I am taking prerequisites to go to nursing school and I was wondering if nurses feel they are adequately compensated for the job they do. Some of the reasons I was drawn to nursing was for the nature of the job, the tasks involved in being a nurse as well as the salary. With different sources stating that nursing is a high demand field and high job satisfaction (US News & World Report and CNNMoney) are nurses paid enough to do the jobs they do? I have read some comments on the forums and from other sources stating that some nurses feel that they are not and I would really like to get a glimpse of what nurses really think. Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks.
Specializes in oncology, surgical stepdown, ACLS & OCN.
For what it cost me to go to school the wages and benefits definatly could be better. It is a high stress high burn out job and we should be compensated for it. My husband is a car salesman with no college education and he make about 10-15,000 more a year than I do. Crazy I know. He also said that for what it cost me to go to school the wage does not correlate with what is required in our job.
We are the back bones of the healthcare system and we get shoty wages and benefits. We are responsible for peoples lives. We are the ones who are supposed to know when a patient is going down hill what to do when they head south, give the right meds know what they do what their side effects are and get the right people involved at the right time plus manage 5 other patients. We do have a lot of responsiblity and I don't feel like it is recognized or that nurses are taken seriously enough in regards to our knowledge and profession.
However, I do love what I do and I guess you can't put a price on that. I love the hugs I get from the little kid that just had surgery and is going home or the thanks I get for being a good nurse to my patients. Money can not replace that happy feeling of knowing that you helped someone feel better or made their hospital stay more tolerable. It just makes you smile inside and out, no amount of money can give you that same feeling.
I have been a nurse for 19 years and I make almost 6 figures. I work 7pm to7am
12 hr. shifts and every 3rd weekend which is not easy, I get a lot of paid time off.
If I went to day shift. I wouldn't get the shift diff of 6.00 dollars an hr. and that would be a serious pay cut. I work only 3 12 hr. shifts a week. I feel as though RN's should make more because of the responsibility we carry
and the hard work we do, but we will never get what we are worth. Our society has different priorities like movie stars and sports players are more important to them. Oh well
Specializes in He who hesitates is probably right....
Our compensation isn't even close to what we are worth. My pension from my previous job pays more than my full time salary as an RN in a busy SICU. Not much hope of receiving a retirement like that in hospital nursing. Technically, I guess that makes my hospital job a "hobby". Our administrators make six figure salaries for making bad decisions. I wonder if anyone would notice if they didn't show up for work?
Specializes in CNA, Surgical, Pediatrics, SDS, ER.
I hear that! Our administration is the same way. They make bucho bucks and only look out for themselves and not the staff that is out their busting their asses on the floor.
You get $6 an hour difference for working overnocs?! At our facility we get and extra $0.80 and hour for overnocs and no weekend compensation either, we are getting ripped off. We also only get $1.50/hr for being on call for pacu & inpatient surg floor. I guess that's what happens when you live in SD.
Specializes in oncology, surgical stepdown, ACLS & OCN.
Our compensation isn't even close to what we are worth. My pension from my previous job pays more than my full time salary as an RN in a busy SICU. Not much hope of receiving a retirement like that in hospital nursing. Technically, I guess that makes my hospital job a "hobby". Our administrators make six figure salaries for making bad decisions. I wonder if anyone would notice if they didn't show up for work?
I agree with you nusing doesn't pay, the only good thing about it is that you'll always have a job. I can't believe how little the average person knows about the human body and how it works. I think it should be a law that everyone is CPR certified. There are a lot of people that could be saved.
Not even close!!!!The hospital where I work sent out a notice that the nurses would be getting a raise to bring our pay up to the rest of the hospitals in the area...Most of our nurses do NOT have their BSN...Well the time came and went the RN's got a substanial raise and the LPN's did not get a dime!!!! :angryfire
Excuse me but I thought that the N in LPN stood for nurse...So I am VERY truthful when I say I am the LOW PAY NURSE!!!!:
For what it cost me to go to school the wages and benefits definatly could be better. It is a high stress high burn out job and we should be compensated for it. My husband is a car salesman with no college education and he make about 10-15,000 more a year than I do. Crazy I know. He also said that for what it cost me to go to school the wage does not correlate with what is required in our job.
