Is this an accurate description of Nurses?

[Jesskanurse]

http://education.yahoo.net/degrees/articles/featured_top_jobs_for_the_young.html

Nurse

The healthcare system is in the midst of a boom, and nurses are among those to benefit the most. Nurses assist physicians in examining patients and administering treatments. As medical care facilities become more impacted, nurses are increasingly called upon to act independently and perform a wider range of tasks. The learning curve is high, and opportunities for advancement abound for qualified candidates.

Job Growth: 29%

Median Pay: $59,800

Education Requirements: Qualification for nursing includes an associate's degree and RN certification, at minimum. Registered nurses who go on to a Bachelor or Master of Science in Nursing (BSN, MSN) or a master's in master's in healthcare administration will have their pick of nursing career options: patient care, case management, or healthcare administration.

hmm...

[msdobson]

Sounds more like a sales advertisement for nursing school than a job description.

Nursing is what you make of it, you will not slide through a community college associate degree RN program and be making $60,000 in the first few years.

You mean those recruiters LIED TO ME!?

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

they are talking median here, not the average/mean; so the amount is not common.

The MEAN is the arithmetic average, the average you are probably used

to finding for a set of numbers - add up the numbers and divide by how

many there are: (80 + 90 + 90 + 100 + 85 + 90) / 6 = 89 1/6.

The MEDIAN is the number in the middle. In order to find the median,

you have to put the values in order from lowest to highest, then find

the number that is exactly in the middle:

80 85 90 90 90 100

^

since there is an even number of values, the MEDIAN is

between these two, or it is 90. Notice that there is

exactly the same number of values ABOVE the median as

BELOW it!

The MODE is the value that occurs most often. In this case, since

there are 3 90's, the mode is 90. A set of data can have more than one

mode.

The RANGE is the difference between the lowest and highest values.

In this case 100 - 80 = 20, so the range is 20. The range tells you

something about how spread out the data are. Data with large ranges

tend to be more spread out.

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

Just the other day, a friend of mine was complaining about having to take math requirements for a nursing degree. This is another great example of why math IS important...

Anyways, the median pay rate for nurses is very encouraging!

[msdobson]

Just the other day, a friend of mine was complaining about having to take math requirements for a nursing degree. This is another great example of why...

Anyways, the median pay rate for nurses is very encouraging!

I always complain about math...mostly 'cause I suck at it.

[TrudyRN]

It's a good start, Jesskanurse.

Nurses do indeed assist docs. And we do carry out their orders. However, we do a lot more.

Nurses learn how to assess patients physically, just as doctors do. We learn bowel sounds, breath sounds, heart sounds, and a whole lot more. We report abnormal findings to the doc and get orders for what to do next. We are the doc's eyes and ears and hands, as we are with the patients 24 hours per day, every single day. The doctors count on us and could never make it without us. The good docs know that. We should, IMHO, still respect them, as they are not usually our enemies and we need to get along with them, for our own good and for the good of the patients.

Today, our relationship with them is more collegial, more a team approach, as opposed to what it was when I became a new grad 33 years ago. Back then, the doc was the captain of the ship and everyone else was subordinate to him.

It is not totally different now but nurses are much more assertive these days, somewhat more independent, at least to the degree that we can be held accountable to a certain set of laws and standards and sued or disciplined if we deviate from these. We still have to get orders for everything, including who can or can't get out of bed, who can get how much Tylenol or an enema, and so on.

Don't hate docs, though, as some nurses seem to. If you want to be the one giving orders, go to med school. Otherwise, accept that we still are subordinate to docs in many regards. It doesn't mean we're less important, just that our roles are different. So, unfortunately, is our pay, our prestige, etc. And we don't get reserved indoor parking, either.

We administer meds and various treatments (like change dressings, evaluate wounds and recommend/initiate treatment of them, such as in the case of bedsores and diabetic wounds).

We treat the whole patient. We know when the last BM was and take steps to induce another one if need be.

We are aware of changes in our patients' mental status, cardiovascular status, pain status, etc. and take steps to deal with these changes.

We make sure that the patient's environment is safe and comfortable and clean.

We give comfort to family members. We document all that we do, copiously document.

We do a lot of teaching to patients and families about meds, treatments, equipment, lifestyle changes, and community resources.

We coordinate with Dietary, Lab, Housekeeping, Central Supply, Pharmacy, Therapy, and Social Work - and I'm sure I left a few departments out.

We teach student nurses and med students.

