So you're an RN - you must be earning big!

Nurses General Nursing

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Horseshoe, BSN, RN

5,879 Posts

My daughter is making 3K per week- for a summer internship. My salary might be more than that of many people in the US, but NO, it's not "big money."

Do people need to make "big money" to be happy? No, I don't think they do. Read up on the topic of income inequality in the US. THAT is where you will see what "big money" really is.

mander

60 Posts

I hear it all of the time from family. "That's why you're making the big bucks! I know you RNs make $40 an hour!" I want to know where I can find a job like that in my area. People often say it to imply we aren't doing enough or don't deserve what we make.

I don't really care about people who think I make a lot of money. I chose to work in healthcare because I want to help people, but I went from EMS to nursing because I was tired of being paid almost nothing. I easily doubled my income after finishing nursing school. If I choose to pick up one over time shift a week I can easily make six figures a year, that isn't a thing in almost any other bachelor degree prepared profession (and our ADNs do this as well).

I would also guess that I have more stress at work than many of the other bachelor prepared professions (although certainly not all).

This! I loved being a paramedic, but they pay sucks (unless you get on with a county Fire Dept that does fire/medic). After getting a job in an ER, I saw that they do so much more in a shorter amount of time, and I got to go home and sleep in my own bed at the end of the day. In addition, I was making a fraction of what I make as a new nurse. Sure, we aren't high rolling living like the Wolves of Wall Street, but I look back as a medic that held three or four other certifications besides my medic cert, what I was able to do (some even nurses aren't allowed to do), and struggled to make ends meet. It was time to pull the trigger and go for RN, not because I felt forced to, but because I still got to do what I enjoy and in a setting I really like. The added benefit is the much better pay!

vsheehan

22 Posts

We earn significantly more than the average bachelor's degree job, so it's certainly not incorrect for someone to say we make relatively good money.

that depends on what type of RN job we are in, the organization running the facility, and the benefit package.

Guest219794

2,453 Posts

It is usually lower classes who think this.

I went to school with a bunch of rich kids with doctors, lawyers, and business people for parents. Those kids weren't ever going to nursing school. They saw nursing as very working to middle class, and in some ways it is.

My younger brother majored in engineering and straight out school made more than what the vast majority of nurses with almost twenty years of experience make. And he is a 22 year old kid. My boyfriend is a CPA and is always telling me about these crazy bonuses his workers get. He himself will probably be getting yearly bonuses worth three months of MY pay. My hospital gives out bonuses that are worth perhaps 1.5 days worth of my boyfriend's work.

He works at a nice cushy desk where a missed calculation doesn't end lives. I am responsible for several lives at once and one mistake could easily harm or kill someone. I also work evenings, weekends and holidays...he doesn't.

Think about that for a moment.

Simple supply and demand economics.

Nurses, as well as other employees are essentially commodities. A business pays market rate for commodities. Some commodities cost more than others, as they are more scarce. Or costlier to produce.

Apparently there is a larger supply of nurses relative to demand than CPAs.

verene, MSN

1,790 Posts

Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

A median nursing salary ($68K) in the U.S. is more than the median general salary in the U.S. ($58K). Coming from working as a CNA to working as an RN my hourly wage triple from what it was before nursing school.

For many people who earn pay similar to CNAs level wages, full time nursing pay offers financial security that they can only dream of. Which could definitely look like "big bucks."I have a lot of friends who work in blue-collar heavy industry - they would love to make what I make as an RN, and their jobs are in many ways just as dangerous and stressful as mine, if not more so, and significantly more physical, with a lot less respect from the world at large.

I also doubt the majority of the population knows what nursing actually entails in terms of knowledge, responsibility, and stress-load and so have little idea how hard nurses work for that pay-rate. (Plus pay can vary widely based on location - where I work I feel my pay is pretty reasonable for the work I do, and the cost of living where I am. In another area of the country I may not feel the same way, as some areas have much lower wages, or more of a disparity between rate and cost of living).

Specializes in Ortho, CMSRN.

I feel like I'm earning well, honestly. I've gone from full to part time, but in the last 4 years since I began nursing, my average hourly wage has gone up almost $10. I do work hard to improve our unit though.

Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, Covid.

We do get paid a lot, but it should be more! Nursing is a traditionally female occupation. We all know how women's work is underpaid (or unpaid!) because of a long history of sexism. Nurses today probably earn less than they would have earned had nursing been a traditionally male occupation.

Specializes in ICU.

I have never thought of nursing as a lucrative career. My family tried to get me to go into engineering because I would make a lot more money. In my area of the country, nurses aren't paid well. It seems like other professions keep getting more pay, but nursing pay around here has been stagnant for a while now. My brother is a chemical engineer, makes a ton more money than I do, gets 6 weeks per year vacation, lots of perks and benefits that I, as a nurse, do not have.

Specializes in ICU.
I feel like I'm earning well, honestly. I've gone from full to part time, but in the last 4 years since I began nursing, my average hourly wage has gone up almost $10. I do work hard to improve our unit though.

WOW. I haven't even HAD a raise in 4 years!

dar13

2 Posts

I agree, some nurses in certain parts of the country make well over $85,000 but in Florida that is definitely not the case. I barely make enough to support my daughter and I as I am a single parent. If I work over time, a minimum of 12-16 hours every two weeks added to my 12 hour shifts, I make enough extra to put a little into savings or to help cover costs with my daughter applying to colleges as she will be a senior in August. I worked 17 hours yesterday, 7am to 12:30am, and am exhausted this morning. I have learned every little bit helps.

Elaken

58 Posts

If I had to do life over again I would have become an engineer. I am a good nurse but for me it is a job and not a calling. I live frugally so hopefully I can go to PRN, one day a week, at age 50 after an 18 year career. If I had done engineering at school I would have stated sooner and worked for even shorter time!

Nursing is enough to live decently on (if someone can't support a family than probably some self-reflection spending habits is needed) but yes, I don't think we are paid enough. Part of the problem is supply is high because often hospitals don't care if someone is a good nurse. If they actually cared to weed out nurses and pay enough to get people with good work ethics, critical thinking, and engaged in helping improve the hospital than the pay would reflect that since supply of those nurses is much smaller.

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