Are you in Nursing for the Caring or the Cash?? Be Honest

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 22, 2004

So then perhaps nurses should work for free? Or just accept a pittance, and maybe some bread and water to live on? Does being a nurse mean one should not have a decent standard of living, or does being a nurse mean that you must be a self-sacrificing martyr?
I'm sorry, but attitudes like your help keep nursing in the downtrodden state that it's in. Nurses have fought long and hard to get pay raises, improved working conditions, and so on. The profession does not need martyrs who feel that one can live by caring alone. Tell that to your landlord, or the store where you buy your food.

Excellent points. We are college grads and deserve our pay and we work very very hard. Would I work this hard for less money? No.

To be the devil's advocate, however, I don't like working with people who are in it ONLY for the money. Thank goodness there aren't many of them, and they are a smear on the profression. Am I making sense?

deathnurse · Jun 22, 2004

and the grief that goes with it.

mother/babyRN, RN · Jun 22, 2004

Considering the non english speaking refrigeration person who responded to our query regarding the non functioning freezer portion elected to say simply through his translator partner that the thing was broken and would take four hundred dollars to fix with seventy five dollars of that going to their "labor", I doubt if ANYone goes in it for the money...at least not those of us directly concerned and participating in patient care...

veteranRN · Jun 22, 2004

I went to nursing school strictly for the money. I was a CNA and a single mom with two kids and knew I needed a career where I could support my kids. So nursing school it was because I was familiar with the field and the pay would support us. Now, I am also a very nurturing person so now I would say I stay in it for the caring and the pay. With all the BS that goes on in nursing and the administration, I wouldn't stay in it if I thought I could get a mindless job elsewhere making the same. The patients I love, it is the politics of nursing and the administration I am not happy with.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Jun 22, 2004

Our profession has a long history of being underpaid and under appreciated.

I think there is a connection.

If people are willing to pay for something, they respect and value it. If they get it for cheap or for free, it's like, oh well, more where that came from.

I am quality, my work is quality and I am worth what I am worth. If my employer doesn't see that and I am dissatisfied, I go some place else. So will the patients, and the employer will change policy. That's how it works. You get what you pay for, and what you get is worth what you pay for it.

As helper types, we have the idea that access to exceptional care is a right--it isn't, it's a privilege to be able to receive exceptional care, way above the minimum necessary. The right is to receive enough. Privilege is to receive more than enough.

We do not provide private duty round the clock RN's to people whose need is for a semiprivate room on a med surg floor.

I have given away more than I have collected on in my life as a professional helper. It is bread cast on the waters, as far as I am concerned--it comes back one way or another, or it doesn't and that's OK, because it was my choice at the time. I can't and won't do that anymore. I'll be paid appropriately. If I want to do missions, I'll go do missions. But I won't work in big business for less than a good salary, because trust me, big business is charging through the nose for what I am being paid to do.

And this ought to start the do-gooders off on a "tromp Chris" episode, because they are going to suggest that I do not care as much as they do for the working class. Not so. Probably I care more. That's not a related issue....

LovePeaceJoy · Jun 22, 2004

I've heard about these 8-5, 9-5, whatever to whatever jobs that keep being mentionned on this board that are supposed to be so much less stressful, so much more rewarding, so well paying, and so less physically demanding than nursing. The only think I can maybe agree on is that an office job might be less demanding physically. I think these comments usually come from people that have not had any other job than a nursing job. Any office job with a moderately decent pay scale requires you to work for your money. This may include getting business calls in the evening and weekends, coming in early and leaving two hours late. AND GUESS WHAT-- MOST OF THE TIME YOU DO NOT GET OVERTIME. Lunch? What Lunch? Those wonderful IT jobs that some nurses think are a piece of cake because people might have the opportunity to work from home, require you to work 60 hours a week and will then lay you off when the job goes to India. :angryfire

Let's talk about burnout rate. The marketing managers in my industry usually burn out in about two years. With their travelling schedules they easily work more than 70 hours a week (including weekends) and get paid less than the recent grad NY nurse working a 3 day, 12 hour shift.

I guess the grass is always greener....

you make excellent points, but one thing you forgot to mention about the 8-5 jobs that make more money is ...what jobs are those? this is the reason people are going into nursing for the money and stability. those so called normal 8-5 jobs that pay better than nursing just aren't there. they are very competitive, hard to find and a college grad can go 6 months before they find work. i know, i have been there and so have tons of people i know with business, law, IT and other degrees. my salary literally tripled when i got out of nursing school from my 9-5 job that paid me crap. people are tired of pink slips and constant threat of being laid off. but i agree that you must be able to be a caring person to survive in nursing or you won't make it. as far as making a living goes, i believe people just need to live within their means. i know nurses that make over six figures a year and they are broke because they don't save and they spend irrationally. when other careers pick up, nursing will slowly be a less desirable career, but until then people will continue to pursue a career that guarantees food on the table.

