Did you take a pay-cut to be a nurse? Do you regret it?

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Did you take a pay-cut to be a nurse? If so, which level nurse are you (CNA, RN, NP, etc), and do you regret taking the pay-cut to follow your calling to be in medicine?

Specializes in PCCN.
Did you take a pay-cut to be a nurse? If so, which level nurse are you (CNA, RN, NP, etc), and do you regret taking the pay-cut to follow your calling to be in medicine?

What jobs are you referring to that pay more than nursing? I mean other than MD, PA, NP.

Id say the majority takes a pay increase when working as an RN. Well, in acute care anyways.

I'd love to know what other jobs pay more. Maybe I'll pursue them, LOL

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Specializes in Public Health, TB.

Nurses aide was minimum wage, so no raise there.

I was a stay at home mom when I obtained LPN, so yeah, zero to $$ raise.

Big raise for RN, $1 an hour for BSN, another $1 for MN.

Pay cut to go from industry to teaching.

And by the way, I am in healthcare, not medicine.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
My plan was always medical school because I wanted to be in medicine and didn't want a doctor over me telling me what to do. lol .

I appreciate your overall post ... but just wanted to point out this particular statement. There is a lot less "doctor telling me what to do" in nursing than many people think. Yes, there are some roles in which this is a big issue ... but there are nurses in other roles (like me) who rarely interact with a physician. Even when I was a bedside staff nurse, I worked in a unit where the relationship was more of a partnership than "telling me what to do."

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Specializes in ICU.
What jobs are you referring to that pay more than nursing? I mean other than MD, PA, NP.

Id say the majority takes a pay increase when working as an RN. Well, in acute care anyways.

I'd love to know what other jobs pay more. Maybe I'll pursue them, LOL

Two of my coworkers that took pay cuts (that I'm aware of) were an auto mechanic and a secretary for a financial firm before becoming nurses.

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Going into nursing as a career change for me. I was in IT for 30 years; with the last 18, I grew to be on top of the field I was in the area in my particular case, switching over to nursing will be a pay cut. As for me, while I do desire a fair wage to be able live on, I'm going into nursing to be a servant to those in need as opposed to getting a raise. I'll be taking a pay cut compared to what I used to make. For me it's about the people I'll be serving, not the money. To be clear I'm not saying that anyone who is upgrading doesn't care about the people they will serve. I just hope it's more for the service and the money.

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Yes, and Yes. At my former job I made almost double a year what I make now, but I had a crushed soul. But, to be honest, at my age, Im willing to trade a crushed soul for good health insurance and a pension. I regret my career change and if I ever move back to my old home, I will go back to my former job in a New York Minute.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Massive pay cut. RN. No regrets. My prior career has enabled me to be financially secure, so my situation may be different than others. Wasn't called to medicine.

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I took a pay cut to become a nurse. I was a Certified Physician Assistant in Canada. I always knew I wanted to be in the health care field growing up. When the Physician Assistant Program became available, I immediately jumped at the opportunity (as soon as I finished my undergraduate degree). I was one of 24 to be admitted to the only school open to my application at the time in Canada. I relocated to Ontario from BC just so I could pursue the PA profession. I researched this career option extensively before deciding to pursue it. Most of the information is based on the US system and as far as I can understand, the Canadian system was modeled after the system in the states. Specifically, the PA profession was advertised to be a support system for the rural community and the underserviced populations. I grew up on a farm all my life, (and I still live on a farm). I always dreamed about working in a rural area. The PA career seems perfect!

When I finished the degree, passed my certification exam, I started working as a Physician Assistant. I worked in Surgery until I got married and moved to another town and continued working as a Physician Assistant in Family Medicine. However, I found out that unlike the US system, there were far more limitations and restrictions on Canadian PAs. There were relatively few work options available in the rural setting where I lived, and more often than not, I was told the hospitals did not recognize PAs and did not have a role for them at the moment. I had to travel far and long just to get to work, and most of the work options available are only based in the large cities (around 2-3 hours commute from where I lived each day). With the work and travelling times taking a toll on my family commitment, I decided to switch careers to nursing.

I knew I would take a pay cut of $20,000 initially and have to go back to school for 2 years, however, it was a decision that works the best for my lifestyle. I want to work in my local community without travelling extensively to get to work (by travelling extensively, I mean commuting for more than 2 hours a day). My husband has a job near our home and is unable to relocate to other areas where my specialized career option could be applied. There are several hospitals nearby that frequently hire nurses and NPs but not PAs (I realized after becoming a PA that in Canada the PA profession is not widely dispersed at all as compared to the US, and funding options limit where a PA may be able to work). Furthermore, the benefits of a career in nursing is that there are many fields open after the BScN degree: research, community service, long-term care, acute care, pediatrics/ maternity, psychiatric, global health, and more! The PA profession does not offer this diversity even if I did want to get further training.

Finally, even though money is not the biggest factor in my decision (more about family time, and working in my community), it does play a role in my decision. As a PA, the payout to responsibility level is not as great as it seemed. As a PA in family medicine, I often assume the same responsibilities as the physician, since I was the sole practitioner at the clinic often times. I often had to work overtime with no extra payment as I was on a salaried income. Furthermore, I had to do all billings, chartings, insurance paperwork for patients, and review medical test results on my own time- unpaid overtime (I was only paid for the hours to see patients). I calculated my hours worked and the salary payment, and it works out to be less than what a nurse would have been paid after 5 years of experience. With all that in mind, I made my decision to switch careers. It wasn't that I wasn't an effective Physician Assistant: I felt accomplished and happy to see my patients well; I felt honored and extremely gratified when my patients thank me for helping them-- I've had instances where the patients thanked me for saving their lives (catching an early MI, strokes etc)-- I also could work efficiently, with fast and accurate results. But I also felt overworked, stressed, and too often under-appreciated by the particular physician that hired me. I've had other physician supervisors from other jobs and residencies before that were not like this.

From my fellow PAs I've heard both the good and the bad (good ones with jobs close to them in the city, good employers; and bad ones like my case where they've had bad employers). For me, I am happy with my decision. I've weighed the benefits and risks and I know the nursing career will be a rewarding one. I can continue to work with patients as a nurse and perhaps one day I might even go on to become a NP.

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I selected nursing because I was inspired by an L&D nurse. She held my hand, prayed for me while going through a difficult delivery of my first baby. I was a medical technologist at that time and has the same pay rate as nurses. My undergraduate degree is Microbiology and I wanted to apply in pharmacy school. I enrolled in a pharmacy tech course and found that being a pharmacist is freaking boring! Nursing feeds your love of humanity. It makes you feel that you made a difference in someone's life directly. I wanted to directly work with patients. I don't know why I did not apply medical school. I think I am just to lazy to study for MCAT but I have all the pre-med prerequisites done and my math is up to calculus 2. I will not deny I would love to be a doctor but I'm good with NP school.

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Specializes in L&D.

I took a pay cut within nursing. I am now a school nurse, and I absolutely love the job and the schedule! I don't mind one bit.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

My husband knows someone who makes over 40 dollars an hour working in road construction. That's here in KY. Also that's just a member of the crew.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

I was a graphic artist prior to becoming a nurse. Sounds glamorous to some people, but I actually didn't make much more than minimum wage. Also worked in fast food and retail. So no, I did not take a big pay cut.

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