Is the money all we are looking for???

OBNURSEHEATHER · May 31, 2002

Originally posted by kdhnursern
Every time I think about how much plumbers make next to how much nurses make, it makes my blood boil.

Yes, let's prioritize shall we? Excellent point!

No, I didn't get into nursing for the money, but it would be nice if I was paid what I think the profession was worth, and if I were somewhere above a plumber on the master salary list. And I don't think it makes a difference in what kind of care that nurse delivers. Nursing school is pretty good at weeding out the people that can't handle it.

Heather

lindalee · May 31, 2002

Very well said Nancy! It is high time for major changes. I have done bedside nursing for over 30 years. I now wonder how I can possibly continue until I am 66--and then have social security of $1700 a month plus my 401K which of course is invested in the market and way down in value. We need decent retirement benefits and health care benefits. By limiting our salaries we have been even limited on what we could contribute to our 401K's

After all, you do have to pay your house payment and utilities and food for your families before you can save for retirement. I am an extrememly good bedside nurse with a highly developed sixth sense that even works off duty. (and scares me sometimes) It is time to have financial compensation for our skills. Perhaps we should start a thread on sixth sense diagnosing. It could be very interesting. I can't do it right now--have to go work for 12 hours.

P_RN, ADN, RN · May 31, 2002

R E S P E C T. That's primary. Show the respect with $$$$$. Allow nurses to have some say in how things are done. What I noticed as the suits took over is that day to day running of the facility all of a sudden became top-secret. When I started there was a president of the hospital, a director of nurses and a director of facility. A few assistants here and there but it was all out in the open. After 20+ years there was a President, CEO, COO, board of directors (16), VPs for everything from steam pipes to cafeteria. The non nursing population was larger than the nursing one. The VP for nursing had NO say in the nursing service. That was another department director entirely.

So R E S P E C T.

zumalong · May 31, 2002

Please do not get me wrong. I am thrilled with the money--I do not even think this is enough considering how many years the hospital went without raises or with 1 or 2 % a year. My point is that this is not going to solve anything.

When are we going to have all the other issues that go with nursing resolved??? This is only a temporary cure. My point is that I am afraid that the public will see this as a total cure. When the care they get continues to be less because we still don't have the time to deal with the acuity and the lack of staff, all we will hear is that we are being paid well--

Yes--I can't say that I don't appreciate the raise--but my uneasiness is that management will think that this is also the cure. If we all were to receive 28% over each of the next three years, then maybe our pay would equal our worth. If you factor in how many years most of these nurses worked, with how much in raises they have received this 28% is really equivalant to about 3 %/yr for nurses who have been working for the last 15 years.

I guess that I will be like everyone else and take the money and hope for the best.

SmilingBluEyes · May 31, 2002

No, the so-called **MONEY** is NOT all **I** am after, obviously. I would think that would be obvious to any nurse who has been in the field more than a year or two. I am sure STUDENTS even see getting into nursing for the big $$$ is a MISTAKE! Gee if I wanted big $$$, I would have pursued and finished my computer programming degree and gotten a DAY job in an nice cushy office environment for much more MOOLAH. People with LESS education and better hours are making money hand over fist in other careers. Obviously, there needs to be a draw to nursing other than big $$$$......not that I don't believe we should be better compensated for our skill and education but......

I, for one, am very sad to see all the jaded and cynical attitudes out the in nursing (not just here), and very few positive views of what we do. It really worries and depresses me to think the future is probably going to be MUCH worse for nurses and the public we serve. What a shame. Maybe we ought to be promoting POSITIVE things about the career and be proactive about making changes to make it more liveable instead of complaining and whining.......if not, we may not have ANYONE there to care for US when WE need it one day. We really need to think about it.

RNIAM, BSN, RN · May 31, 2002

I love to help people but I am going to be the first to say that I am going into it for the money. I could have remained a CNA if the only reason I was going to become a nurse was to help people. For me the money was inportant. If I am going to work my butt off then i want to be paid for it. I love people, love helping them, love doing what I can to make them more comfortable, helping them with their basic needs. I love all of it but and this is a big butt. Why would I do it without the coins? How many nurses right now would go to work tomorrow without the money? Not too many I'm sure. Whatever your motivation is, nurse with your heart and soul and enjoy your pay, cause you deserve it!

tonicareer · May 31, 2002

Hey, I'm an older student going into nursing. When I was in high school Nursing was a woman's job and it paid lousy and I know nurses were treated much worse then (I've talked to older nurses). Yes I am going to school to earn good money! I wouldn't waste money on educating myself for no money in the job. Doctors get money why shouldn't nurses? I will always do my best at any job, but that is just the way I am. All types of jobs have people who don't care and many people go into jobs just for the money or benefits. As for cleaning body wastes as a mom and wife I did it for free. I worked in schools where I dealt with blood and vomit and got paid minimum for it. When I was younger it would have bothered me. But the good money will make it a whole lot easier to deal with. I am old enough to know there are cruds in every job, nasty people, gossips, lazy and just don't care so I'm not surprised that there are nurses/medical type people like this. Sure it is irritating but it goes on in every job.

