Is it just my idealistic view of what a nurse should be or does this bother other nurses? I have heard several times lately and have read articles of people who are going to nursing school, not because they want to be a nurse but because they want the paycheck and a stable job. My sister in law is one of these people. She said to me, " I really don't want to be a nurse but I figure that I can work as a nurse while I go back to school." I find that mentality very frustrating. I worked very hard to become a nurse. I worked as a nursing assistant before I became a nurse so I could make sure that I knew what I was getting myself into, I shadowed nurses when I was in high school. I really feel that this is what I was put on this earth to do and to hear people talk like this who have absolutely no concept of what they are getting themselves into and who have no respect for the profession just boils my blood. I feel like these people, who have no intention of staying in nursing for an extended period of time just make it harder for the nursing student who actually wants to make a career of nursing because they take up spaces on the wait list for getting into nursing school.
Maybe some of these people will be excellent nurses and will contribute well to the profession but I personally would not want a nurse to take care of me who only got into the field because they wanted a stable paycheck.
Don't you agree that to do well in nursing you have to have some desire to be here in the first place? These are people's health and lives that we are dealing with. This field isn't just about a paycheck!!!
I know I'm probably being naieve and idealistic when I say this but I really feel that nursing is a calling, not a JOB!!! I've been doing this type of work for going on 10 years now and I have felt that way about it from day 1.
What do you think? Does it bother you that people are getting into nursing who have no desire to actually be a nurse? Just wanting to hear other people's perspectives on the issue.
If someone REALLY isn't in it for the money, they can stop at PCT or CNA. They do the bulk of hands-on caring for patients anyway. I can't think of any reason for someone to go to school and advance to an RN unless it's for the money.
Sure I'm going to school for RN for the money also ($2/hr at my facility - whoo! )...but I would also like to teach someday. People advance to challenge themselves, because they have other goals (leadership), because they know if they get injured they have more options, etc. Short sighted to think that money is the only reason. I'm also starting to think about trying to get into a leadership position...I would like to try and change some of the crap nurses/CNAs have to deal with.
If someone REALLY isn't in it for the money, they can stop at PCT or CNA. They do the bulk of hands-on caring for patients anyway. I can't think of any reason for someone to go to school and advance to an RN unless it's for the money.
Perhaps they continue on in order to effect change. That's the reason our CNS got her RN and then continued for her CNS.
I think its possible that the comment you were responding to is just an example of someone who feels like behaving in a stubbornly contrary manner. Off topic, argumentative statements like that one are often made by individuals who are frustrated by the fact that they are unable to successfully debate a difference of opinion with people more eloquent than themselves. Perhaps its better not to waste your time responding.
I apologize if this seems like an attack, but I can already see this turning into another "C students are nurses, too" thread....
Excuse me? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,it is called "independent thinking",I wont agree with something that I happen to disagree with just because you hold different believes than mine..thank you.
What's wrong with saying that the best nurses are those with compassion, who care about people, who are organized, get the job done with a strong work ethic and have brains, and decide that nursing is for them because it offers a steady income and decent benefits?
What's arrogant about that? Granted we all miss the mark on some days, but it's the nurse I strive to be.
I guess I'm just surprised how anyone manages to work their whole life as nurse just for the paycheck....If I would be one of these people I find something that pays as well and with less responsible...the whole point of getting satisfaction with your career is to do something that you like...correct me if I'm wrong.
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As a travel nurse, I know more than a few nurses who will admit they are doing it as a career for financial gain, that is all. There is no story to why they became a nurse, no desire to be a better than average citizen, no assumption that they are morally obligated to be a hero. They just show up, perform, and leave. Travel nursing attracts a lot of people with this mentality.
I find that some of them are not desireable as co-workers. Then there are those who I look forward to working with. There is, as I have witnessed, no corelation between being in it for the paycheck and being a poor nurse. The ratio of poor nurses who admit they are around for money and poor nurses who claim otherwise are even.
I look at it this way, is there are profession out there that people are not "in for the money"? I cant think of one career path that, if salaries were halved, would lose no workers. Why should nursing be different?
With that said, I will follow that the compensation for what is expected of us and what we actually do are not fair. Does this mean it is OK to show up and do the bare min. and call it a day? I dont think so. I go above and beyond what my pay rate justifies on a daily basis. I do this because, well, I dont want to be a bad memory for someone. I like to think I can make people believe their experience in the hospital, while under my care, was positive. I just feel better that way.
In the end though, even that is selfish. I'm being a good nurse for the satisfaction of it.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
it takes so much more than just "compassion" and feeling a "calling" to be a good nurse. it also takes brains, above average organizational skills, and the hide of a rhinoceros. it takes the patience of a saint to deal with some of the patients, families, supervisors, and coworkers without going absolutely bonkers.
making it through nursing school and passing the nclex might make you a nurse, but it won't make you an outstanding nurse.
some of the worst nurses to follow on my unit practically poop compassion, and i'm sure would tell you that nursing was a calling for them. but every single time, they throw me a big stinking pile of poo to clean up (figuratively speaking). sure, the patients love them because they are so "nice", but what the patient doesn't know is that that stat lab draw didn't get ordered correctly and the "nice" nurse didn't follow up, or that the patient didn't get their warfarin that day because the "nice" nurse didn't bother to read the progress notes and notice that warfarin had been ordered daily but somehow it was missing from the mar, or that the reason respiratory has not been in to give them a treatment is because the "nice" nurse didn't make sure a respiratory order was put in. none of this has a thing to do with compassion or being called to nursing, but rather, with attention to detail and a drive to do a good job.
so no, it doesn't bother me if someone chooses nursing for the job security and decent wage, so long as they do a good job.
i've had that discussion about the "nice nurse" versus the "good nurse" for years. you know who i mean by "good nurse." the one that knows the rules and follows them: not just the rules prohibiting 18 visitors in the icu during shift change, but the one about how to order a stat lab draw, who to contact regarding a stat respiratory treatment and the one about double checking heparin and insulin drips, blood transfusions and pca orders. the one who follows up on the lab results, the call that the physician hasn't returned yet and the meds that haven't come up from pharmacy yet.
i used to work for a manager who was convinced that "nice nurses' were the be all and end all. (i'm not one of those who 'poops compassion.') interestingly enough, when her father was hospitalized, i'm the one she wanted to take care of him, not all those "nice nurses' she was championing!
I think that people that join nursing "just for a paycheck" can be just of good of nurses as anyone else. There are people that are passionate about doing a good job, compassionate, and caring. That doesn't mean that they found a calling in nursing, it just means that they found their niche in life. What about the nurses that became nurses because it was their calling and are horrible nurses ? (I work with a few of those types). There is really not much of a difference. A career is a career. Dedication and good work ethic should be the gold standard. Of course people want a paycheck!!!
I guess I'm just surprised how anyone manages to work their whole life as nurse just for the paycheck....If I would be one of these people I find something that pays as well and with less responsible...the whole point of getting satisfaction with your career is to do something that you like...correct me if I'm wrong.
Since you're quoting me, I'll respond, although we're in agreement. (Although our approach to how we disagree with others might be different. LOL)
Nurses who are in it only, and only for the money, usually are miserable people in my experience. They are the ones that go through the motions, whine and complain about things, grumble when they have to get up from reading their magazine, don't really care about the basics their patients need such as good oral care and hygeine, etc. and eat their young. I think those people are few and far between, because the overwhelming majority of us have many reasons for being a nurse and staying a nurse. However, one of those reasons is the paycheck.
I also agree that if someone is choosing a career and wants a high paying job, there are other routes to go such as engineering, accounting, medicine, law school etc. Nuring is a tough road to take if all you want is a job that pays well. (If that is ALL you're after.)
We might disagree on the idea that whole point of getting satisfaction is doing something you like. Some people have kids to raise, bills to pay, etc. and can't do what they like, but yet have to make sacrificies and career decisions based on obligations and practical reasons. Of course it doesn't mean they have to pick something they hate or aren't suited for.
Salary consideration when deciding on a career should be one of the things you consider. Talk to college freshman and sophomores around the country in universities everywhere and they will more than likely mention salary and job opportunity if you grill them as to "what's your major and why". So to disrespect someone who mentions nursing and salary in the same sentence is not fair either.
kcochrane
1,465 Posts
Sure I'm going to school for RN for the money also ($2/hr at my facility - whoo!
)...but I would also like to teach someday. People advance to challenge themselves, because they have other goals (leadership), because they know if they get injured they have more options, etc. Short sighted to think that money is the only reason. 
I'm also starting to think about trying to get into a leadership position...I would like to try and change some of the crap nurses/CNAs have to deal with.