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Discussion

Feeling Cold Hearted

I have been a nurse for fourteen years, most of which has been in critical care areas. I have been traveling for several years for personal satisfaction. I hate the politics of nursing and this allows me to be a nurse (which I love) without having to become involved in the daily running of the hospital.

I placed my resume on the internet, with a goal of finding a traveling job in a certain area. Stupid me, I have been receiving several calls a day since. However, one call did get my attention. It is a job in California, that pays quite a bit. I hadn't really paid attention before to the $, just traveled where I wanted to go. Now, I am thinking of going to California, make some good $ and then travel where I want to go again. Now though, when recruiters call, I feel so cold hearted when I tell them I am looking for the best $ for a contract in California. For this one assignment that is the bottom line for me. However, I know that no matter why or where I will still get to be the nurse that I enjoy being, it just sounds so horrible when I say it outloud.

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So, you're not Mother Teresa, my advise is to accept that and go for the gold...

If you are giving the best care you can, you deserve to make as much as they will pay you.

You deserve every penny you can bargain, this isn't cold hearted this is called smart!

We all need $$$ to survive. I'm sure the person you're talking to isn't working for free!

Nursing is a profession.

Other professionals don't feel guilty about wanting to get paid more, so why should a nurse?

I'll tell you real quick that I wouldn't put up with the stuff that we do if I wasn't paid well.

I don't do the angel of mercy/martyr thing too well.

Oh yeah, and I eat my meals and go to the bathroom too.....~gasp~

Nursing is a profession.

Other professionals don't feel guilty about wanting to get paid more, so why should a nurse?

I'll tell you real quick that I wouldn't put up with the stuff that we do if I wasn't paid well.

I don't do the angel of mercy/martyr thing too well.

Oh yeah, and I eat my meals and go to the bathroom too.....~gasp~

What? Thanks asking a bit much to allow nurses to eat and pee! :trout:

The nursing profession should demand more $$$ - You are NOT cold hearted!!! It seems that working as a nurse - the risks don't outweigh the benefits. Anyone with a management or business background familiar with economics knows that supply and demand is based on price.

We all have to have money to survive and also need to financially plan for our own futures.

I would NOT feel guilty at all!!! Go for it!!! :)

  • Expert

If more nurses as groups, and as individuals, would demand professional pay, then we, as a whole, would be paid professionally. The politics of the situation is such, however, that all nurses, including the foreign nurses that are brought in by employer/sponsors must do this. Anytime you find out that you are being shortchanged, then you should make the appropriate request. If you have to, then go elsewhere, and in your letter of resignation, state that you left for better compensation. Unfortunately, there tends to always be at least one poor soul, who is willing to work for peanuts.

At my last employer, I found out that someone was getting $4 an hr more than me for the same case. My BP went through the roof and I had to physically calm myself. For what it was worth, I made it known, that I had been told, and I was not quite "buying into" their tales of woe anymore. Everyone must wake up and smell the latte sometime.

  • Author

Thank you everyone, it just sounded so harsh to my own ears to hear me say its about the $.

I agree that we all deserve much more than we are given, and that includes monetary compensation as well as respect.

Thank you everyone, it just sounded so harsh to my own ears to hear me say its about the $.

I agree that we all deserve much more than we are given, and that includes monetary compensation as well as respect.

Travelrn, it's funny how everyone is in agreeance. I think nurses feel guilty because of the expectation that both society and we ourselves put on us. Nurses are supposed to be 'caring', 'always there', and 'helping ppl'. I know that's why I started nursing with my 'rose-coloured glasses on'. But of course you get out into the real world. You can still care, be a competent nurse and expect to have a decent wage. Best of luck...

If I traveled to california I would also want the top dollar, the cost of living out there is outrageous! Let me know what you find in california, I am planning to travel again in a year.

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