None of you will like what I have to say. But let me kick the hard truth to you. Honestly about 50% of people I talk to are in nursing school or are taking pre-reqs for nursing school. This is a major red flag for several reasons. If you have not noticed, nursing wages/benefits have been on the down trend.
Pension?? goodbye.
Crud 401k 403b plans hello. Raise? LOL "sorry hospital is working out financial issues, maybe next year".
Nevermind if you work for a community/SNF agency. Yet insurance companies, medicare derived/gov agencies, and anyone else from the top 1% will continue to blast the RN as "shortage" in order to drive drones of students into nursing schools pulling each others hair out on the way to land a seat. Proof of this is, let's see (ABSN ***** ADN, BSN, diploma, LPN/LVN bridge to RN programs, RN to BSN) Why do these different routes exist? To flood the RN market as fast as possible to drive the wage, need, and profession into the ground.
Let's look at our oh so loyal CNA's. If you can find one that isn't in nursing school to be a nurse, ask them how much they make?
Look at LPN's 20-30 years ago and look at them today??
Surely the ANA and other organizations treated them with respect. The RN is next, so make sure to support your local nursing agency so they can do nothing for you. So they can be paid off by organizations so powerful that no one can say no and "not have the power to stop a bill". So they can continue to cry nursing shortage when this is not true.
RNs today are treated like children and are required to demonstrate fundamental task and other skills in inservices which were designed for nothing else but cut throat. To place blame of UTI's and poor patient satisfaction on the nurse.
If you are an RN today, your only safety net is to become an APRN if you want to live comfortably but in several decades the APRN will be under attack just like the LPN had been an RNs currently are. "OH the aging population is going to need nurses" You really think so?
Nursing homes are shutting down and now elderly people live at home with "24 hour care takers" that get paid **** wages and do things only an RN should be doing. You don't think so? Wake up.
None of this is to say that I hate nursing. I love helping people who are mentally ill, suffering from dementia, sick, or on their death beds. It is when we do great things for them that my love for nursing shines. There aren't other people standing around to reward you for your great deeds.
When the family comes in the next day complaining about everything, they never had a chance to see how well their dying loved one was cared for. Your good deeds will never be rewarded, but in a safe place in your heart.
I am just here to open the eyes of people who are intelligent and looking for a new career. I think you may find better job security else where. Invest your time in classes and money else where. Nursing is honestly under great attack right now and the future is black.
Specializes in ED, Cardiac-step down, tele, med surg.
It's my opinion that if people don't have a legitimate desire to help others and don't have the intelligence required and are going into the field for job stability and making money alone, they should choose another career. That's just my opinion though. I think the medical profession should have people who have some type of altruistic motivation. It doesn't need to be "a calling" but if someone just wants a stable job or good pay, they should consider plumbing instead. And I'm sure many people know that it isn't always a stable job and doesn't always pay well, so research should be conducted prior to entering a nursing program.
For me personally, I like feeling like I have made someone's life better at the end of the day and that's what keeps me in the field. I have a degree in another field so could have gone a different route to earn a paycheck.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
It's my opinion that if people don't have a legitimate desire to help others and don't have the intelligence required and are going into the field for job stability and making money alone, they should choose another career. That's just my opinion though. I think the medical profession should have people who have some type of altruistic motivation. It doesn't need to be "a calling" but if someone just wants a stable job or good pay, they should consider plumbing instead. And I'm sure many people know that it isn't always a stable job and doesn't always pay well, so research should be conducted prior to entering a nursing program.
For me personally, I like feeling like I have made someone's life better at the end of the day and that's what keeps me in the field. I have a degree in another field so could have gone a different route to earn a paycheck.
I'll agree with you that one should have the intelligence and critical thinking skills necessary to learn to do the job of a nurse competently. But I don't think there's any negatives to doing the job because it's an interesting and challenging way to do a job that yields a steady paycheck, good benefits and doesn't require being outside in nasty weather.
It's my opinion that if people don't have a legitimate desire to help others and don't have the intelligence required and are going into the field for job stability and making money alone, they should choose another career. That's just my opinion though. I think the medical profession should have people who have some type of altruistic motivation. It doesn't need to be "a calling" but if someone just wants a stable job or good pay, they should consider plumbing instead. And I'm sure many people know that it isn't always a stable job and doesn't always pay well, so research should be conducted prior to entering a nursing program.
For me personally, I like feeling like I have made someone's life better at the end of the day and that's what keeps me in the field. I have a degree in another field so could have gone a different route to earn a paycheck.
