Bad to be concerned with money?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2007

When selecting a potential career, money should be one of several focuses. After all, I am not a volunteer, and I do not render my services for free.

A good nurse does not necessarily need to be "called" into the profession. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, and other professionals are never ridiculed or belittled for making queries about earning potential. It's time for the nursing profession to stop beating up the members who are motivated by dollar signs.

I've met money-hungry nurses who were intelligent, highly-skilled, abstract thinkers, and provided wonderful care. I've also met some "called" nurses who seriously lacked judgment and knowledge.

Nursing is a caring profession, but it's hard to care for others until your own income is sufficient enough to fulfill your needs. JMHO.

Mexarican · Dec 30, 2007

I agree...money should always be right up there at the top on things to consider! Well put!

Mex

bill4745, RN · Dec 30, 2007

I love my job. I work hard to give the best possible care. I also have a wife and three children.

I choose my employer based on all the above. I have turned down higher pay at hospitals that were poorly staffed.

Future-nurse · Dec 30, 2007

I personally dont think so but if you look at ANY of my previous threads you can see that I get blasted by asking about money... trust me DONT DO IT...

for some reason people think that unless you are doing it for some "higher calling" that they can judge you that you are doing it for the wrong reasons...

I already had a "higher calling" which was a loan officer but I got my butt officially kicked out there in the real world so now my main calling is to take care of my parents which requires A) Stability and B) Lots of money....

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2007

I look at it this way-

The focus of my work is the care of my pts.

The reasons for my work are twofold: to be involved in purposeful work for the greater good, and to earn money for myself and my family.

As far as getting your butt kicked, my butt feels pretty much kicked every day in the real world of nursing.

I'm tired.

Miss Mab · Dec 30, 2007

i have seen several recent threads about the salary of nurses, the amount of ot you could work, etc. at least some of the replies i have read seem to indicate that the preoccupation with money does not a good nurse make. i am wondering why?
i think the key word there is "some." yes, some nurses do have rigid opinions on what qualities any other nurse must possess. it was the same in school. i watched highly articulate and fantastic thinkers get knocked around by clinical instructors for not fitting their idea of the "mold." they weren't 'called' to nursing and so therefore must be stopped!
whatever.
thankfully, it is only "some" people and i've found that the other group of that equation are those i can relate to better and who tend to share my same goals and vision for nursing as a whole. i usually focus on these folks and read the others with a grain, er, silo, of salt
do we believe as a profession that focusing on the salary we make is somehow incompatible with the calling of nursing?
not as a whole but, yep--they are out there and dragging us down, imho. the really sad part is they don't get it and aren't able to make the connection between that kind of thinking and the rut we are in now.
should nursing be a calling? can we not be as caring, attentive, involved if we are only in nursing to make money?
some of us can, obviously.
does anyone believe that focusing on nursing as a calling is part of what allows for the abuse we hear about from physicians, management, fellow staff?
a part of (not all)? absolutely! again, thanks guys! why do we even bother with rigorous schooling? shouldn't we just be able to divine the knowledge necessary to do this job?
i have seen a lot of threads by people that have always dreamed of nursing, that felt they had a "calling" and were leaving because of the realities of nursing.
i've seen it differently in this respect. those who were "called" tend to stick around despite negative conditions and those who viewed nursing as a viable career path with potential financial gain are getting out because perhaps their calling is to their own sanity first! :) i can market myself, my edcuation and my skills outside of nursing. i expect you'd have difficulty doing so if you were following a pre-determined path to destiny.
there's room for all of us but i'm looking forward to the changes that i hope are coming....
pat

miss mab

nyapa, RN · Dec 30, 2007

Nurses recognise that what we do is invaluable to the community. I agree, it is not a calling. How many ppl look at nursing with rose coloured glasses thinking they are there to wipe the fevered brow, only to find out that the owner of the fevered brow may be incontinent, dying and surrounded by feuding family members?

So nursing is a job. You have to work to be suited to it; develop communication skills, methods of developing relationships, develop clinical knowledge, and knowledge of how the person exists as a whole person with the supports in the community that they may or may not require.

So the patient has financial needs. And so do nurses. We have to earn enough to keep the roof over our heads, food on the table, save for the future, and perhaps have a little time to ourselves. Many feel that salary should be based on skills and legal responsibility in comparison to other jobs, for example, why do tradesmen earn more than us?

No, it is not wrong to be concerned about money. After all 'money is' NOT 'the root of all evil', 'the LOVE of money" is...

RNperdiem, RN · Dec 30, 2007

It is harder to maintain a middle class way of life than it once was. I think this is where some of these money concerns come from, there is real insecurity. The days of manufacturing and family farms providing a middle class income are over; these fields employed most of the older generations.