Betty_SPN_KS, LPN · Jun 22, 2004

Our profession has a long history of being underpaid and under appreciated.
I think there is a connection.
If people are willing to pay for something, they respect and value it. If they get it for cheap or for free, it's like, oh well, more where that came from.
I am quality, my work is quality and I am worth what I am worth. If my employer doesn't see that and I am dissatisfied, I go some place else. So will the patients, and the employer will change policy. That's how it works. You get what you pay for, and what you get is worth what you pay for it.
As helper types, we have the idea that access to exceptional care is a right--it isn't, it's a privilege to be able to receive exceptional care, way above the minimum necessary. The right is to receive enough. Privilege is to receive more than enough.
We do not provide private duty round the clock RN's to people whose need is for a semiprivate room on a med surg floor.
I have given away more than I have collected on in my life as a professional helper. It is bread cast on the waters, as far as I am concerned--it comes back one way or another, or it doesn't and that's OK, because it was my choice at the time. I can't and won't do that anymore. I'll be paid appropriately. If I want to do missions, I'll go do missions. But I won't work in big business for less than a good salary, because trust me, big business is charging through the nose for what I am being paid to do.
And this ought to start the do-gooders off on a "tromp Chris" episode, because they are going to suggest that I do not care as much as they do for the working class. Not so. Probably I care more. That's not a related issue....

I agree with you, Chris. If the business is a money-making business, why shouldn't we be paid for what we do. If you want to work missions, that's fine. I might do that someday, but for now I'm helping support my family.

I like helping people, but also I like bringing in some money. I want to go on in nursing because I want more opportunities. Nursing is a field that offers variety.

TexasPoodleMix · Jun 22, 2004

I've heard about these 8-5, 9-5, whatever to whatever jobs that keep being mentionned on this board that are supposed to be so much less stressful, so much more rewarding, so well paying, and so less physically demanding than nursing. The only think I can maybe agree on is that an office job might be less demanding physically. I think these comments usually come from people that have not had any other job than a nursing job. Any office job with a moderately decent pay scale requires you to work for your money. This may include getting business calls in the evening and weekends, coming in early and leaving two hours late. AND GUESS WHAT-- MOST OF THE TIME YOU DO NOT GET OVERTIME. Lunch? What Lunch? Those wonderful IT jobs that some nurses think are a piece of cake because people might have the opportunity to work from home, require you to work 60 hours a week and will then lay you off when the job goes to India. :angryfire
Let's talk about burnout rate. The marketing managers in my industry usually burn out in about two years. With their travelling schedules they easily work more than 70 hours a week (including weekends) and get paid less than the recent grad NY nurse working a 3 day, 12 hour shift.
I guess the grass is always greener....

You have some good points about the grass always being greener. I worked in retail, finance (big bucks to be made) and as a personal trainer (big stretches, I know) and there were butts and politics in every job. Each one was tiring in it's own way and there was always venting by other staff/employees.

mother/babyRN, RN · Jun 22, 2004

I didn't get the idea that other professions were being trashed here so perhaps I missed something, but, as it is a discussion board and we are talking about nursing, I think it is an interesting point, but not one that has much point here. I personally never felt the need to dis anyone else about what they do, and unless one has been both a nurse and in the field you mention, one doesn't really have a clue about one over the other or in comparison to each other...I imagine all areas have their problems but nursing is definitely a whole other animal in many respects..

oneLoneNurse · Jun 22, 2004

I like my office job. I like the fact I can take a break when I want to. I like the fact that everyone respects my passion/love of computers. I like the fact I have to keep learning to keep abreast of what I need to know. I like the fact noone can treat me like a door stop because I have advanced technological knowledge.

And no, I don't get paid anymore than a floor nurse. But the perks through my eyes are worth it.

Dixiedi · Jun 22, 2004

You have some good points about the grass always being greener. I worked in retail, finance (big bucks to be made) and as a personal trainer (big stretches, I know) and there were butts and politics in every job. Each one was tiring in it's own way and there was always venting by other staff/employees.

I'm a nurse, truck driver, webmaster, MOUS expert and spent 3 years in an office doing not much more than data entry! What a rotten way to spend a lifetime but I was determined to fullfil my agreement, I did and back to nursing I went!

I drove a big truck cross country for a good while. Made top pay, benefits and loved it. However, still didn't make as much as I do in nursing. Have too admit though, I certainly did enjoy the alone time. Pts can be so annoying sometimes but without them, there's no job! LOL

Nurses don't make what they are worth. No direct pt care nurse does. But, as long as they can toss us aside when we become unhappy and hire another why should rates increase? It's the same with truckers. Of course the employer doesn't actually toss the employee aside but they do neglect retention and the unhappy employee will fade away. IT is the area that is REALLY bad. Hey, get a few gray hairs and they will tell you over and over "we are looking for a high energy person" what they really mane is we are looking for a young person. Don't hear that in nursing!

tmiller027 · Jun 22, 2004

I don't think it has to be one or the other. I like caring for people and taking care of them, but in this area, nurses make very good money. If I just wanted to "care" for people and wasn't worried about the money, I'd just stay a CNA instead of going to school to be an RN. I'd like to take care of people and also be able to take care of my family.