how old were you when you realized you weren't going to make real money as a nurse

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Laid off pilot use to make 12K a month, sitting in nursing school. That's when

Specializes in PACU, OR.

The cost of infrastructure in any hospital is astronomically high-just take a look at the price tag on any piece of medical equipment and you will realize this. Add to that the cost of maintaining it and you will see that a huge portion of a hospital's income goes into running costs. Check out the price of parts for, say, a gastroscope camera. You can estimate about 10 times the cost of a similar part used in a professional photographer's camera. Whenever an item is destined for use in a medical context it seems to warrant premium costs.

However, although nurses' salaries ARE much better than they used to be, it is true that many private healthcare organizations, at least in my country (South Africa), are raking in enormous profits, yet our salaries are comparatively much lower than US nurses. The attitude has always been that they can get away with paying us low salaries because our dedication will keep us in the profession. That is no longer the case. More and more excellent SA nurses are emigrating for better money, while the young nurses coming out of college are heavily unionized, so our private sector will not be floating in cream for much longer.

As a matter of interest, what do my colleagues out there think is a fair salary scale for nurses?

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Various thoughts:

The regional disparities among nurse wages have far more to do with rates of unionization than they do with relative cost of living. Just a few years ago, the nurse wages in Los Angeles were much lower than in SF, even though the cost of living was relatively similar. But there were far fewer unions in LA hospitals. In the last few years there's been a lot of organizing in LA and now the wages have moved a good deal closer to SF - though still lower - takes time to catch up.

Then we have the self-sacrificial attitude of too many nurses. Every time we go into negotiations at our hospital, we have nurses fretting that we are asking for too much - I'll guarantee that would never happen in a male dominated profession.

Finally, the idea of billing separately for nursing services is about as backwards as anything you could imagine. Right now, the patient gets a big hospital bill, they blame the administration. But if nursing were billed as a separate service, they'd be blaming the nurse for that big bill and want to cut our salaries. Those people who bill separately have a lot more control over what they do and how they do it than we do - since other people set the nature of our work and we can't make changes to make it more efficient, big mistake to take responsibility for what it costs.

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Specializes in NICU.
Okay, so now you are being overly dramatic. $2/hr is WAY different from $20/hr, and I never said you were "dumb". And yeah, because you ARE a new grad with no experience, you should NOT be complaining about making $40,000/yr starting. This would be a far different story if you had even a year's worth of experience, and I find it extremely arrogant of you, in this economy, to stick your nose up at that first job offer when there are SO many RNs who can't even FIND a job.

I really don't care what you find arrogant. You don't know me and you are a faceless person on the internet. I spoke to my peers and even nurses with up to 30 years experience and they all said the same thing: DO NOT TAKE IT. They said it lowers the standards of nursing (their words not mine) and if everybody started accepting such a low wage then people will start to feel that it's okay to pay nurses pennies. They are trying to take advantage of you because you are a new grad and you will end up resenting the place and resenting yourself for accepting such a low wage for all of that responsibility.That in turn will affect your quality of work and you don't want to start out in a bad way on your first job. I have perfectly logical and sound reasoning as for why I didn't take the job and I can sleep at night knowing I made the right decision. I just don't get why you're so upset. If I'm not complaining, and after all, it is my life...then why are you? People are waaaaaayyyy to concerned with the decisions other people make with their lives that don't affect them.

:uhoh3:

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Specializes in NICU.
I am a new grad and I took a job because I was desperate enough just to take a job. Not my ideal situation, but it pays the bills and will give me that 1 year of inpatient hospital experience.

I honestly don't have the luxury to wait around for a better position. In this economy, I feel lucky enough just to be working, even though I have a lot of concerns about where I ended up. Still, I do know a lot of people who graduated with me that aren't working because they don't have to be working (they live at home with parents or are getting support from them to pay the bills, or able to fall back on other ways of making money).

So yeah, while I don't want people taking advantage of me either, it boils down to the reality of having to support myself and not go into default on my student loans.

My situation and your situation is two completely different things. I live at home with my parents who support me so while I am desperate, I did have the luxury of saying that I'm going to turn the position down. I just don't understand why I should be berated and penalized and completely trashed because I'm in a position where I can wait for something else to come along. It isn't fair and it isn't right. But people are so miserable with their own lives and because they aren't as fortunate as you are they want to make you feel bad for being fortunate. I recognize that I am in a better position than most because I'm not on my own yet, I have supportive family who support me in every decision I make. I will not apologize for being fortunate nor allow anybody to make me feel like I've done something wrong because I happen to be more fortunate than most. Tis all.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.
My situation and your situation is two completely different things. I live at home with my parents who support me so while I am desperate, I did have the luxury of saying that I'm going to turn the position down. I just don't understand why I should be berated and penalized and completely trashed because I'm in a position where I can wait for something else to come along. It isn't fair and it isn't right. But people are so miserable with their own lives and because they aren't as fortunate as you are they want to make you feel bad for being fortunate. I recognize that I am in a better position than most because I'm not on my own yet, I have supportive family who support me in every decision I make. I will not apologize for being fortunate nor allow anybody to make me feel like I've done something wrong because I happen to be more fortunate than most. Tis all.