I know there is a whole lot more. Some nurses do research, teach formally in schools of Nursing, run their own businesses, or volunteer at church, community health fairs, or our kids' schools.

We have a voice with state, local, and federal agencies when it comes to planning for disasters. We are on state Boards of Nursing and, in this capacity, help keep the public safe from incompetent or rogue nurses.

I hope this helps.

[a21chdchic]

I've been an RN for 14 years, now I make 60K. It's been a long road! And it depends on where you're living for how much money you earn.

a21chdchic in AZ

[a21chdchic]

I've been an RN for 14 years. I'm making 60K a year now, but it's been a long road! It also depends on what part of the country you are living in.

[Jesskanurse]

I think the thing that bothered me the most (and mostly the reason for posting it) was the fact that it basically calls us doctor's assistants. ***? You would think the people who write articles for Yahoo (a huge company) would be a little more educated than that.... ugh

[msdobson]

It's a good start, Jesskanurse.

Nurses do indeed assist docs. And we do carry out their orders. However, we do a lot more.

Nurses learn how to assess patients physically, just as doctors do. We learn bowel sounds, breath sounds, heart sounds, and a whole lot more. We report abnormal findings to the doc and get orders for what to do next. We are the doc's eyes and ears and hands, as we are with the patients 24 hours per day, every single day. The doctors count on us and could never make it without us. The good docs know that. We should, IMHO, still respect them, as they are not usually our enemies and we need to get along with them, for our own good and for the good of the patients.

Today, our relationship with them is more collegial, more a team approach, as opposed to what it was when I became a new grad 33 years ago. Back then, the doc was the captain of the ship and everyone else was subordinate to him.

It is not totally different now but nurses are much more assertive these days, somewhat more independent, at least to the degree that we can be held accountable to a certain set of laws and standards and sued or disciplined if we deviate from these. We still have to get orders for everything, including who can or can't get out of bed, who can get how much Tylenol or an enema, and so on.

Don't hate docs, though, as some nurses seem to. If you want to be the one giving orders, go to med school. Otherwise, accept that we still are subordinate to docs in many regards. It doesn't mean we're less important, just that our roles are different. So, unfortunately, is our pay, our prestige, etc. And we don't get reserved indoor parking, either.

We administer meds and various treatments (like change dressings, evaluate wounds and recommend/initiate treatment of them, such as in the case of bedsores and diabetic wounds).

We treat the whole patient. We know when the last BM was and take steps to induce another one if need be.

We are aware of changes in our patients' mental status, cardiovascular status, pain status, etc. and take steps to deal with these changes.

We make sure that the patient's environment is safe and comfortable and clean.

We give comfort to family members. We document all that we do, copiously document.

We do a lot of teaching to patients and families about meds, treatments, equipment, lifestyle changes, and community resources.

We coordinate with Dietary, Lab, Housekeeping, Central Supply, Pharmacy, Therapy, and Social Work - and I'm sure I left a few departments out.

We teach student nurses and med students.

I know there is a whole lot more. Some nurses do research, teach formally in schools of Nursing, run their own businesses, or volunteer at church, community health fairs, or our kids' schools.

We have a voice with state, local, and federal agencies when it comes to planning for disasters. We are on state Boards of Nursing and, in this capacity, help keep the public safe from incompetent or rogue nurses.

I hope this helps.

Wow. Good post, Trudy! :w00t:

[msdobson]

I think the thing that bothered me the most (and mostly the reason for posting it) was the fact that it basically calls us doctor's assistants. ***? You would think the people who write articles for Yahoo (a huge company) would be a little more educated than that.... ugh

I don't think that the person who wrote it actually works for Yahoo, Jess. Looks to be a freelance writer.

[TrudyRN]

Wow. Good post, Trudy! :w00t:

Thank you, Mike. I know we do even more than that, too.

We write textbooks, we are on editorial boards of peer-reviewed journals, we know lab values and act on them, we work in really varied settings - hospitals, nursing homes, schools, the military, surgery centers, docs' offices, colleges and universities, summer camps, correctional facilities, cruise ships, government offices, probably the UN and many other occupational health facilities, on movie and TV sets, health departments and other clinics, at insurance companies, and probably more. We do everything from L&D to Hospice.

As a dear friend of mine used to say, "We're nurses. We can do anything." And she was right! Her former boss once had to go up on a roof at a jail to evaluate an injured prisoner! Hey, we do it all.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

60K as the median seems reasonable.

Median is the middle, the divider. Half make more, half make less. That includes everyone from the new grad to the advanced degreed nurse with 30 years of solid experience.