At the risk of being that guy, I have to point out that nursing is not part of the medical profession.
great , you've gotten into the right profession then. long hours , always critized.
no sarcasm, im going to stop giving nurses, or wanna be' s words of wisdom that took me through a trail of hell to find out. seems they cannot be told anything, they just have to find out for themselves,
paying off your student loan 5 years from now, and finding yourself 'written ' up ' for bogus things, and being contacted by your Bd of nursing. I hope you remember, I told you so , and please realize that YES it can happen to you, sweet pea. you are not special, dont care how much you think your supr likes you. good luck !!!!
Are you just having a really bad day....or week...or month? There's a definite theme to your posts, and seem to be very unhappy in nursing. Are you looking to make a change?
I wonder why no one gets all judgey when a lawyer says he chose the law as a profession because he could make scads of money? Or when a doctor says the same thing?
There are many MDs--surgeons come to mind-- who will have no problem saying they like the respect and income and as long as they are good at what they do that's all that matters; why don't people insist that it's not enough to be good at what they do, they must also be altruistic?
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Get your nursing degree and lots of them , lots of initials behind your name, see where it gets you. The money and time in any other profession would get you twice the wages and 10 times the satisfaction on the job.
I disagree. Many professions require more educational attainment than nursing, yet offer significantly less attractive pay and limited job prospects. I can think of a few of these professions off the top of my head:
1. Librarianship: requires an MLS (master of library science) degree for entry. The average mid-career pay of librarians in the US is $57,000 annually.
2. Social work: requires a BSW (bachelor's in social work) degree, and many SWs have the MSW degree but still earn less than $60,000 annually on average.
3. Education: almost half of all primary and secondary schoolteachers in the US are educated at the MEd (master of education) degree level, yet earn less than $60,000 yearly.
4. Psychology: job prospects are dismal unless educated at the doctoral degree level, and many psychologists with PhDs still earn less money than the typical associate degree nurse.
For my part, I am curious and want to know: what professions pay twice the money and have 10 times the satisfaction?
Physicians earn twice the money (and sometimes triple or quadruple the money), but I am not so sure they're achieving 10 times the satisfaction.
Was talking to an acquaintance just the other day; she was telling me that her daughter has been trying to get into a nursing program without success. She (the mother) was so surprised at this, as it's "obvious" that there's a huge nursing shortage, and "you'd think the schools would make it easier to get in, not harder, so there can be more nurses available to ease the shortage!" Well....
After I told her that in our area there IS no nursing shortage, that there's plenty of nurses who have difficulty finding full-time jobs (they are both in same region as me), she insisted I must be wrong. It's "well known" that hospitals in the area are always short-staffed". Welllll......
After I told her that a hospital running short on nursing schedules isn't the same thing as a shortage of nurses willing to work......that in fact I knew of nurses who would be happy to hire on if only they could get in the door....once again, I'm TOTALLY WRONG!
Yup, I was set straight: those nurses who can't find jobs are "obviously" not good applicants, not good nurses, not....something. But HER daughter will be the very best nurse EVER if only she could just get into a program. Sigh. Yessiree, the hospitals in the region will be holding their doors wide open for this Special Snowflake, even though they are closed to so many others.
Wonder how I got it all so wrong?! LOL....
I wonder how many prospective students pretend they're a new grad and look for a job that would consider them? Does nobody do that anymore?
Yes, as Commuter said, nursing definitely gives you more bang for your education buck than many, many degreed professions. Me and my fellow LPNs where I work make more than the MSWs and speech pathologists who had to take many more years of education than any of us. And we LPNs have far more job flexibility, too.
I worked in a library for years before becoming a nurse. I was flabbergasted when I discovered the amount of education the librarians needed for their $17/hr job.
I know it sounds bad but I absolutely have worked with a few older nurses who were forgetful and could not do the physical work as well as younger nurses including one who made frequent medication errors. Same for a couple of really old physicians. These are the exceptions but it does happen.
This! I've worked with elder nurses who felt that they were too "senior" to do anything. And when it came to anything that involved the computer...... Ugh.
amzyRN
1,142 Posts
It's my opinion that if people don't have a legitimate desire to help others and don't have the intelligence required and are going into the field for job stability and making money alone, they should choose another career. That's just my opinion though. I think the medical profession should have people who have some type of altruistic motivation. It doesn't need to be "a calling" but if someone just wants a stable job or good pay, they should consider plumbing instead. And I'm sure many people know that it isn't always a stable job and doesn't always pay well, so research should be conducted prior to entering a nursing program.
For me personally, I like feeling like I have made someone's life better at the end of the day and that's what keeps me in the field. I have a degree in another field so could have gone a different route to earn a paycheck.