but thats it), so i guess if you look at it that way, i am in it for the money.

nurseunderwater · Jun 11, 2004

Both.....I wonder though how long the "just in it for the money" contingent lasts doing floor nursing....

AcosmicRN · Jun 11, 2004

I wanted to build the Kingdom of God, and most of the ways that is done either pays very little or not at all, except nursing. God knows I have to earn a living. God has given me nursing as a way to do both. I like nursing very much, and it suits me, but I have to earn a living.

Acosmic

hock1 · Jun 11, 2004

In it for both. As a secretary I made close to what I make as a nurse now. As far as money goes, nursing pay is under-rated for the amount of work involved. If a nurse doesn't like people, then a less people oriented job is a better choice. I figure hospitalized people need a nurse with a hard skin and soft heart with the ability to wade thru knee deep sh*t to get to the bottom of the matter.:rotfl:

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Jun 11, 2004

Both.....I wonder though how long the "just in it for the money" contingent lasts doing floor nursing....

I don't know about that one- the ones in it for the money are also the ones who are willing to pick up extra shifts. They're OK by me.

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Jun 11, 2004

Seriously, I hate it when people try to act like nurses are not supposed to care about the pay; that attitude is what has kept us paid poorly for years.

This is so very true. It is not charity work, it is a career.

Let's put it this way. If I did not like what I do, the money would not make it worth going in to work. There are areas of nursing I have worked in that NO amount of money would make worthwhile for me.

On the flip side, if it were a choice of taking a $10/hr cut in pay or changing careers, I'd probably change careers.

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Jun 11, 2004

Both.....I wonder though how long the "just in it for the money" contingent lasts doing floor nursing....

Those folks probably do not opt for floor nursing. It takes a special type of person to work in med/surg anyway. Many of us are not that type, it's not just a matter of caring. (I'm sure you know that tho :)). Personally, it would make me crazy.

CarolineRn · Jun 11, 2004

hello i am currently in nursing school and the weirdest thing is how future nurses talk about how they are going to be getting paid!! it's as if caring is not involved in their frame of mind, this type of mentality is not going to help the nursing shortage it's only going to aide it because as we know we do not get paid for our actual services, but this younger generation feel since it is a shortage this is the field to go and make some quick money, so i'm curious and please be honest what are you in it for, caring or cash?

in complete honesty, as you asked lisa-- i am in it for both reasons. making money is a primary goal, but i could make as much if not better for the same educational investment (less when you consider the stress deliberatly imposed upon nursing students) as a computer networking engineer. but where is the fullfillment in that? i *am* a caring person, but ask yourself this-- if you were paid the way our great-grandparents in the nursing profession were paid (room and board and weekends off) would *you* still be in this profession?

in this life, you get what you pay for. if you want good, quality, educated professionals caring for you or your loved ones, you should expect to compensate them. i know i do. my insurance carrier, on the other hand, has a lot to learn! :rolleyes: