Confused.....

[xlilahx]

My name is Lilah. I am curently looking to go into the nursing program to grab a bs degree in Pediatric nursing. Now I do not want to work in Picu, but I sure would like to be either in labor and delivery or the baby nursery. Are the pay and benefits as good as any other. Im always hearing the nurses make great money form some and others I see struggle to survive paycheck to paycheck. What the deal??

[Jules A, MSN]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstood your question but you will be "grabbing" a BSN which isn't a speciality degree.

Your clinicals will include a lot of different areas and after you graduate if you want to specialize that is when you will apply for different externships etc. Some of the different areas and facilities do pay differently and there is the overtime factor which can really add to your income. In general, its my opinion that if you are struggling and living pay check as a BSN there are other things going on, like the people that took student loans to cover their living expenses because they didn't want to work while in school. Best of luck to you, Jules

[KimSwanner]

From what I know and have heard the BSN generally doesn't increase your pay that much. And you don't have to have one to work in a specialty area such as L&D or with Peds. I actually want to work in the NICU and it's been explained to me that once I get my RN I will have a certain amount of training through the hospital that I choose to work for.

Now if you want to increase your pay a good amount and want to work with children or peds, you can get your MSN and choose the course of a Pediadtric Nurse Practitioner. (Now that's from what I understand, not going to put that in stone) Just like you can choose to take the path of a Nurse Practitioner, a CRNA (hope I did that right), or a Teacher... you can choose a path for a Peds Practitioner.

And as far as the struggling I totally agree with the loans part, or they are living well outside their means. From the pay rates I see where I live just for a RN are enough to carry a normal family and expecially a single woman, without having to struggle. Especially if you work off times, like nights, weekends and holidays. You should be making pretty good morning as a standard RN. (The only times I've heard of people not making as good as they want is those in Dr's offices.... and it's rare that I see them complain... becasue that's what they want, set hours, holidays off, and don't care that the pay is less)

Hope that helped some.

Kim

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Nursing is a nice middle income. To the student nurse who has never had a decent job the $20-something an hour sounds amazing.

However, once you start having a mortgage, car payment, kids stuff, etc. etc. etc. it really winds up being what I said above, a middle income and not "real good money".

Many people live from pay check to pay check no matter how much they make. It's a scarey way to live that has more to do with the person and their attitude towards money and saving than their salary. I've know people with six figure incomes living from paycheck to paycheck and I work with a CNA that makes $10.00 that just put a huge down payment on her first home.