We are the back bones of the healthcare system and we get shoty wages and benefits. We are responsible for peoples lives. We are the ones who are supposed to know when a patient is going down hill what to do when they head south, give the right meds know what they do what their side effects are and get the right people involved at the right time plus manage 5 other patients. We do have a lot of responsiblity and I don't feel like it is recognized or that nurses are taken seriously enough in regards to our knowledge and profession.
However, I do love what I do and I guess you can't put a price on that. I love the hugs I get from the little kid that just had surgery and is going home or the thanks I get for being a good nurse to my patients. Money can not replace that happy feeling of knowing that you helped someone feel better or made their hospital stay more tolerable. It just makes you smile inside and out, no amount of money can give you that same feeling.
I'll say it again. Your "feelings" on how "happy" and "wonderful" you feel by helping others does not pay the bills. The wonderful warm and fuzzy feeling for helping others should not influence your willingess to be treated like a slave. It's like thinking........." you know you just can't put a price on the wonderfull feeling you get when you get a little hug, and it sure is worth losing my house for because they don't pay me............ oh well, at least I get a hug." NURSES........... STOP LETTING YOUR HEARTS RULE YOUR LIFE.
I am lucky in that I have a wonderful marriage to a man who provides well for his family. One morning I realized even that could end with a car accident, if the kids would have prom dresses and etc, I needed training. I worked off and on in a factory for $3.00 an hour (1979). I chose nursing because it paid well and I would not have to move. Got my ADN in 86. Now make 25.60 an hour after 21 years. I am satisfied,you see I remember the $3 but I am not happy with my salary. I also look at the teachers of my grandchildren, the influence they have. Also the flack they have to take and wonder- WHY do each of these positions not pay more? I would like to make more money, sure I would. As to shift diffs-East TN- nights 2.50/hr for RN, 1.75 hr for LPN, 1.00 hr CNA. Weekend Sat/Sun day and night and extra 2.50 for the RN, extra 1.75 for the LPN and 0 for the CNA. Going rate at my facility for a new grad is 17.50/hr. We hire a lot of grads, train them and then wave bye bye as they move on to better paid jobs at other Hospitals. When one CEO was asked where they found their trained nurses? the answer with a smile was !x1x1x (Our hospital), Yes we will pay you low, train you, and off you go. Management never seeems to learn. 20 years I have preached pay more they will stay longer, to no avail. Why do I stay? Eternal optimist. 59 years old this year and stuck in a rut. Would I do it again, yelp, I believe I would. Thank God (reverently) that my Husband is still a wonderful presence in my life.
I am lucky in that I have a wonderful marriage to a man who provides well for his family. One morning I realized even that could end with a car accident, if the kids would have prom dresses and etc, I needed training. I worked off and on in a factory for $3.00 an hour (1979). I chose nursing because it paid well and I would not have to move. Got my ADN in 86. Now make 25.60 an hour after 21 years. I am satisfied,you see I remember the $3 but I am not happy with my salary. I also look at the teachers of my grandchildren, the influence they have. Also the flack they have to take and wonder- WHY do each of these positions not pay more? I would like to make more money, sure I would. As to shift diffs-East TN- nights 2.50/hr for RN, 1.75 hr for LPN, 1.00 hr CNA. Weekend Sat/Sun day and night and extra 2.50 for the RN, extra 1.75 for the LPN and 0 for the CNA. Going rate at my facility for a new grad is 17.50/hr. We hire a lot of grads, train them and then wave bye bye as they move on to better paid jobs at other Hospitals. When one CEO was asked where they found their trained nurses? the answer with a smile was !x1x1x (Our hospital), Yes we will pay you low, train you, and off you go. Management never seeems to learn. 20 years I have preached pay more they will stay longer, to no avail. Why do I stay? Eternal optimist. 59 years old this year and stuck in a rut. Would I do it again, yelp, I believe I would. Thank God (reverently) that my Husband is still a wonderful presence in my life.
