We can all agree that in most areas of the nation, there is ample supply of nurses at the bedside, and in many areas, supply has well exceeded demand. Why they ask, are nurses always leaving the bedside? ANSWER: We didn't. The profession left us.
We can debate the why's, where's, how's, when's of the toxic culture in many hospitals and nursing homes.
More work, less support staff. More work, less pay. Too many patients. Higher acuity, more orders, fewer nurses being hired. My boss is dumb. My boss is toxic. Yes, its a BIG factor in a nurses decision to leave. We hate drama. We want to do our jobs in peace.
But those are just workplace semantics. There is drama in every workplace, wether in nursing, retail, law enforcement, food services, housekeeping, gaming, farming, hospitality, transportation, or basket weaving. Yes, its there now, and yes, it was there 50 years ago.
Truth be told, years ago, before corporate mergers/ takeovers/ acquisitions became as simple as buying pizza, we had hospitals and nursing homes. Today we have hospital systems and nursing home chains. With these corporate conglomerates at the helm, our profession was taken away. We lost our voices. We lost our sanity. We lost our zeal. Same thing happened to the banking system in the 1980s. Local stand alone banks were bought up, one by one, until we had 6 or 7 worldwide megabanks.
Corporate mentality stole the nursing profession and burned it at the stake. What used to be patient focus, is now billing focus. Today we do not have patients, we have inventory. Some generate substantial money, others are a drain. This is why, when and how "staffing to census" began rearing its ugly head. Back in the old days, there was no such thing as staffing to census. Nurses were hired on certain units, and that is where they stayed. Some days were super busy, others were not.
Staffing in hospitals and nursing homes today is soley based upon inventory (patients) and money (acuity). Not enough inventory in the burn unit? Float the nurse. Not enough inventory in L & D? Tell the nurse to stay home. Too many nurses on telemetry? Send 2 home, or let them work as techs on med-surg. And the list goes on.
What used to be paper documentation by exception, became EMR to generate maximum amounts of reimbursements from medicare, medicaid, and insurance. This is why we have box checkers (formerly known as nurses) spending 75% of their time at computer stations, and 25% of their time at the bedside. If you're lucky. So the next time your wife, husband, brother, sister, friend or companion starts mocking you for being a serial job hunter/ hopper, send them to this article.
Spread the word. Nurses didn't leave the bedside, the profession left us.
My wife works from home and earns 180k per year as an NP. I have a friend who owns a clinic in Arizona earning around 400k. Both beat my 70k in the ICU and they don’t have to lift 400 pound patients by themselves.
I'm not sure about "making bank", but you can earn a reasonable living as an NP especially if you are willing to move where they are most needed. In addition, if you are willing to open your own practice in an independent practice state (there are over 20 now) you can do even better. This is especially the case if you are willing to offer office hours (Sat, Sunday, and evenings) that many MD's have been unwilling to do in the past. If you also offer evidenced based complementary and alternative medicine in addition to the best standard of care when it comes to traditional medicine all the better. I would argue that there is now more opportunity for NP's than there has ever been in the past.
Your wife got in at a good time. Hopefully it continues to work out well for her.
I find that the people who struggle with nursing the most are the second-career folks with $$$ in their eyes or some delusion that nursing the only job that is a "fulfilling" and "helps people." They leave their cushy former careers behind and then are shocked at how hard nurses work and how underpaid we are. The micromanagement, the rude patients and their crazy families, rude doctors. No support. Understaffing. Those of us who work as techs while in nursing school and see nursing for what it is typically last longer.
I am going back to school for my FNP (cue eye rolls). I am done with the BS that comes with bedside nursing. Minute clinics and urgent cares are hiring NPs and starting them off at 90k+ per year in my area. You only deal with one patient at all time and there isn't this BS of "real-time" charting...you chart when you can. And if a patient is horrific, you can turn them away. Not necessarily the case with RNs.
Would I recommend nursing for other people? Nope. I'd recommend accounting (CPAs), PT/OT/ST, among other professions.
That isn't to say I hate my job...I'm just done with the BS.
Your wife got in at a good time. Hopefully it continues to work out well for her.
As I tell her all the time the only way to have any assurance of long term prospects is to move to an independent practice state and "build" our own practice where the clients will be more inclined to stay loyal (if we produce the kind of optimal results that I believe we can). Expanded evening hours, weekend hours so that ADHD kids don't have to miss school, these are the sorts of things that can maintain long term viability even in a competitive market.
