the pay for nurses

nursedawn67, LPN · Dec 27, 2002

Because like posted on another thread...people think we only wipe hineys and change bed linens. No one thinks of all the education required to be a nurse and all that rides on our shoulders on a daily basis.

Jennerizer, ASN, RN · Dec 27, 2002

Eventually they'll have to though......with the baby boomers entering their retirement years..........they will need more nurses than ever & they aren't going to get them with the current attitude that is out there.

Jen

nursedawn67, LPN · Dec 27, 2002

Originally posted by Jennerizer
Eventually they'll have to though......with the baby boomers entering their retirement years..........they will need more nurses than ever & they aren't going to get them with the current attitude that is out there.

Jen

so true

Gromit · Dec 27, 2002

Agreed. I think things are going to get real interesting in the next 5 yrs or so.

I've seen more than one stat sheet that claims that more nurses are quitting than are entering the field.

I know that here, hospitals are fighting over the nursing pool, trying to out-offer each other, in ceratain specialties. As they get short in one area, they boost the pay and bonuses to get more back. I'm just kicking back and watching (for 1 more year, until I get done with school). My own facility, while it doesn't pay the best for nurses, is a good one to work at. Well, >I

TeresaRN2b · Dec 27, 2002

I don't think the pay where I live is bad infact I have seen some get paid very well. I really think that pay for nurses varies a lot on where you live.

Teresa

farmmom · Dec 29, 2002

the pay for nurses here is great and the need is even greater,the nursing students can't graduate fast enough to fill the jobs.However the hospitals here stay pretty full staffed.But there is HH ,doctors offices,clinics ,Nursing homes who pay 30 dollars and hour for only one year expeirence

BellaTerra2002 · Dec 29, 2002

Teachers don't make a lot either, and teaching requires even more education (of a different type) than nursing does.

Now, if nurses played pro sports or were in the entertainment industry -- ah, that's it. Nurses should have a pro basketball team which puts on a striptease before every game. (Bad joke.)

Seriously, it just seems like the really important people for this society (let's see how well society would fare if there weren't any nurses at all) don't get compensated appropriately for their work. Even doctors -- for the education they have to have, the loans they have to pay back, the med mal insurance they have to carry, and the s--t they have to put up with, MOST of them don't make a compensatory income.

I make $25+ an hour, don't need a college education for the job (at least an AA is required since last July), work 8-5 Monday through Friday (although almost every week we work uncompensated OT), have great benefits, and STILL don't make the median income for the county I live in in southern California. So I'm pretty sure that most nurses are not making the median income for the areas of the country they live in. And it's just terrible that you aren't!

Nurses fresh out of school should start at the median income for wherever they are living, have great benefits, and go up from there. I wonder what fantasy world THAT will happen in.

Jennerizer, ASN, RN · Dec 29, 2002

I think they say the average nurse makes $44,000. Not sure after how many years of experience that is though.

Jen

bet0326 · Dec 30, 2002

Originally posted by BellaTerra2002
Teachers don't make a lot either, and teaching requires even more education (of a different type) than nursing does.

I don't know about that. If you calculate how much teachers make an hour; it's more than an engineer. I'm getting my BSN and trust me (all my friends wives are teachers), my program is a ton more intense.

megmermaid · Dec 31, 2002

BTW, that quote of average nurse salary as $44,000 may also include advanced practice nurses--something to think about.

llg, PhD, RN · Dec 31, 2002

Those averages are very deceiving. Depending on how they are calculated, they could include a lot of salaries that bring the "average" down. You really have to look at specific situations.

For example, is "full time" considered to be 40 hours per week? or is it based on a 36-hour week as it is at my hospital? (3, 12-hour shifts)

Also, you have to consider shift differentials. Many hospitals only report the base hourly wage when asked in a survey. The nurse actually makes a lot more when the diffs are added.

How the figures are collected, calculated, etc. makes a big differences. Some surveys just ask nurses "how much did you make last year?" without specifying "how many hours did you work" and "did you work all weekdays? or did you also work nights and weekends?" etc.

One recent survey published reported that 15% of the repondants reported making over $80,000 per year. (I'm pretty sure those were the figures.) That seemed to high to me and I wondered how and who they asked.

llg