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.
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?
Martyrdom complex , a serious issue in nursing. I wonder if it is an excuse that some use to justify that they stayed under bad working conditions.
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.
Well, all those things got me autonomy, a business of my own, professional respect, and enough money to keep my sweet husband in the style to which he has become accustomed. And pay the vet bills. Since you ask.
What more could I ask for? I'm very happy being my own boss.
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.
I am probably old enough to be your mother, and maybe your grandmother. I bought my first computer in 1985 (early adopter in my profession) and use my current one extensively to do research, writing, illustrated reports for court exhibits, and publishing. And I was the hospital tech teacher when my hospital bought their first computerized record system ... in 1989.
Don't be snotty about old people and computers. Some of us send more time actually working on them at a higher level than you do, and less time checking out cat videos and singing nursing students on YouTube.
Well, all those things got me autonomy, a business of my own, professional respect, and enough money to keep my sweet husband in the style to which he has become accustomed. And pay the vet bills. Since you ask.
What more could I ask for? I'm very happy being my own boss.
Heck just paying the vet bills is impressive and my major motivation for working.
I also wanted to comment on your tech savvy-ness. Kudos! In my experience you are in the minority at least in this profession. I have worked with some of us older folks who truly struggle. I'm in my 50s and am about average. I can learn to do whatever we need to do but minimal troubleshooting until I'm really comfortable with a program and even then I'm no shining star.
Quick! All newbies run, do not walk, and move to Florida!
All 50,000 openings will be filled by next Thursday!
Hurry!
Up next: Florida is sinking under the weight of the influx of new grads.
Then, watch as they all move back North when:
They find that the pay rates are pathetic, and despite the no state income tax, the cost of living isn't that great.
When they find that many facilities survive seriously and dangerously understaffed, and they have no
Intention of ever having adequate staffing levels.
When they realize that none of their patients are under 60, that they all have multiple comorbidities, can't hear worth a dame and refuse to wear aids. That Medicare does not pay nearly what the pts costs. After they fall several times because they "don't need help". When they refuse nursing home/alf placement yet bounce back every other week, because poor med compliance or injury....and insurance pays nothing because it was within 30 days.
When they get low census for 7 months out of the year and never get a whole paycheck, then get seriously overworked 5 months of the year.
When they find out that THERE IS NO NURSING SHORTAGE IN FL, just crappy jobs that no one can afford or want to take.
I'm a first year nursing student at "one of those schools". It is a very rushed program and you must learn very quickly. That being said, any education is what you make of it. If you go the extra mile, and by that I mean, when you find something that interests you do more research, ask questions, explore, you will further your education in spite of the school. I have always planned to move after finishing school. I check frequently on job opportunities in other states. As for getting low wages, I've never made more than $8.50 an hour in my life so anything above that is like a gold mine to me. I am a very nontraditional student, as I am in my 50's. Nursing has been a lifelong dream for me and I'm finally getting a chance to do what I've dreamed of. Being the age I am, I also realize that life is never easy so I know the perfect job is not going to drop into my lap. I hear what you all are saying and I'm paying attention, but I take offense at the general idea that all nurses just coming out of school have not been well trained and are only in it for themselves. I personally feel that each person has a calling and this is mine.
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Martyrdom complex , a serious issue in nursing. I wonder if it is an excuse that some use to justify that they stayed under bad working conditions.