As I tell her all the time the only way to have any assurance of long term prospects is to move to an independent practice state and "build" our own practice where the clients will be more inclined to stay loyal (if we produce the kind of optimal results that I believe we can). Expanded evening hours, weekend hours so that ADHD kids don't have to miss school, these are the sorts of things that can maintain long term viability even in a competitive market.
Really its the way to go as an NP. I hear many nurses that work for someone complain about how they aren't making much or are making similar to what they made as a floor nurse.
I agree. In skilled trades..take welding or tool/ die, since its a hands on learned skill, there are few classes, its an apprenticeship route to becoming credentialed. I think ADN needs to be the entry level at hospitals. I also think that the ADN should be an apprenticeship , rather than classroom (or with minimal classroom). Much of what I did in clinicals in nursing school did not prepare me for bedside, because we made beds and did bed baths. Each bedside nurse would have an apprentice (that is not paid for 2 years) with them at all times, 8 hr shift, 40 hours a week. At the end of those 2 years, the hours convert to credits, and that is the ADN. There would be a huge improvement in quality , for the nurse, and for the patients, and for the hospital/ nursing home
Sounds suspiciously similar to the RN diploma degree! That's pretty much gone by the wayside though a few do still exist. Those nurses were well trained. Given the choice I'd work side by side with a diploma prepared nurse over a BSN educated nurse any day.
I find that the people who struggle with nursing the most are the second-career folks with $$$ in their eyes or some delusion that nursing the only job that is a "fulfilling" and "helps people." They leave their cushy former careers behind and then are shocked at how hard nurses work and how underpaid we are. The micromanagement, the rude patients and their crazy families, rude doctors. No support. Understaffing. Those of us who work as techs while in nursing school and see nursing for what it is typically last longer.
I am going back to school for my FNP (cue eye rolls). I am done with the BS that comes with bedside nursing. Minute clinics and urgent cares are hiring NPs and starting them off at 90k+ per year in my area. You only deal with one patient at all time and there isn't this BS of "real-time" charting...you chart when you can. And if a patient is horrific, you can turn them away. Not necessarily the case with RNs.
Would I recommend nursing for other people? Nope. I'd recommend accounting (CPAs), PT/OT/ST, among other professions.
That isn't to say I hate my job...I'm just done with the BS.
I make $118K base pay right now. As a floor nurse--no overtime, no shift differential, no "extended hours" to kiss orifice in order to convince someone I am the best choice.
I don't bill. I don't deal with insurance companies telling me that I have to code something in a certain way in order to be paid. I don't have to fudge something in order to be paid.
All while still dealing with the rude patients and their crazy families. The violent drug seekers. The ones who follow you out to your car or wait for you in the parking lot as you exit your "urgent care in a CVS broom closet".
I didn't go into nursing with $$$ in my eyes. I was bored with my former profession. I had hit the ceiling and was literally going through the motions. In a hospital. I've been employed by hospitals since I was a candy striper at age 14.
Don't give me that whole schtick. Older nurses, entering after life experience last longer. It's the YOUNGER ones that cry and whine and complain about how haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard it is to work weekends. and nights. and are expected to work overtime. put the phone away. get off their orifice instead of sitting at the nurses' station checking their instagram. taking selfies with the booze and party hats (so that they get fired and then wonder WHY?)
Sorry....but i don't think I've ever seen a nurse at 50+ years old taking selfies of her alcohol induced self love fest for the world to watch....including the cleavage shots.
There's another little girl on my unit who struts around saying she's "going to be a CRNA"---she's applied! One whole year of ICU---and she still needs her preceptor to help her handle anything more complicated than 2 drips and a vent. She's just so sure. She's gonna own it all.
Oh. Yeah. She forgot. You gotta do all that hard stuff....organic chemistry. Biochem. Statistics. Pathophys and advanced psych.
Omigerrrrrrsh! Don't these CRNA people know who she is???
Medical school and these skilled advance practice jobs---such as CRNA---are hard. FOR A REASON.
But but but but but....I wanna make $170K like someone told me I can by flying through barely 1 year of actual clinical training and 4 years of writing papers! Someone told me I could!
There's yet another person on my unit who is going the "Psych NP" route...as well as my best friend who is pursuing it.
