How Much Are You Worth Per Hour?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.

Just returned from trip to my mechanic. He charges $50.00 per hour. I am wondering how much you all feel you are worth per hour? Since I am not yet a nurse I will defer to the experts.

Gerry

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I think people often use those hourly figures that they pay for services the wrong way. Your mechanic didn't actually get the $50 per hour that you paid him. A lot of that money went to the purchase/rental of the building his shop is located in, his tools, his other supplies, etc. When a nurse gets paid, he/she does not have to turn around and pay for the hospital building, the monitors, the IV pumps used, the meds given, the housekeeping service, the office products, etc.

So ... you really can't compare the two as if they were "comparable earnings."

Having studied these issues for a long time, I think that all we can do is compare our overall compensation packages and treatment with that of other workers/professionals who have similar education and similar responsibilities. That's a lot more complicated, but also more realistic and fair.

In general ... I think ...

1. Nursing starting salaries are generally OK, but many employers should do better to reward those with experience, expert skills, and advanced education.

2. Basic benefits such as health insurance, vacation time, is OK compared to other industries -- but we often do not do so well when it comes to retirment benefits and educational benefits. I think part of that is because nurses have not historically placed as much value on those benefits and have not insisted on them. Too many nurses have wanted "more cash now" instead of bargaining for benefits that will help them more in the future.

Just a few thoughts to get the discussion rolling,

llg

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NOT a flamed response :angryfire , meant in a non-agressive mannor.

Hepatitis, TB, AIDS, MRSA, VRE, understaffed, can't teach you about your diagnosis and treatment, here... take your pills, my other patient is crashing.

Your family member was just admitted post arrest, vented on a wall full of drips, You're told by me, quick update, don't desturb them, 'DON'T touch anything ! I'm in charge with 3 vented patients and a brand new staff. Admissions is hunting me down to take a code on the floor, I've yet to see my two other patients, my nurses are drowning now. You call me because you've watching the TV (heart monitor) and it beeped!

Another family member, Three star alarm, room #3 has a HR of 30, and you stop me with the big red cart, angry that no doctor has talked to you in two days. My tech, tells you to leave, there is an emergency and you follow her to each room as she tries to clear out angry visitors, to help in a code, and you're demanding an update?

Need I say "open ICU visitation"?, a crowd pleaser at best! :rotfl:

I call the manager for more help, three patients out of ten on their heads crashing, and a balloon pump is sitting in the hallway from the cath lab. The cath nurse refuses to stay, "waited long enough", but you've not even transfered the stepdown patient out of their bed... wasn't a priority. There is not even a room for the pt. Manager tells me to "suck it up, there's no additional help". We need 7 nurses, we have 4.

New nurse left monitoring the patients while you code, insert TVP, IAPB at bedside tell you pressure in #1 is 50, with a deer in the head lights look.

You look at the clock, it's only been two hours since you've punched in.

Not an exaggeration, just a day at the valley.

How much?..... Not enough

Forget the $$$, I'm here to care for my patients, JUST LET ME BE ABLE TO DO THIS!. give me adequate staffing to give proper care for my patients period. The rest will fall into place.

Not an angry rant, just a day in my life, two hours actually. Again, if management provided adequate staffing, my current salary would be adequate. and I'm not even asking for a raise :uhoh3:

Current conditions... write a blank check :rotfl:

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A quicker reply would have been.... "you can't afford me!" :rotfl:

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:rotfl: You're right! They could never pay us enough with these conditions. You left out something: You can be named in a potentially million dollar law suit on any day you work shortstaffed... which is EVERY day you work!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

$50.00 an hour would be nice. I could live with that. :)

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Hey, my son is scheduled to attend United Technical Institute (UTI :rotfl: ) in the Fall and will go to school full time for a little over a year and he can come out with a NASCAR mechanics degree or do the high-end mechanics (Audi, BMW, Mercedes, etc) and make way more than nurses make. Or he can come out with just a regular mechanics degree and struggle along in a little corner shop making less than what nurses make.

Maybe the answer is NASCAR . . . . :chuckle

steph

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But have you ever noticed how the people making the least seem to be working the hardest? Those of you in Canada (or Ohio) should go into a Tim Hortons and watch the people working the counter during the morning rush. And remember, they're doing it for minimum wage.

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i guess i will be all good after i get my RN license and start working as a RN. i will be saving alot of money doing things on my own. for example i dont need to pay a mechanic $65per hour for a simple tune up , brake job, suspension overhaul, or replacing parts because i can do all that and also i can do my own taxes..

mechanics get paid alot per hour but tehy know thing you dont know. being a mechanic is a dirty job, i am not a mechanic but i am a do it yourself car person and i know first hand that changing out an exhaust is very harzardous to your health or breathing in brake dust, or getting hot oil on your hands or your eyes, and the worst is after you take a shower you still have dirt underneath your finger nails and it doesnt come off for days.

give mechanics the benefit of the doubt that there job is dangerous and harzardous for there health.

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But have you ever noticed how the people making the least seem to be working the hardest? Those of you in Canada (or Ohio) should go into a Tim Hortons and watch the people working the counter during the morning rush. And remember, they're doing it for minimum wage.

You know I thought the same thing. Working hard doesn't always equate to more money. If that were so, CNA's would be making more than RN's because their physical workload is much higher than ours.

I realize we work short-staffed in unsafe conditions but I'm not sure that equals being paid more. I think it means we need to stop working short-staffed in unsafe working conditions.

steph

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i guess i will be all good after i get my RN license and start working as a RN. i will be saving alot of money doing things on my own. for example i dont need to pay a mechanic $65per hour for a simple tune up , brake job, suspension overhaul, or replacing parts because i can do all that and also i can do my own taxes..

mechanics get paid alot per hour but tehy know thing you dont know. being a mechanic is a dirty job, i am not a mechanic but i am a do it yourself car person and i know first hand that changing out an exhaust is very harzardous to your health or breathing in brake dust, or getting hot oil on your hands or your eyes, and the worst is after you take a shower you still have dirt underneath your finger nails and it doesnt come off for days.

give mechanics the benefit of the doubt that there job is dangerous and harzardous for there health.

I have the utmost respect for mechanics . . . . heck, my son may soon be one. :) One son a college professor and one a mechanic . . . wonder who will make more money? :chuckle

steph

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

But a bad decision or understaffing at Tim Hortons' does not really mean you KILL someone kwim???? You come in, and make an error in your work, you are not likely to do permenent damage or kill a person. It's mind-numbing work, and I would never take it away from them, but sorry, it does not "compare".....

their responsibilities don't begin to approach mine as a labor/delivery nurse, where a bad day or bad decision for ME can mean a gravely injured or dead mom or baby or both. Split-second decisions at Tim Hortons are not likely daily occurences, are they? So, You just can't compare clerks' responsibilities at Tom Horton's with nursing responsiblities in today's hospital environment. I won't argue they work their butts off and deserve better compensation (they do), but it is not the same thing, sorry. :uhoh21:

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