Encouragement needed - Frustrated and insulted by hourly rates

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I am a new grad. I chose to pursue nursing as a second career based on all of the stories I have heard of nurses being valuable assets in a community/in demand etc. I did well in school. I passed my NCLEX a month ago and I have been searching for a god job. As an adult I have some real-world experience of what a salary needs to be to be "good." I knew I was going to have to step back a bit in terms of money as I launch my new career but I am feeling frustrated and frankly insulted by some of the hourly rates I have been quoted. I have spent a lot of time on this site reading people's complaints about treatment/hours/pay etc and I am very worried that I have made a mistake in investing in this career. Please, someone help me regain confidence that I will find a good job with opportunities for growth.

There are so many options for nursing. School nurse, independent nurse for waiver work such as Mycare, independent work for cash (or insurance)....independents can make their own hours. My independent nurses love that. We NEED nurses. I do hope you find your nitch.

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As an update to this post (since I am still getting some feedback) I would say that I am happy that I made the transition. I worked nights on a med surge floor and made just shy of $55K. I am grateful to have a steady job with benefits that allows me some flexibility with regards to schedule. I would like, of course, to make more money but I am putting plans in motion to get certified in a few different areas and look for my next job which will hopefully be a step up. Thanks to all for your feedback and since I was looking for encouragement a year ago, I would say to anyone feeling the way I was that yes, it does get better. Try not to let all of the disillusioned and bitter people that will tell you how awful nursing is get to you. There are those people in every profession. Most of my colleagues are good, hard-working and generally optimistic. If you find yourself in a place that this is not true, hold one for a year and look for something else. You can do anything for a year. With a year's experience you will no longer be a new grad.

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A true nurse, nurses for the love and gift of nursing.

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Specializes in ER, Med-surg.
A true nurse, nurses for the love and gift of nursing.

:banghead:

Weird how true mortgage companies don't provide mortgages for the love and gift of underwriting, though, and true grocers don't distribute food for the love of... grocing?

True nurses *provide good nursing care*, period, and all of them have to eat and live the rest of the time. You don't get bonus sanctimony points and your patients don't get any better for martyring yourself.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
A true nurse, nurses for the love and gift of nursing.

Oh, for the love of --

What a crock of bovine feces! A true nurse works for a paycheck just like everyone else. "The love and gift of nursing" doesn't put food on the table or a roof over the head.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
A true nurse, nurses for the love and gift of nursing.

Are you being sarcastic here? Or are you serious. I can't tell.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I have come to the opinion that those who come into nursing for the "calling" of it (myself included) are actually at a disadvantage in today's acute care environment. There is little time for or value placed on the parts of nursing that feed that sense of it being a calling. This leads to rapid burn-out, since so much of nursing now is check-the-box and document that you checked the box then scramble to do it with your other four to five (or more!) patients.

Nursing is a PROFESSION. The sooner we all get around to realizing and accepting that, the closer we will be to the respect, pay grade and conditions we deserve. People come into professions for all sorts of personal reasons. A nurse who has a calling to be a nurse is fantastic. So is a nurse who understands the economic implications of a career as a nurse and make a practical decision based on that knowledge. There is no such thing as one nurse being more "real" than another. If you have a license, you are a "real" nurse. Period.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I have come to the opinion that those who come into nursing for the "calling" of it (myself included) are actually at a disadvantage in today's acute care environment. There is little time for or value placed on the parts of nursing that feed that sense of it being a calling. This leads to rapid burn-out, since so much of nursing now is check-the-box and document that you checked the box then scramble to do it with your other four to five (or more!) patients.

Nursing is a PROFESSION. The sooner we all get around to realizing and accepting that, the closer we will be to the respect, pay grade and conditions we deserve. People come into professions for all sorts of personal reasons. A nurse who has a calling to be a nurse is fantastic. So is a nurse who understands the economic implications of a career as a nurse and make a practical decision based on that knowledge. There is no such thing as one nurse being more "real" than another. If you have a license, you are a "real" nurse. Period.

I didn't come into nursing for any of the altruistic reasons that so many people list as their reasons for wanting to be a nurse. A & P fascinated me, there actually WAS a shortage (40 years ago) and I wanted stable employment and a decent wage. Which I got. Over the years, I noticed that people who were in it because they felt they had a calling burned out quicker, became disillusioned early on and derived far less satisfaction from their job.

The bottom line is, as a patient, as a preceptor and as a colleague, I want to see nurses who are competent. Compassion and a calling can be faked, but competence cannot.

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