Why? Both of these men say the same thing. "All I have to do for a paycheck is sit and tune out some crazy while they talk...write a care plan and prescribe". Crazy person complains? Who cares. Nobody listens to crazy people anyway.
This is the general attitude of the "younger nurses" that I have come across. My friend is early 40s, and he's pretty much the exception to that I've met.
And before you go all---well---I know so many in my 3 whole years as a nurse. Have you been a traveler? Have you gone through these other hospitals across the country and had a good dose of this? Have you worked in hospitals alongside and as a nurse for over 35 years? Have you even changed units within your own hospital system?
Here's another tidbit---floor nurses that work for Kaiser Permanente make $160K to start. Just sayin'. Wanna know why it's so hard to get into that system? Because their pay is ridiculous---but it's also got it's serious problems---and signing a confidentiality agreement is standard procedure with that company if you do get hired on. And it's not about "proprietary information". It's about appalling work conditions and standards...how they treat patients as cattle.
I shouldn't have to live in upstate Wisconsin or in Death Valley in order to make a decent living. I shouldn't have to be threatened, kicked, punched, spit on, followed or otherwise placed in mortal danger---if I wanted that---I would become a deep sea fisherman in the North Atlantic or a police officer.
I am hearing:
Yes....we do get threatened and it's crap on the floors and my colleagues suck and the patients are horrible and I never sleep and my back is broken and my pay is garbage to do all of this.
But I just looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove nursing and I'd recommend it to my kids!!! You all just are so unhappy that you can't just get over the third world working conditions! What a bunch of malcontents. Oh I know. You must be the "older, second career" nurses.
It sounds as if you live in California. California is the pinnacle, the absolute zenith for nursing related laws. Mandatory ratios, overtime pay after 8 hours, you actually get a lunch break (in 11 years as an RN I can count on two hands the number of times that I've actually gotten my lunch break, I must clock out, but it's not safe to actually take the break since it means leaving another ICU nurse with four patients). For me the first step in improving nursing retention is making more states like California, at least with regard to nursing ratio laws, and lunches. However, even this relatively meager step seems almost impossible to accomplish despite studies showing that the California law has contributed to patient safety.
I shouldn't have to live in upstate Wisconsin or in Death Valley in order to make a decent living. I shouldn't have to be threatened, kicked, punched, spit on, followed or otherwise placed in mortal danger---if I wanted that---I would become a deep sea fisherman in the North Atlantic or a police officer.
This caught my eye. I live in upstate Wisconsin. I can't speak to Death Valley but upstate Wisconsin sure isn't the place to go to make a decent living! I mean it's a livable wage, but I am sure not rolling in money here.
This caught my eye. I live in upstate Wisconsin. I can't speak to Death Valley but upstate Wisconsin sure isn't the place to go to make a decent living! I mean it's a livable wage, but I am sure not rolling in money here.
❤️ I meant the harsh weather. But then...imma snow bunny so I have actually considered upstate WI just for that.
It's just chapping my behind that the best advice to counter how horrible working conditions actually are and how low wages continue to be---isn't unionize (God forbid!)---it's "RELOCATE". Anywhere. Doesn't matter if it's away from everything you know, love and care about....you need to be a nurse so you have to sacrifice your entire existence.
That's the takeaway from some of these posters...instead of straightening out these issues---"just move!"
I make $118K base pay right now. As a floor nurse--no overtime, no shift differential, no "extended hours" to kiss orifice in order to convince someone I am the best choice.
I don't bill. I don't deal with insurance companies telling me that I have to code something in a certain way in order to be paid. I don't have to fudge something in order to be paid.
All while still dealing with the rude patients and their crazy families. The violent drug seekers. The ones who follow you out to your car or wait for you in the parking lot as you exit your "urgent care in a CVS broom closet".
I didn't go into nursing with $$$ in my eyes. I was bored with my former profession. I had hit the ceiling and was literally going through the motions. In a hospital. I've been employed by hospitals since I was a candy striper at age 14.
Don't give me that whole schtick. Older nurses, entering after life experience last longer. It's the YOUNGER ones that cry and whine and complain about how haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard it is to work weekends. and nights. and are expected to work overtime. put the phone away. get off their orifice instead of sitting at the nurses' station checking their instagram. taking selfies with the booze and party hats (so that they get fired and then wonder WHY?)