You are fortunate to have a family to support you financially. Your tone, however, comes across as a little whiney: poor me, poor me. If you are happy with your decision to turn down that job, then be happy about it. Don't place the blame on the employer for you not having a job. And again, those other nurses who are taking those jobs are still going to be in line ahead of you when it comes to getting a job, because they are out there, getting experience which you don't have and which you won't have until you actually start working. If you're okay with that, then so be it.

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Specializes in NICU.
You are fortunate to have a family to support you financially. Your tone, however, comes across as a little whiney: poor me, poor me. If you are happy with your decision to turn down that job, then be happy about it. Don't place the blame on the employer for you not having a job. And again, those other nurses who are taking those jobs are still going to be in line ahead of you when it comes to getting a job, because they are out there, getting experience which you don't have and which you won't have until you actually start working. If you're okay with that, then so be it.

I'm not whining. I said they offered me $20/hr and I didn't take it. Two other people decided to jump on my back and berate me for not taking it. I defended myself. That's all I did. I never not once whined or complained about not having a job.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Patient Safety.
My situation and your situation is two completely different things. I live at home with my parents who support me so while I am desperate, I did have the luxury of saying that I'm going to turn the position down. I just don't understand why I should be berated and penalized and completely trashed because I'm in a position where I can wait for something else to come along. It isn't fair and it isn't right. But people are so miserable with their own lives and because they aren't as fortunate as you are they want to make you feel bad for being fortunate. I recognize that I am in a better position than most because I'm not on my own yet, I have supportive family who support me in every decision I make. I will not apologize for being fortunate nor allow anybody to make me feel like I've done something wrong because I happen to be more fortunate than most. Tis all.

I didn't trash you, nor did I berate or penalize you.

I was saying that I am not as lucky as you to have the luxury of time. You are also very lucky to have such a supportive family.

You idealism is admirable, but for some of us, it's not practical.

I don't exactly understand your tone with me; I haven't trashed you at all and I find it to be completely unmerited. I was simply pointing out that we are in completely different positions, and for many new grads, this is the reality.

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Specializes in NICU.
I didn't trash you, nor did I berate or penalize you.

I was saying that I am not as lucky as you to have the luxury of time. You are also very lucky to have such a supportive family.

You idealism is admirable, but for some of us, it's not practical.

I don't exactly understand your tone with me; I haven't trashed you at all and I find it to be completely unmerited. I was simply pointing out that we are in completely different positions, and for many new grads, this is the reality.

You must've read my post incorrectly because I wasn't referencing you. I was referencing the two other people and the way in which in they spoke to me. If you misunderstood me, then my apologies.

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Specializes in cardiothoracic surgery.

I would like to say that I would certainly be happy if I made more, but I don't think I make "crap money". I have a nice house for which we have no trouble paying the mortgage, my retirement plans are maxed out, money in my savings account, no credit card debt, and my husband is able to buy the toys he wants. (He is very spoiled) :) I don't consider that crap money. But then again, you have to learn to live within your means. And I agree that if you paid 60-80,000 for your BSN, you didn't shop around. I don't think I paid that with both of my bachelor's degrees combined.

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an md performs an ekg will bill for it, but nurses that perfom the same ekg don't? what's wrong with this picture? lack of political clout is what it is. :down: nurses, learn to speak up; not at work, but to congress.

support your nursing unions! :up:

an md that performs an ekg will bill for it--what he is billing for is the interptretation of the ekg, and the decison to treat and rx that accompanies the ekg. rn's can interpret the ekg, but don't have prescription responsibility that accompanies it. if it is performed in his office, the ekg cost includes paying for the equipment too.

many rn's are making $60,000 to $70,000 a year with a aa degree. in my opinion, that's not too shabby. too many people have the wants- a mcmansion, two $40,000 new cars in the driveway, all the toys and wonder why they can't make ends meet. it's all about leaving within your means, and knowing what is really important to you in life.

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Specializes in multispecialty ICU, SICU including CV.
How do you make $100,000 as a nurse? I have known nurses in management with several degrees & they don't make this much.

Have they done a lot of extra study?

Staff nurses in my facility in the midwest at the top of wage scale make 96ish plus shift/weekend differential. That is over $100K/year and that is without OT and excellent benefits (this is for FT employees/80 hours per PP.) I am in the high 70s range for base pay plus differentials. Our new grads start at, I believe, 58K base pay. With a little OT (very little) I will probably clear 90K this year. Our managers are well over $100K plus a bonus plan that probably puts them in the mid-100K range total.

I think the pay is decent but obviously this is regional. If I were forced to move and work as a nurse for lower pay under worse conditions (e.g. the South) I wouldn't do it. I would not trade my $37-40/hour for $24. I would leave the profession or at the very least, change specialties or find something related to do that paid better. I do enjoy nursing, but there is a price tag attached to that. I don't work for free, and I don't work for (comparatively) peanuts.

I think it's all relative.

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I never thought I'd make incredible money as a nurse. I thought I'd make decent money. I do, especially for a rural, poor area with a low cost of living.

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