Nursing is not easy money, no gain no pain

meandragonbrett · Dec 6, 2011

I'll take my 70K for working 2 days a week over sitting in an office 5 days a week in a cubicle making 45K........but yes...many think this is an easy way to money and job security.

PMFB-RN, RN · Dec 6, 2011

When I see the level of responsibility vs compensation of RNs compared to other fields, like say PT & OT I don't think we get a good deal. As an ICU, ER, transport & rapid response RN I, and my co-workers, make decisions that can have drastic effects on our patients health every shift and often many times a shift. I have never seen a PT or OT taking care of patients on Christmas morning, or at 3AM Sunday morning. I haven't observed my buddy Bob the OT being mandated for over time and scrambling to find somebody to watch his kids at the last minute as a result. I have never heard of a mistake made by a physical therapist result in the death of a patient. I have never hear a physical therapist have to listen to the irate tirade of a surgeon woken up in the middle of the night. I do however know that my buddy Bob the OT makes considerably more money than I do.

Please don't get me wrong. I understand health care is a team and PT & OT are very valuable and do wonderful things for patients. I also understand they are highly trained and skilled. In my opinion their level of compensation vs responsibility is much more in line than mine and they are but one example of many I could give.

I make decent money but i can think of several things off the tops of my head that I am qualified for, or could be qualified for, that would pay more and have far less risk, and be less physicial labor. I like being a nurse, and I like being in a position to help people when they need it the most, but I would never do it just for the money. The money just isn't nearly good enough.

Fribblet · Dec 6, 2011

Just to chime in here it's a little about perspective...
I meet people all the time that are very thankful for their station after nursing school. They're making significantly more money than they or their families ever had before. Far more successful than they had ever dreamed.
The ones I find that whine, moan and complain about just how "hard" it is have never really had to work. Never had been without internet, without transportation, never without means. (They are usually the ones hanging out @ the nurses station gossiping all shift no really working anyway)
Well, welcome to life and it isn't sugar-coated. Like those incorrigible "Occupy wherever" people. Time to grow up and go to work. Me personally have worked MUCH harder for a LOT less.
Look at the ancillary people around you. Are they working as hard or harder than you? Guess what? They would LOVE to be making what you're making. I DO consider myself very rich.

I've held a job ever since I was able to work. I think nursing sucks. The amount we're dumped on by administration, patients, families and other departments, our responsibility, and the detriment this job has on our health does not correlate with our ****** pay and lack of a voice when it comes to policy.

I have a lot of complaints. Are they valid now that you know I worked before attending nursing school?

Caffeine_IV · Dec 6, 2011

I feel fortunate for what I have but I'm still very much aware that there are much easier jobs with much better pay and better conditions.

"Good" money/schedule and other descriptions about the nursing profession are all relative.

beckster_01, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2011

I don't think that EmergencyNurse was trying to invalidate anyone's response. She was recognizing that as frustrating as nursing can be, especially the administrative aspect of it, many people forget that we could do much worse.

There are two points that I think play into this conversation. 1) Do you think of a nursing more as a career or as a job? As a career I think we still have a lot of room for growth. In a job where you are getting stretched in every direction it is easy to feel devalued and disrespected. Many nurses don't take oppurtunities for advancement, such as specialized certification, community involvement, etc. It is so easy to only be a nurse for 12 hours at a time once you "get there," and to lose the motivation to take your career further (I'm speaking from personal experience). As a job, we're rocking it. Compared to the average job, we make good money, get long "weekends," work indoors, and wear pajamas to work.

2nd point...that first was longer than I'd planned (oops). A person's perspective is influenced by what they expected. I was a tech throughout my 4 years of nursing school, and I worked on the regular floor, the ICU, and inpatient rehab. I knew EXACTLY what I was getting myself into, from several different angles. I knew about the administration issues, nurse-nurse animosity, patient loads, hours, difficult families etc. Why that didn't scare me away I don't know, but I would look like an idiot if I complained about these things now when everyone knows that I experienced them before I graduated.

That was way too long. That is what I get for signing on right after I get home from work. Sorry guys...

Crystalish1 · Dec 7, 2011

Good point Emergency Nrse....I think everything is about perspective. I am a new nurse who just started working third shift on the Tele floor. And guess what, not only do I love what I do but I am grateful for this job. I love taking care of people and I get paid well enough to do so. Also, I'm lucky, I only work three nights a week and the rest I get to spend with my family. I was one who went without internet, and a car and very little money--pretty much the whole time I was in nursing school. Now things are better and I have the same perspective now as I did even when I didn't have much: I'm grateful for everything I have and for being able to do what I love. Positive thinking works and I would rather focus on the positive aspects of life instead of the negative!

gcupid · Dec 7, 2011

Just to chime in here it's a little about perspective...
I meet people all the time that are very thankful for their station after nursing school. They're making significantly more money than they or their families ever had before. Far more successful than they had ever dreamed.
The ones I find that whine, moan and complain about just how "hard" it is have never really had to work. Never had been without internet, without transportation, never without means. (They are usually the ones hanging out @ the nurses station gossiping all shift no really working anyway)
Well, welcome to life and it isn't sugar-coated. Like those incorrigible "Occupy wherever" people. Time to grow up and go to work. Me personally have worked MUCH harder for a LOT less.
Look at the ancillary people around you. Are they working as hard or harder than you? Guess what? They would LOVE to be making what you're making. I DO consider myself very rich.