Sorry....but i don't think I've ever seen a nurse at 50+ years old taking selfies of her alcohol induced self love fest for the world to watch....including the cleavage shots.
There's another little girl on my unit who struts around saying she's "going to be a CRNA"---she's applied! One whole year of ICU---and she still needs her preceptor to help her handle anything more complicated than 2 drips and a vent. She's just so sure. She's gonna own it all.
Oh. Yeah. She forgot. You gotta do all that hard stuff....organic chemistry. Biochem. Statistics. Pathophys and advanced psych.
Omigerrrrrrsh! Don't these CRNA people know who she is???
Medical school and these skilled advance practice jobs---such as CRNA---are hard. FOR A REASON.
But but but but but....I wanna make $170K like someone told me I can by flying through barely 1 year of actual clinical training and 4 years of writing papers! Someone told me I could!
There's yet another person on my unit who is going the "Psych NP" route...as well as my best friend who is pursuing it.
Why? Both of these men say the same thing. "All I have to do for a paycheck is sit and tune out some crazy while they talk...write a care plan and prescribe". Crazy person complains? Who cares. Nobody listens to crazy people anyway.
This is the general attitude of the "younger nurses" that I have come across. My friend is early 40s, and he's pretty much the exception to that I've met.
And before you go all---well---I know so many in my 3 whole years as a nurse. Have you been a traveler? Have you gone through these other hospitals across the country and had a good dose of this? Have you worked in hospitals alongside and as a nurse for over 35 years? Have you even changed units within your own hospital system?
Here's another tidbit---floor nurses that work for Kaiser Permanente make $160K to start. Just sayin'. Wanna know why it's so hard to get into that system? Because their pay is ridiculous---but it's also got it's serious problems---and signing a confidentiality agreement is standard procedure with that company if you do get hired on. And it's not about "proprietary information". It's about appalling work conditions and standards...how they treat patients as cattle.
I shouldn't have to live in upstate Wisconsin or in Death Valley in order to make a decent living. I shouldn't have to be threatened, kicked, punched, spit on, followed or otherwise placed in mortal danger---if I wanted that---I would become a deep sea fisherman in the North Atlantic or a police officer.
I am hearing:
Yes....we do get threatened and it's crap on the floors and my colleagues suck and the patients are horrible and I never sleep and my back is broken and my pay is garbage to do all of this.
But I just looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove nursing and I'd recommend it to my kids!!! You all just are so unhappy that you can't just get over the third world working conditions! What a bunch of malcontents. Oh I know. You must be the "older, second career" nurses.
Someone needs to take a chill pill. I said second-career nurses. I said nothing about age of said nurse. I am willing to bet to make 118k you have many years of experience. Probably work some holidays, evenings and weekends. You said thirty-five, right? There are new grad NPs in my area making 112k and won't have to work 35 years to make 118k. And I'm willing to bet your cost of living is pretty high too in order to make that kind of money without overtime, holiday pay, weekend or shift differential. I live in an area with medium cost of living so 90k here is QUITE a bit more in places like Cali, NY, etc.
Your post comes off rather abrasive and quite frankly, rude. I may not have thirty-five years of experience, but guess what? I haven't been alive for even thirty, so yes, I have only four years of RN experience, but it is in multiple specialties. Plus, I have almost ten years of paid hospital experience in numerous facilities. I know what I am saying, and the players may be different but the *** is still the same.
I get you don't care about younger nurses, but the vast majority of us aren't party animals who drink all the time and complain about the hours. Many of us work multiple jobs, paying off crazy student loans and have far less opportunities to advance than previous generations. But if it makes you feel any better to think of us a lazy, no-good Gen Yers, have at it!
Often the reality is that these issues either won't be fixed or won't be fixed for many years. That is to say the issues are "structural". Thus, since we all have finite lifespans often the easier thing to do is to move to places where things are at least somewhat better than where we currently live. This is especially the case when it comes to NP's and independent practice states. It is also worthy of consideration for a bedside RN living in say Florida making say $30,00 per hour when they could move to California and earn at least $50.00. Even more the case if you have a husband/wife RN team (both going from 30 to $50 plus) and even more the case if they are in a position to be travel nurses in a state like California where they could earn more like $75.00 per hour (each). In the last case you are talking about significantly impacting your standard of living simply by being flexible where you live.
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180K is making bank ?