Med-Surg floor sucks, and nursing unions

Specialties Med-Surg

Published

I went back to a Med-Surg floor after a long time, I had previously worked on a med-surg unit once years ago and dont remember it being this bad. There are no unions in this part of the country and I would like to hear from some union nurses to see if things are better. I work night **** 7p-7a and we have usually 6 nurses at night and take 6 and rarely 7 pts. each. Except for newer nurses, RN's take turns being charge nurse and do added chores such as staffing and paperwork and still take 6 pts. We are regularly slammed from the ER with admissions, some coming up before we even get report on new patients and got 9 admissions the other night and no one got any breaks or lunch because they were to busy, every left about 10am next morning. The nurses dont really help each other out because they are all to busy. We do not have a ward clerk to answer phones and put in orders except one who may stay until 11pm or the house clerk who is pulled to all floors to put in orders and leaves at 5am. Nurses are pulled to every floor in the hospital except ER and ICU, labor laws state you are to have breaks and lunch, no one seems to care. For all our trouble this system pays new RN's 18.00-19.00hr, nurses with experience 23.00-24.00 hr. and 3.45 night premium (which is only reason I work nights). We have many new grads in ER and ICU. There are only 2 hospital systems here and they are both about the same, what is it like working for union hospitals? Why are nurses worked like dogs now and paid so little? I have done home heath, OR, geriatrics, med-surg and OR was the best, every place else worked you like dogs, I would like to go to Calif., any info on unions would be helpful.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

I work for a unionized hospital on a Med-Surg unit. I started out on days (orientation and 8 months or so). On a GOOD day, nurses were given only four patients. Only a busy day they had five. We have a lower ratio because we do not have certified nursing aids on our floor. Before I joined this hospital this floor decided to do away with the CNA for a smaller load. It's still super busy. There is a day time unit clerk, but not nights. The charge nurse does all her responsibilities + unit clerk duties at night.

On nights the night nurse usually starts with five patients and may go up to six. Also no CNA. It's super busy until 1am or so but then again on our floor you get your periods of bored bored bored, busy busy OMG GOT TO PEE so busy then it's back to bored again. (:

We always take breaks. And pay here for nurses with less than 2 years experience is generally $20-24/hour.

Specializes in Med Surg.

In my hospital new grad RNs start at $18 per hour. I graduated in June and started here in August but had worked at the hospital previously for 5 yrs as an LPN, doing the same job with the exception of not being able to initiate blood or push certain cardiac meds. I had been gone for 4 yrs. I was hired back at $18.30 hr. We get $1.75 shift diff for nights. We routinely have 7 pts and although rare, sometimes 8. It's not unusual to have only one tech for the entire floor so needless to say we end up doing a lot of tech work as well as nursing. It is way more stressful working here now than it was before. We have lost a lot of nurses and sadly to say, as soon as I find something else I will be leaving too. I just don't know what direction I want to go yet.

In my hospital new grad RNs start at $18 per hour.

$18/hr???

Where are you? Kathman-frigging-du?

Good gawd those were NG RN wages back in... 1994... and in fact that salary was average for New Grads in some of the lower pay states back then, such as Wyoming and Montana.

(RN's need to educate themselves and not, "just be happy they have a job."

Sheesh. A nominally talented barista can make $18/hr in today's market.

Whoa on the pay that some of you posted. I made 25.00 an hour 21 yrs ago as a per diem!! New grads in my neck of the woods, on average start at 24 ish...

Yup. $24-ish @ 36hr/PP was app. $40k gross, 20 years ago. Yet another (tell-tale) anecdote to show how little median incomes have risen against the top earners.

If I knew then what I know now...

Indiana here - base pay at my hospital is $21 :(

Good gawd.

$36K a year gross base pay? In 2012? Are you serious?

That's insanity for our education, preparation, responsibility, stress, and scope of knowledge in today's economy.

Specializes in Med Surg.

I'm in Indiana. You are so right! $18 hr is insane for all our responsibilty!

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

The ratios sound like FL, and in some areas of FL, the pay is that low.

Specializes in Med Surg.
$18/hr???