Well there you go.....we have just fixed the nursing shortage for all time. No need to deal with pendulums...

All you have to do is make it so that the poor go into nursing.

When I think of professionals, Id like to think of working conditions pleasant enough that at least true middle class workers would welcome. It's ashame if ("1rst cousins") trials and tribulation is a prequisite in order to be satisfied with nursing. (LOL! @ comparing going without transportation, internet,etc as tribulations but you get my drift) And if so, I wish the colleges would have placed that in the course catalog book. Maybe I would have chosen another major.

Quickbeam, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2011

I've worked full time for 40 years, 25 as a nurse (second career)....great schedule???!!! Can I get all those Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/friend's weddings and class reunions back?? :no:

Seriously, flexibility of schedule has occasionally been ok but that has been completely overshadowed by mandated shifts, short staffing and backbreaking workload.

dudette10, MSN, RN · Dec 7, 2011

It's called "work" for a reason.

My opinion...coming from someone who worked in the corporate world for 10 years and is now a new grad...

I can leave my work and be done with it. Yes, there is the anxiety post-shift (or even pre-shift), but I had that when I was in Cube Land, and there was no "post-shift."

In nursing, there are days when I wonder, "What did I get myself into? I'm too old for this ****!" But, then come the days that remind me of why I got myself into this. The days where I felt I did a good job. When I worked in Cube Land, there weren't any days where I felt I did a good job because the job was never done. Telecommuting became the next big thing--and still is--when I was about halfway into my career. Laptops were handed out like candy. It was the best thing ever for the Corporation (Big C), but the worst thing ever for workers. "You can work from home!" was how they put it.

Yeah, the work that never ends was being done from 9 am to 5 pm, and then again from 9 pm to 1 am.

I'm not trying to make this a "who has the worst job" debate, but this is my honest opinion, based on my experience. Nursing pays well--yes, it does!--and it ends after your 8 or 12 hours. I like that, despite the "bad" shifts.

laughterishelpful · Dec 7, 2011

I like the 3 day work week because I end up with a full week off every 3rd week, which is great. But, the nights I do work, they can be long, exhausting shifts. When I worked Med/Surg, there would be shifts where your phone rang non-stop, all your pt's needed you NOW, your charting was behind, etc. Many times I felt like I was forgetting something and worried.

As for money, I make more now, then in my previous pre-nursing career. Do I make as much as what I think I should? No. But, I am appreciative that I do have a job/career and job security. How many people have job security in a unstable economy? Budget your money wisely as well. That makes a huge difference too.

PintheD · Dec 7, 2011

So many good points made here from both sides. IMHO nobody is right or wrong. It's all relative to the individual. And these opinions are, for the most part, not static. A new nurse may have reservations about the job after the "honeymoon" phase ends, just like the veteran nurse can have his/her passion for the profession reignited after finding a better fit.

What is important is that individually we find what is right for us for where we are in our lives at a specific point in time. Personally, I find nursing allows a decent hourly wage with flexibility of schedule not found in the world of 9-5. Both good. However, I find bedside nursing oppressive for other reasons. I'm tired of feeling a knee-jerk reaction resulting from being treated as a scapegoat. In what other profession can one find this level of accountability with absolutely no autonomy?

I feel nursing is broken. Those that don't see it that way have my utmost respect. I want something better for me, and only I can figure out what that looks like and do what it is necessary to achieve my goals. I lost sight of that for a while but now I'm back on track.

PMFB-RN, RN · Dec 7, 2011

Nursing pays well--yes, it does

*** I guess it is a matter of perspective. A heck of a lot of RNs today are starting at about $20/hour. Quite a few are starting at less than $20/hour. I have heard of some new grads starting at over $35 or even $40 an hour but those are in VERY high cost of living areas like the California Bay Area. At the big Magnet hospital where I used to work full time and still work part time new grads start at $20.25 and can expect 1.5-3% raise each year (raises suspended in 2009, 2010, & 2011). These are hospital wide raises, when they happen. There is no way for a nurse to get a raise based on preformance. There is also a $1500/year tution assistance program but it runs out of money each fiscal year. Their pay scale is typical for that area. This pay is considerbly less that plumbers in the area make, less than what truck drivers make, about what factory workers make. The SICU nurse manager wonders why 7-12 of the 55 or so nurses who work there go to CRNA school each year. I only continue to work there part time cause I have so much fun teaching in the Critical Care nurse residency program and working transport.

I make far, far more now working as a rapid response nurse in a different system further away but to qualify for that job I had years of high qualiety critical care & ER experience and I have to drive pretty far to work.