How can you say you're not paid well?

tridil2000, MSN, RN · Apr 9, 2005

I have a friend who teaches kindergarten and she told me they work 180 days a year at about $35,000. Not bad!!
that's $32.87 an hour.
no weekends
no holidays
no call
and a 30 minute lunch every day and the best benefits and pension plan on the planet.
they deserve it, and we deserve all that too!

angel337, MSN, RN · Apr 9, 2005

i agree with what alot of the posters here say as far as the disparity in pay for nurses in regard to our responsibility but i still think that we all knew what we were getting into and all professions have their gripes. my base pay is $26/hr. i'm not rich, but i'm not starving. i have come a long way from making minimum wage so i feel blessed to be able to provide for my family. if nursing really paid that bad so many people would not be in the profession. the responsibilty can be overwhelming but i still say if it is really that terrible and you feel that you should be paid more, do what alot of people do.....either find another profession or advance your education. i know nurses who make more than doctors. family practice docs come out of residency making 70-90k. i made 68k last year with just a little overtime and still had 3 days off during the week. my job pays time 1/2 plus bonuses for extra shifts. how many people can say that? yes we all deserve more but don't look at just the negative aspects look at the positives too.

twinmommy+2, ADN, BSN, MSN · Apr 9, 2005

I live in Maryland and make $36.00/hr as a med surg nurse in the float pool. I'd say that's pretty darn good money. I make more money than my husband. If I'm called in on my on-call days, I make time and a half for the first 4 hours and double time for the next 8hours. It's almost like getting two pay checks when that happens. I also get benefits,sick time and four weeks vacation. We are always looking for good nurses in Maryland so come on down!

WOW! I live in Maryland so I have to ask, where do you work :chuckle

The rent and morgage around here is ridiculously expensive here as well. I'm actually looking forward to moving about a year after graduation.

scooterRN52 · Apr 10, 2005

That is insane!! My husband & I work full time, have a kindergartener and I am working towards my nursing degree. We make less than 35 grand together and have a nice 2 bedroom apartment for $405 a month and utilities are about $120 for everything. We eat out at least twice a week. I don't know why anyone would pay such expensive rent. We moved from Dallas because it was so expensive.

It sounds like your world costs alot less to live in, I don't think you could ever find any apartment that inexpensive here in south eastern penna. My

2 bedroom apt. costs over $1000.00 a month plus utilities and this is considered reasonable. I'll be moving soon into a townhouse in a quieter area and I'll be putting out another several hundred dollars a month on top of what I pay now. Everything is very expensive in the northeast. but the nurses, GN's start at $25.00 to $28.00 an hr. here, as you can see, you really need o lot to live on up here.

asher315 · Apr 10, 2005

My mother used to always complain that celebrities made too much money for doing so little ("catching a football. etc.') and the "real heroes" in our lives, nurses, teachers, police and firemen, made way too little for protoecting and saving our lives. She was right, sort of...I guess if an actor brings in money for a movie, she or he should be compensated well for it. And if you can get someone to pay you millions for it, more power to you. But the real heroes keep the world going and we should be paid well and that includes benefits that actually benefit you without costing more.

Plus, I would really like some more intangible things like respect.

I love nurses, we come together and agree, disagree, complain and compare and still we keep on being nurses.

Tony35NYC · Apr 10, 2005

This may sound strange but $28 an hour in NYC is not that great, unless you're a new grad. It may sound like a lot of money compared to other parts of the country but remember the high taxes and cost of living incidentals in New York.

Could someone please explain to me why the nurses are complaining that they're not being pad well. In case my math is wrong this is the figure that I come up with.
3 day/12 hour shift at average $28/hr in New York
12 hours *$28=$336 per day*3 days $1008 per week* 52 Weeks that's $52,416 per year......that's just the average in New York. If you do 4 days you pull in almost $70,000.
So, what the all the complaining about not getting paid? I just don't understand.
Am I missing something?
Aaron
PS: I didn't even include any sign on bonus or night differential pay.

pmchap · Apr 10, 2005

All this $/hr stuff is just downrght confusing... I cound say I make 30/hr - but that means nothing if it is not in real cost context. 5 yrs ago my wife & I bought a nice 4 br house dbl garage and lovely yard - it cost us 3 times my annual gross salary. We sold it & went into business - thinking we would become rich - NOT..... business bellyflopped and we startted at square one last year. By living on Air & water we madly saved & bought a house again end of last year - smaller house older than original and nowwhere near as nice... and it cost 5 times my annual gross. Considering my salary was originally a 4th yr nurse when we bought the first place and now as a clinical nurse educator I am making the upper limit (Australia has unions that have got annual increases up to 8 yrs of service) of what I can hope for.... Ignoring actual dollars we are much worse off then we where 5/6 years ago. I know house prices are only one part of the picture - but they are by far the biggest part - the mortage takes over 50% of my net pay (heck the government is pretty good at ensuring they get their cut first).