Where are you? Kathman-frigging-du?

Good gawd those were NG RN wages back in... 1994... and in fact that salary was average for New Grads in some of the lower pay states back then, such as Wyoming and Montana.

(RN's need to educate themselves and not, "just be happy they have a job."

Sheesh. A nominally talented barista can make $18/hr in today's market.

Not where I live. I started at $17.50--pretty normal for SW Missouri. Of course, cost of living is pretty decent, so that's actually great pay around here. Sure, I could move and make more, but our families are here. I don't want to move, so the lower pay is the compromise I'll make.
Not where I live. I started at $17.50--pretty normal for SW Missouri. Of course, cost of living is pretty decent, so that's actually great pay around here. Sure, I could move and make more, but our families are here. I don't want to move, so the lower pay is the compromise I'll make.

Really? At 36/hrs PP, that's +/-$30,250/yr.

In 1994 the median household income was $32K. Do you enjoy backwards mobility?

If you do the math based upon that salary, given that your monthly mortgage payment should be no greater then 33% of your gross income, a "livable shack" home price had better reside in the

What is your state sales tax rate, what are your electricity/utility rates, and what are your gas costs per gallon?

In 1994, gas per gallon national average was $1.11 for reg. Today the national avg sits at around $3.84.

Sorry, your "less cost of living" doesn't fly.

If you're OK with that salary, well OK. But I think people need to take a hard look at the level at which median income has flatlined in the last 15-20 years, especially for the college educated, professional RN.

In 1994, as a baby-RN with less than 2yrs under my belt, I lived in the second to the last lowest paid state in the nation for RN's (and one of the cheapest states for cost of living). I made more than $17.50, and that was nearly twenty years ago... at a nursing home.

If you read nothing else, read that last paragraph, and think about it.

Specializes in Med Surg.

What do you suggest? All three major hospitals in the area start new grads with no experience at the same salary. How do we go about getting them to change that? I do agree with you that RNs are underpaid, but really, for an associate degree education, what do we expect?

Again, it's all about compromise. Why would I move just to make more money? My husband and I both work and we live very comfortably. The median household income for my county is $41,000; between the two of us we're well above that. We pay our bills easily, have been homeowners for years (even back in the days when we made half what we do now) and are beginning to stockpile a good amount of savings. What more do we need?

Specializes in Bariatric surgery, orthopedic surgery..

Guttercat, what do you want aurora to do, pack up her belongings, family, and move to where, Cali? and rent a 1 br apartment for 1400 a month? or buy a house for 3/4 million? Like me here in upstate NY, I have a house thats mine, don't owe a dime on it. All my vehicles are paid for, so yeah I may be only making 25 dollars an hour, but I don't have any bills.. Other than gas, food, and gas&electric. I'm very comfortable. Moving to cali would put me in debt up to my eyeballs, I know many of my friends who made that move and came back with their tails behind their legs because they couldn't afford it

Just a comment about the california thing, yeah they may start new grads out at 28,30, or 32 an hour which is awesome! But, the cost of living in Cali is so much higher than many of the other states, that someone making 20 or 22 an hour in like Indiana is probably making more in terms of cost of living than the person in cali making 30 or 32.. Just my 2 cents.. Im in upstate NY and my base is 25/hr. But here it's also dirt cheap to live, you can buy a VERY nice house for 50-60 grand here.. You can prob get a cardboard box with a hole in the top for air in cali for that much hahaha..

Nice thread though I like it!

Specializes in med/surg.

I too live in SW Missouri, and I started 3 years ago as a new grad at $17.50. At 2.5% max raises per year, plus a "market raise" we got last year, I am now up to a whopping $19.619 per hour. I also did the "clinical ladder" last year, and get an extra $0.75 an hour. I get an extra dollar an hour for charge, an extra dollar for floating to the ICU (which I did twice this week,) weekend differentials, and of course time and a half for OT, of which I will have 8 hours this week. Last year I managed to get pretty close to $50K, which is living pretty good here in rural Missouri, and I still only worked 4 days a week. I wouldn't exactly call that backsliding from my seasonal waitressing jobs.

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