Poor nurses

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Specializes in medical surgical.

I have been at my facility for 2 years now. I am not complaining about the work--we all know that it is exhausting, patients never satisfied, endlessly busy BUT....now that I have gotten to know some of the nurses at my hospital, it appears that they are POOR! I guess I might call them the working poor and this just does not seem right. My starting pay including diffs for nights is 19.00 per hour. Day shift makes about $18.00. I must also stress that everyone always says "well it is a low cost area of living". Well not entirely. My groceries cost the same here as they did in the city. While it is true that one can buy a very nice home for $180,000, there really is not much under 180k. Restaurant prices are the same. School supplies for my kids run about the same as those in the city. My car insurance is probably a little less but the price of the car was no different. What I am getting at is that there are nurses at my hospital that are in foreclosure. One I know has applied for food stamps. The reason is that we have not gotten raises now for 2 years. Also hours have been significantly cut. At the most I am able to get 32 hours per week. Our LPN's only get $10.75 per hour. I really do not know how they can live on that. I am considering getting a NP degrees online and leaving this area. The NP's around here start out at $23/hour I am told. Someone even thought that was really good! Are there any other poor nurses out there. I am sure someone will flame me and say be glad you have a job but I spent 14k to be able to do this!

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Holy canolli, what town are you working in?

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Specializes in medical surgical.

I cannot rely the name of the town as that would give the name of the hospital and I know we are forbidden to talk about the hospital on facebook, forums, ect. However it is in the southeast (which of course is nonunion and home to low wages). I might also add that our poor cna's which many are wonderful only earn $7.50/hour. Almost all are on food stamps or some sort of public assistance. Trust me, many of these wonderful ladies work very hard and are worth their weight in gold! It is all so sad. I could look for another RN job but I am afraid the rest of the country will see this in the next couple of years. Thus, why I am applying for NP school. Patient after patient is admitted to our hospital with no insurance. Sometimes I wonder how the hospital can pay us at all! But on the other side of the coin if I do not earn more I will also end up in the poor house!

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Specializes in LTC.

Wow, sounds like Arkansas. I lived there and that is around what they are getting paid. I agree that cost of living may seem low but it honestly equals out as "average" cost of living... its a hard call/choice to make in finding something else. Good luck!

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My husband makes 19 an hour, we have 5 kids, adequate housing (Way less than 180K though), one newer vehicle, and one junker. I do not work, but am in school working on my nursing degree. We do not qualify for food stamps (even when he was getting unemployment which was equal to about 15 dollars an hour). We live in a large metro area as well...

I think the biggest issue is people do not know how to manage their money and live way beyond their means. And when finances do change, they are not willing to give up the extras. I have seen it so much over the last year or so.

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I'm making 9 dollars an hour working 20 hours a week while in nursing school. my husband brings home 500 a week, and we have a 4 year old. We still go camping, and go to the drive in, go out on a date once a month. We aren't on any government assistance, and I didn't qualify for fin aid last year so my tuition is all out of pocket. It is absolutely about budgeting yourself and living within your means. I drive a 15 year old car that runs great, and gets 30 mpg. I live in a trailer park (and all my neighbors are quiet), and my clothes are all nice (no holes, or obvious wear and tear), but their not designer. You can live on little and be debt free if you live within your means. The cost of living in Dallas is very expensive too. I don't see why anyone making 19 an hour would be broke.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

The average nurse w/at least one year's worth of work experience should be paid AT LEAST $50,000, and maybe more, depending on the cost of living. LPNs shouldn't be making less than $30,000. There are McDonald's managers with ONLY A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA making more than $10/hr.

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Specializes in LTC, Subacute Rehab.
Our LPN's only get $10.75 per hour.

I started out at just under twice that as a new grad LVN O_o

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The average nurse w/at least one year's worth of work experience should be paid AT LEAST $50,000, and maybe more, depending on the cost of living. LPNs shouldn't be making less than $30,000. There are McDonald's managers with ONLY A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA making more than $10/hr.

I saw a news feature once where McD's managers can make over 100k/year with a HS diploma. They work their patooties off, but then again, so do we.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

Hey Fungez,

Usually those who make over 100k with only HS diplomas typically OWN the restaraunts themselves, and they usually own more than one restaraunt. But yes, I have also seen documentaries of McDonald's managers making 100k with very little education, and that is ridiculous.

I am talking about the managers who are working in corporate McDonald's. At the McDonald's I used to work at, the managers were making $11-12/hr. An LPN, imo, should be making more than that, and a nurse should be making more than double that.

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

I live in NEPA and the local hospital starts RN's at $17/hr and LPN's around $11/hr. CNA's sometimes get less than $8.00. I can see making it on $17/hr if you are single. But if you have kids and a spouse, yikes. I don't know.

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Specializes in Nursing Education, CVICU, Float Pool.

Wow! LPNs making $10.75/h here they make (newly graduated) between $15-$17/h and with experience around $21 to $23.75/h. Our newly Graduted RNs make $20.75 to $23.75 and can go up to the $30's with experience or extra schooling (MSN and up). That's sad. Maybe in the future things will perk up. My mom makes in the $30's with just her ADN, but she is returning to school this fall to a RN-BSN/MSN program so I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

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