What sucks for us is that if my wife stopped work as a teacher (earns roughly the same as I) and we seperated so she was a single parent then she would qualify for government support and total dollar difference would be about 200 per fortnight to what we make now as two working married adults with two kids (and this is a country trying to encourage family development???).

Also - I think it is wrong when as nurses we say - look at the great money we are earning WHEN we do overtime. Last year I earnt about 20% more than my wife did - but I also worked on average 10hrs overtime every fortnight, worked permanent nights and every weekend to maximise penalty rates - thats like an extra 6/7 weeks work - it is only fair we should get more if we work extra hours.

I also have a brother - who with no formal training has a job in IT and is earning the same money that I am - he stuffs up and someones computer takes a little longer in the service department - I stuff up and the family go to a funeral or a nurse leaves the ward with unsafe practices. Where is the sense in that.

I pay an accountant 100+ dollars per hour to look after my taxes - but in Australia it is expected by the majority of the population that the government foots the bill for health so you can arrive at hospital - get your life saved and get charged $0 for it..... what worth does that put on health and life?

I had one of my workmates say it this way - the further away from the patient bedside the higher the hourly pay.... sort of makes sense.

Cheers

BabyNurse513 · Apr 11, 2005

That is insane!! My husband & I work full time, have a kindergartener and I am working towards my nursing degree. We make less than 35 grand together and have a nice 2 bedroom apartment for $405 a month and utilities are about $120 for everything. We eat out at least twice a week. I don't know why anyone would pay such expensive rent. We moved from Dallas because it was so expensive.

I know it is insane, I am actually moving in 6 weeks out of the northeast becuase it is just too expensive here!

hollyster · Apr 11, 2005

I've gathered quite a stash of Dermabond through the years I plan on glueing them all together keeps them in one place. I thought I had a deal now I'm thinking maybe you can hook me up?

Sure thing. But for truth in advertising I have to tell you they pay well because they cannot keep nurses with this new ccu nurse manager. (she actually walks around saying I am the queen of the CCU and she will come up to you and ask do you know who I am. Pretty strange.) Time to go agency.

I sure could use some of the dermabond.

NoCrumping · Apr 11, 2005

All this $/hr stuff is just downrght confusing... I cound say I make 30/hr - but that means nothing if it is not in real cost context. 5 yrs ago my wife & I bought a nice 4 br house dbl garage and lovely yard - it cost us 3 times my annual gross salary. We sold it & went into business - thinking we would become rich - NOT..... business bellyflopped and we startted at square one last year. By living on Air & water we madly saved & bought a house again end of last year - smaller house older than original and nowwhere near as nice... and it cost 5 times my annual gross. Considering my salary was originally a 4th yr nurse when we bought the first place and now as a clinical nurse educator I am making the upper limit (Australia has unions that have got annual increases up to 8 yrs of service) of what I can hope for.... Ignoring actual dollars we are much worse off then we where 5/6 years ago. I know house prices are only one part of the picture - but they are by far the biggest part - the mortage takes over 50% of my net pay (heck the government is pretty good at ensuring they get their cut first).
What sucks for us is that if my wife stopped work as a teacher (earns roughly the same as I) and we seperated so she was a single parent then she would qualify for government support and total dollar difference would be about 200 per fortnight to what we make now as two working married adults with two kids (and this is a country trying to encourage family development???).
Also - I think it is wrong when as nurses we say - look at the great money we are earning WHEN we do overtime. Last year I earnt about 20% more than my wife did - but I also worked on average 10hrs overtime every fortnight, worked permanent nights and every weekend to maximise penalty rates - thats like an extra 6/7 weeks work - it is only fair we should get more if we work extra hours.
Cheers

Just one ?..... what does the word "fortnight" mean?

Fiona59 · Apr 11, 2005

fortnight = 14 days

mattsmom81 · Apr 11, 2005

I'm always amazed at how those who know little to NOTHING about what we do , let alone the tremendous liabilities we shoulder, feel justified in stating nurses make enough or too much $$ already.