It will never change because there is a steady supply of new grads to bail them out. There is no shortage because "ABC Community College", churns our new grads every six months. When there is no constant supply of new grads, they will have to work on keeping the ones they have.
This means going the route of Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Pharmacists, and increase our entry into practice to a BSN. Period. It is supply and demand, and there is too much supply, and not enough demand. The above careers out earn nurses 2-3 x, and have a far better quality of life in their jobs than nurses.
They also control their career far more than nurses do. Their professional organization limits how many students are admitted to the schools, and therby prevents the glut of providers that we have in nursing.
Think outside the box, and look at the source that has prevented this change in education from happening: Hospitals and nursing homes. And lets not forget the Hospital Associations, who pressure our elected officials to "dumb down" our professional pracitice to allow HS dropouts to perform professional nursing functions.
i do not feel that i am paid what i am worth. but i am thankful and blessed to have a job. i am a lpn working on my adn. i work in quality management as a clinical nurse reviwer, and i do make more than a lot of floor nurses. i live in virginia and the cost of living is not extremely high. i earn $28hr. the benefits i have are excellent.i know that it is sometimes frustrating to hear people with other professions talk about the salary knowing that they earn more than nurses. however, as a nurse you can always find employment. now thats " job security":nurse:
Specializes in geriatric & childrens psych, rehab, woun.
Nurses at any level have never been paid what they are worth. In 1980 when I graduated from lpn school, I took a pay cut from my job at roy rodgers as a runner to work in nursing.
A bsn has the same education as a teacher, but is paid less and works longer hours, weekends and holidays, and lets not forget we can be sued. A crappy teacher can destroy a child but once they are tenured, They have a job for life with prep time, lunch, full benefits and a pension. How many of us have that.
A state assembly person gets paid better than we do, and only works 1/3 the time we do and gets a pension and benifits,In nys it is a base of 70.000 year 150 a night he has to stay in albany and a stipend for every committee he sits on, for us it is just a honor to be asked, and a curse if you decline. no promotion for you, Remember getting reinbursed for inservices, travel expenses, uniform costs, if you don't then you entered nursing in the last 5 years. NO WE ARE NOT PAID WHAT WE ARE WORTH. WE ARE NOT TREATED WITH RESPECT OR DIGNITY AND THEY WONDER WHY THERE IS A NURSING SHORTAGE.
Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.
No, we are not paid what we are worth in my opinion. But I hear the same grumblings from people in many other professions. I work at a large teaching hospital in Boston, have been a nurse for one year (next week), and make $34.85/hr (have since gotten a few raises to keep up with the other area hospitals). That is more than the physical therapist, occupational therapist, and social workers in the hospital, all whom envy the pay scale of the nurses. Sure they don't envy the work or the crap we put up with on a daily basis, but sure love the flexibility (I work 3 days a week). I would like to ask my fellow nurses how much should you be paid ? What is fair compensation for what is expected of you? What is the living wage for the area in which you live? What is the average salary paid to workers in your area?
I was just going through some old personel file papers the other day and saw what I was making 30 years ago, $6.63! I am, in my opinion very, very well compensated and don't like it when posters include me in their, "we as nurses aren't well paid".
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scooterRN52
268 Posts
I have been a nurse for 19 years and I make almost 6 figures. I work 7pm to7am
12 hr. shifts and every 3rd weekend which is not easy, I get a lot of paid time off.
If I went to day shift. I wouldn't get the shift diff of 6.00 dollars an hr. and that would be a serious pay cut. I work only 3 12 hr. shifts a week. I feel as though RN's should make more because of the responsibility we carry
and the hard work we do, but we will never get what we are worth. Our society has different priorities like movie stars and sports players are more important to them. Oh well
that may change, but not in our lifetime.
scooter RN52