Does it bother you when someone wants to be a nurse just for the money?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have an acquaintance that wants to be a CRNA. No mention of being an RN first or how long it would take her to do it, just wants to be a CRNA. She's mentioned not wanting to work as an RN in the middle to avoid bedside nursing and "butt wiping" and just wants to go and get her Master's. She thinks being a CRNA is easy.

As a nursing student in an ADN program, I value bedside nursing and no matter what my wage may be in the future, I would like to stay at bedside. I don't think this person really knows what nursing is and I think she just wants to be a CRNA because of the money. She never seemed like a caring person, is quick to throw tantrums and has no patience at home. I do wish her the best with whatever career she likes, but it feels like she is turning up her nose at the line of work that I want to do. Does it bother you when you meet people like this?

The reality is there are many nurses like this, cold and in it for the money. Unfortunately we cannot control other people, and at the end of the day it's nothing to get your pressure up about. Like everyone said what's it to you?

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Personally, I think money is a very valid reason to be a nurse. My problem isn't when people want to be a nurse for the money...it's when they want to be a nurse ONLY for the money.

I think that if your motivation for nursing, or any service-oriented profession, is money alone I think you will have a hard time succeeding.

From being on all nurses.com for awhile and from working with nurses, the 11th hour into a shift when you are covered in various "gross" liquids, are being yelled at by five different people to do 20 different things, very rarely is the thing that gets a nurse through it the 25-35 dollars per hour. Usually, what gets them through it, is an intrinsic desire to care for their patient.

While clearly altruistic reasons are not the only reasons people become nurses (otherwise, they would all be working for the peacecorps or the like), I do feel like this has to be where atleast part of the motivation is coming from.

In my limited, humble opinion I believe that to succeed in nursing one must:

- care about their patients, be hard-working, flexible, able to work as a team, be able to seperate work life from personal life, and have a thick-skin (or atleast the ability to thicken what they have!).

Money is ofcourse important. As is job-security. But if those are the ONLY reasons your someone wants to go into nursing....he/she should probably look elsewhere.

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Well, I was going to say, yes, I remember one of these CRNA wannabe's; paramedic on an ambulance service, didn't seem close to becoming an RN, to start with.

Instead, I recall an RN I worked with, in the E.D. When cleaning up a room after a patient transfer (admit), and someone--the charge nurse perhaps--said smth about the wastebasket needing emptying, this RN said* I didn't go to nursing school to empty wastebaskets; call Housekeeping.

*usually, in a snarl.

I've been told this RN no longer works there.

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You will not be successful in a job, in nursing school or in life if you focus so intently on what others are doing and why. You can never predict how people will behave or even expect them to behave as you would. You are not the arbitrar of right and wrong. How will you able to treat folks with compassion or empathy if they have lifestyles or beliefs that are different from yours? You NEED to value what you do...there are many, many people who won't.

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Specializes in acute care.

Nope, it doesn't bother me at all.

What bothers me is:

-constantly working short

-feeling like I am a waitress instead of an educated professional

-family members pressing the call bell so that I can place a blanket over Mommy.(WTH, you couldn't do it?)

-that one coworker who LOVES to tell on people

-feeling like all I do is push pills.

-I perform a physical assessment and get attitude. I have yet to see a patient show anything but respect to an MD or other professional.

-I am a person, and don't deserve to be cursed at, yelled at by these patients. I shouldn't have to lecture adults on behavior and respect (yes, they get lectures from me)

-horrible pay IMO

Before I started nursing school, I considered Nursing to be a profession. Now I look around and feel like I am performing a job, while being surrounded by professionals (OT, PT, RT, PAs, NP, etc)

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To the original question: Yes

But if someone's goal is to be a CRNA then I don't really expect them to be excited about being RNs. (Even though that is a requirement to get into CRNA school.)

Different people have different expectations and goals. That does not make one person or another wrong.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Before I started nursing school, I considered Nursing to be a profession. Now I look around and feel like I am performing a job, while being surrounded by professionals (OT, PT, RT, PAs, NP, etc)

*** More like skilled labor. Like plumbers and welders. Where I work none of those you mentioned, OT, PT, PAs, NP, MDs, DOs don't punch time clocks. RNs do, like factory workers.

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Specializes in Vent patients, OR.
if she doesn't have the passion to be a nurse, she's probably not going to make it through nursing school, ICU, and then a CRNA program (which i hear are amazingly hard to get into). if she does have the passion, then good for her. focus on yourself and being the best nurse you can be, and your goals. don't let yourself carry her weight.

I agree that OP needs to focus on herself and not worry about the motivations of others...things have a way of sorting themselves out.

BUT- In my opinion, and as an RN who has been in healthcare a long time in another profession...I would say this person needs to have passion, yes, but, it does NOT have to be passion for being an RN, it needs to be passion for being a CRNA. If she is passionate about being a CRNA, then being an RN is a stepping stone, and she will get through it to get where she wants. We all work through things we don't like to reach our goals, if they are important to us. What is the saying? "Nothing worth having ever came easy".

It also does not follow that because someone is passionate about being a CRNA, they will be a "bad" RN...and lets define that, anyway. Skill and compassion are not mutually exclusive...and there are niches for everyone. If I'm in hospice, I want someone who can help me with my reflection, my family's needs, etc. If I'm dying in a hurry, I want someone who can hit the line in a hurry and intubate like they mean business. Different needs, different skills. And if I'm in OR, I want someone who understands the heck out of their pathophys. Don't care if they are worried about what I will do for social support when I leave the OR.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
To be honest it does bother me. I think the passion for the career should come first. This is just my 2 cents so flamers please don't flame me.

I wouldn't flame you for that, because the opposite of it would be apathy, which is more poisonous and would be different than someone going into nursing "just for the money". Even someone who says that must develop a way to get themselves through school and into the workforce, almost impossible with an "I don't care" attitude. If their true passion is creating a college fund for their children and not a noble calling, and they do a great job, I figure that really isn't any of my business.

If someone tells you they are in it "just for the money" they also must find a way to integrate themselves into a team of coworkers. If it was true that "just for the money" was the same as "I don't care" (apathy) that person would fail. Part of the job is learning how to communicate with patients and coworkers, and some of the most effective (and fun/funny) people I've ever worked with have a rather jaundiced eye toward all the hearts and flowers stuff. Ironically, it's these people who many times attract mad patient love which they always handle with grace from what I've seen. They never lecture a little old lady who says oh honey you are just God's gift to humanity etc etc etc etc because that's part of the job too. :nurse:

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Reminds me of an old article I always had my students read: "Too Post to Wash." :nurse:

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To each their own. Let us stop judging people by our own standards. If you love bedside nursing, kuddos to you. Don't try to impose your own standards on others.

Advance practice nursing is totally another ball game. It is old school to try and stop nurses from advance nursing because they have not wiped enough butts. Nursing will have to grow up as a profession and look forward not backward.

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We also need to stop judging people who are there just for the money and doing a great job while they are at it. I think there is nothing more noble than putting food on the table by honest work.

Caring is a skill that can be taught and learned. Some nurses are born and some are made. At the end of the day all that matters is, that you did no harm and did good to your patients.

To all those of us who judge people who are 'in there for the money only', how many hours will you work on the nursing floor if you knew you would not get paid for every minute of it?

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