pay

I don't see where one profession has any bearing on the other but in any event your comment about plumbers just snaking a toilet is similar to people that think nurses only prance around in short skirts, white stockings and just push aspirin. I never insinuated that an ADN nurse isn't worth every penny they make, just as my plumber is worth every penny I pay him. What does one have to do with the other?

You brought up the plumber...:wink2:...and then mentioned ADNs make a good living....compared to what?

Honestly, I had a retired physician as a patient last week that I would have liked to kick out of the ER along with our ER doc, the specialist and everyone else who came in contact with him....as a healthcare professional I put up with his crap with a smile....at least if I was a plumber at his house....I could walk out the door and still bill him:rolleyes: because he was such an a$$!:wink2:

WE DO NOT MAKE NEARLY ENOUGH, NO WAY, NO HOW!!!!!!!!!!

Maisy

Just because you hear people complaining about the pay doesn't mean they don't like being a nurse. I think at times its a love-hate relationship:

I love my job. I had an hour long conversation with my best friend today (who I've known since I was 10) who is considering nursing school answering her questions, encouraging her and pointing out all the great things about nursing. I LOVE what I do. I was meant to be a nurse. I go to work and do something I'm good at that I enjoy. I walk away at the end of the day exhausted, practically unable to put a coherent thought or sentence together, but it never fails, every day, after an hour or so or rest a feeling of fulfillment comes over me because I know that I made a difference that day, however small, that there was purpose and meaning to what I spent my day doing. And every now and again I'll see, hear, or read something about a colleague who has touched someone and my eyes fill with tears because I am truly touched and overcome with pride to be a part of this profession, and I realize all over again that I finally have done something REALLY good with my life.

Now if someone had mentioned all of those things to me on Friday when I had the day from hell, running like crazy and dealing with an obnoxious, condescending, rude family I would have told them where to stick it. And after the family member spent 15 minutes being a complete jerk to me, going on and on and on about how he was right, and we were idiots and how I just didn't know what I was talking about, I thought to myself "I got paid about $6 for that" (especially considering it was that family that was putting me behind.. I dreaded going into the room because I knew I'd just lose more time) And at the middle of the day when I took a quick break and cried while I was in the cafeteria grabbing a soda, I thought, "All of this for $120. All of this craziness this morning only made me $120 so far"

I love my job, but for the amount of effort, stress, emotion and time I invest in it, I'm underpaid.

Well personally my plumber is worth every penny of $65 an hour. Years back I do think nurses were underpaid but for the most part now we make a good income, at least in my area of the country if you consider the amount of education needed for your ADN.

"Well personally his nurse is worth every penny of $65 an hour." because it is a job that they can't do. And my plumber has no student loans and did not attend college.

And it was ME that brought up the plumber!

I'm sure this will raise a lot of peoples temp, but why is there so much whining about being underpaid and overworked?

Please review the thousands of threads about the conditions...the answers lie there.

I personally have little problem with what I get paid....but the working issues are what leaves less to be desirable.

Very few nurses dislike nursing, excluding those that get in the field with no intention of working as a nurse (the as quick as possible to ARNP or CRNA, peeps), what we gripe about is the customer service phones, lowjacks, beepers, administrative paperwork and bureaucracy overload.

If all I had to do was what I learned and practiced in nursing school, even with a higher ratio, I would be thrilled. But most of what I do, has less to do with good health care/medicine, and more about appeasing people as a glorified customer service rep. I became a nurse to nurse, not to be Walt Disney automaton (I already worked there as a teen - been there and done that).