Nursing is one field where you do not need a 4 year degree to earn good wages. I was only 2 years out of my ADN program and earning more than the median household income in my state.

A side effect is that there may be more people unsuited for nursing now working.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2007

i have seen several recent threads about the salary of nurses, the amount of ot you could work, etc. at least some of the replies i have read seem to indicate that the preoccupation with money does not a good nurse make. i am wondering why?

hi pat. good questions all. there does seem to be a couple of threads about this lately. many of the threads in the state forums ask about money. nothing wrong with that because as people are considering their life's work money should deefinately be a consideration and people should feel free to ask about it. i notice in the florida forum there are many questions about salaries and most of them are answered.

do we believe as a profession that focusing on the salary we make is somehow incompatible with the calling of nursing?

no, but here's my honest opinion and some observations from 16 years of nursing. i've noticed that those wanting only good money, and notice i say only here, that money is their only motivation, usually give up early when they find out what nursing truly is: the waiting lists, the pre-reqs and the requirements of having near perfect grades, the long nights of doing care plans, the blood and guts, the instructors and eat their young, etc.

i've also run into many a nurse who works long hours, many overtime hours, works agency and travel nursing to maximize their salary and are lazy, tired and burned out. (i'll get a flame or two for that one, but please know i'm not stereotyping anyone who works overtime.)

also when we older folks hear someone who hasn't even started nursing school ask over and over again about money and their plans of working 60 hours a week, we can only smile inside because we know we work hard for the money and how it feels after a dreadful 12 hour shift that stretches to 14 with little times for breaks.

should nursing be a calling? can we not be as caring, attentive, involved if we are only in nursing to make money?

no nursing shouldn't be a calling. yes, you can be attentive, involved and caring but then you really aren't in it only for the money, because you have human qualifies you're willing to share.

does anyone believe that focusing on nursing as a calling is part of what allows for the abuse we hear about from physicians, management, fellow staff? that it contributes to understaffing (after all, you're called to be here - you will work regardless of what we staff you with)?

i don't think it's that simple, but that's something that might contribute to it.

i do believe that on some level you have to enjoy what you are doing. whether that is the excitement it brings, the feeling of contentment helping a patient brings, the thrill of holding a new baby as it is born, you have to find some enjoyment other than money other wise the negatives rapidly overpower the positive. however, those things can be learned. when i joined nursing i knew nothing about it (i didn't even know what acetaminophen was). i joined because my sister in law said i could make good money, would always have a job, and it was primarily female (i was single at the time )
as i studied nursing and got my first job - i discovered i had a passion for what i did. i learned that passion (for me the excitement of ccu, the constant learning that went on, and even the contentment of helping a dying patient and their family accept death was very gratifying). but i started with selfish goals. i don't think it hurt me.

honestly, i myself enjoy my work as a nurse and despite all the problems i've found my niche in life. honestly too, if there wasn't something in it for me, such as getting my mortgage paid, going on vacations, and having a car, i would choose something that was easier and paid more.

i have seen a lot of threads by people that have always dreamed of nursing, that felt they had a "calling" and were leaving because of the realities of nursing. so maybe it is better to focus on "selfish" goals (money, stability, women) and learn the other enjoyments nursing can bring. you might not be so dissapointed in the end.

then there are those who want only the money who leave the field screaming "there isn't enough money in the world to put up with that".

my final thoughts are that i think the overwhelming majority of us who are in nursing are doing it for a variety of reasons, not just a calling, and not just the money, but a combination of liking science, medicine, helping people, and knowing it's a field where a nice middle income with job security can be had. sometimes at the end of the day when i've made a difference, i know it's all worthwhile. some days the only thing that keeps me in nursing is the pay and the fact at my age i couldn't do any better salarywise doing anything else.

StNeotser, ASN, RN · Dec 30, 2007

I am a single mother. I have to be concerned about money otherwise my daughter wouldn't eat/have heat in her house. I enjoy my job for the most part, but I wouldn't do it for $10 or $15 an hour. I'd go and work at the grocery store and have far less responsibility. I'd also have the worry of not being able to pay my bills.

If nurses aren't supposed to be concerned about money, that supposes they have someone else supporting their living expenses. I don't.

I agree that those who are always up for extra shifts are tired/burnt out and don't do such a good job. I signed up for a few extra shifts one month and found I wasn't the nurse (or person at home) that I was when not exhausted.

Katnip, RN · Dec 30, 2007

As usual, Tweety has stated exactly how I feel.

Of course you should be concerned about money. But there's a difference between concern and obsession. When all people ask about the profession is money and nothing else about the job it raises a red flag. Like Tweety, I've seen people who look at the money then don't last long because they don't know what the job is about.

Nursing is a tough job, and you're literally holding people's lives in your hands, so while I don't believe it's a calling, I do know it's something you need to have an affinity for just like any other job.