SmilingBluEyes · May 31, 2002

I still say,those going into nursing "for the money" are missing it. YOU ARE never gonna make enuf to compensate for the risks you take each day on the job......there has to be another reason to be a nurse, I think or else, why not be a PA or DR???? Or go into business or computers?????......just musing here.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · May 31, 2002

My last job that I left - I left because of an abusive nurse manager. End of story!!!!

I got paid well there. But some things supersede money in importance.

fedupnurse · May 31, 2002

SmilingBlueEyes, you have hit on another good point! In addition to having people's lives in our hands we are also exposed to deadly diseases every single day. How many of you have worked a couple of shifts in a row with a new patient on your unit and THEN find out the patient has TB, Meningitis, etc.? The kind of stuff that aren't included in "Universal Precautions". I am pretty diligent about gloves, etc. but that doesn't help when your AIDS pt. pukes all over you. We risk our lives to save yours can be a motto if people get their panties in a bunch about salaries. How can anyone say anything about what we make when the "celebrities" make a million bucks an hour????

P_RN, I couldn't agree with you more. We have a higher suit to patient ratio than staff nurse to patient ratio. The higher ups of the health system are in their own huge building separate from all three hospitals. The "in-house" suits rarely leave the ground floor. I had a colleague go up to the CEO a few years ago to tell him visiting hours didn't start for another hour!!!!! I said to him "does this show you that you don't get out of your office enough? A nurse that just walked a picket line for 3 months doesn't even recognize you!!"

I am a firm believer that any nurse who doesn't provide direct patient care as a routine part of their daily job should not only have to maintain a certain number of clinical hours to maintain their license (and not just a few hours a year), they should also change our credentials, as suggested by Laura Gasparis Vonfrolio, to stipulate who does direct patient care and who doesn't. RN-P for practitioner or RN-C (I know that's taken by a national cert already) for Clinician.

I suggested in another thread that the suits should be required to be in a glass enclosed office in the main lobby of the hospital so people can see what they are doing all day. Maybe we should put one (we have enough VP's to do this Folks!) in each waiting area. Let them hear the complaints in the waiting rooms about how it took the nurse an hour to come in to talk to them about their family members care.

While I don't think you can put a price on what we do, we should not feel guilty about asking to be paid what we are worth. I understand what you are saying Zumalong. This raise won't fix the problem. It is a band aid on an amputation but we have to start somewhere. Pay, benefits, retirement, healthcare bene's, being able to take our earned time off, RESPECT from "nursing leaders" and other healthcare professionals, systems in place that solve problems rather than bury them in committees, and a true regard for patient safety on the part of those who make the staffing decisions in hospitals and nursing homes, is just the tip of the ice berg! Healthcare is in a shambles thanks in large part to big business moving in on our territory. They need to acknowledge their failures and start working toward correcting this huge problem.

SmilingBluEyes · May 31, 2002

WOW Nancy you are a woman after my OWN heart. SO many GREAT POINTS in that POST.......I am in total agreement w/all of them! THESE things illustrate how SILLY it is to get into nursing "for the MONEY"....those who do are very SOON SURPRISED and NOT in a GOOD WAY, either. Better wage compensation is just the tip....R E S P E C T....AS P-RN said is THE KEY! But I wholeheartedly believe it begins with US!!! Respecting our OWN profession enough to be PROACTIVE and UNIFIED and perhaps a bit more POSITIVE in what we do. RESPECT! what a concept; It encompasses so much! Way beyond $$$$. :rolleyes: (where DO they get any idea that nurses make so much $$$ anyhow?)

Huganurse · May 31, 2002

I don't get where anyone would or think that nurses are in it for the money. There are way too many jobs and professions that pay more for the amount of education involved to be a nurse. I waited tables 15 years ago and brought home almost as much as I make now! I know I could wait tables now at a fancy, busy resturant and make more than I make now. I work FT, my wages are the saddest thing I ever have seen. I would love a 28% raise, but it still wouldn't be enough. With that raise I would be making a whooping 35,800/year. It's a good thing I love my job and I am so dedicated to nursing or they would certainly be out one nurse here. So, NO, IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.

Don't get me wrong here, I agree that better wages would be respectable for our profession. The old adage of "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. If you pay alot of money for someones service or an item, people in general will tend to give that person auto respect and expect quality. On the flip side, if you are paying too little for the service or item, people will respect less and expect poor quality. Perhaps, that is why we don't get respect, we are just paid too little for what we do.

I am happy to hear that nurses will be making 60-70/yr, as I think that is a more fair compensation for the functions we perform. Nurses, police, fire fighters, paramedics and other first responders carry the burden of thier career choice....too little pay for the weight of responsability and potential injury to oneself.

I know that the shortage will drive our wages up, it is only natural, as the law of supply and demand will win here. So for now I think we should not worry so much about wages, as they will automatically rise.

Sorry to change the subject but shouldn't we be focusing instead on how we can make our own work environment better. And, how are we going to provide safe care to our patients, as our numbers dwindle compared to the numbers of patients we are responsable to care for. It's really scarry to think about the future of nursing care, because no matter what, it is going to change. I think the RN role will become much more focused on management of the patients care and the people who wil be providing the care under our direction. Similar to the role of the Doc, come in, assess, write nursing orders, come back and re-assess, etc. We will of course need our RN's in Crit care areas.

Will there be enough of us? We can only hope that the increasing wages will draw more people into the nursing profession to meet those demands but I am skeptical that it will be enough. JMO. Hugs