alphaetomega

OK ummm.... first off I by no means stated that we shouldnt protect ourselves or our income. I started that post off with my first rate of pay and my ending. I guess maybe I am willing to do that work because I work for an excellent, fabulous (can't say enough good stuff), extraordinary hospital. We are currently offering time and a half plus $150 for 12 hour shift to nurses that sign up for critical staffing days.. Not because anyone complained but because our employer truly and unabashedly appreciates us. Nurses were already signing up extra and working for straight pay, admin back paid everyone for the past several weeks without being asked for increases because they know how to treat their employees! It is a very unique thing to find an employer like this but they are out there . If anyone is interested in a new trend to mgmt check out the STUDER GROUP very interesting and even mentions some of the best employers, our hospital lives by this standard. As for the MVA on a med/surg floor .... I work in a CAH meaning we have a total of 11 acute beds 1 OB bed and 2 ER beds we staff three nurses and a tech. Anything that presents to that door is ours to deal with the closest Level 1 Trauma is 60 miles away so we have to stablize everything within a 30 mile radius before they can be shipped. Unless they are life flighted out and even then they can carry max two patients anyway. People can poo poo small town hospitals all they want but I'd like to see anyone on this message board run a code by themselves without a doctor, deliver a baby (with Dr. :) ) and take care of a fresh appy and 8 other patients in one night and be called anything less than very adequate nurse. Ok babbling here... Point being that's why we had 22 y/o MVA on the floor. Ok back to the original point. I in no means think that nursing should sit back and get run over by the admin financial BS that goes around most hospitals but I also believe that nursing has to be a calling in order to be the best nurse possible ( and I know there are others that will agree) and don't agree with those that overly greedy.. refusing to work for anything less than $45-50/hr etc. I think that is ludicrous and is doing nothing but driving up the price of health care for nothing more than greed. I know I know pharm co. Dr's etc all do it why shouldn't we... Because back to my first post we do it for reasons other than just the money. We make good livings that we can support our families off of. We have nice things and enjoy good vacations. Our families have food on the table, roofs over our heads and we have time to enjoy them while doing it all. I personally don't need more than that remember the old saying "Money can't buy happiness"? Find a job you enjoy for the money you can afford to live on even if it means a cut in pay. that was the whole point to my original post. I'm sorry if I offend I by no means mean to! Enjoy life!

Hmmmm.... what an interesting thread. Let me tell you my story (as if anyone cares) My first nursing job was in NJ pay $18.96/hr, renal transplant unit carried 10 pts a night 1 tech for a 42 bed unit, union therefore paid no premiums for insurance etc. When I left there to return home to KS my pay went to $14.20/hr and insurance that cost out the ying yang. We have had several across the board raises and in 7 yrs. I am now at $24.60/hr $7/hr WIN program on Fri. and Sat nights. 10% shift diff 10% tele diff 10% weekend diff. Not bad wages at all. But truthfully would still do it for 14.20/hr.....WHY? Because I'm a nurse I love my job I love having the skills to be able to save someones life if they want and to be able to offer a caring hand and heart when they don't. I am coming off of a 12 hr shift that turned out to be 15 hrs.. (you all know what I mean) last night we coded a 22 y/o MVA (bad outcome) who's passenger was sent home with stitches, saved an 84 y/o man with pressures in the 50's, and still took care of 5 other patients on the floor (I work in a CAH) and you know what.... I didn't think about my pay for even 1 sec of any of it. If you don't understand that line of thinking and expect more than just self fulfillment you are probably looking at the wrong career.

OMG some of these are to dang funny I love the hallmark cards with Maxine on them.... Why don't you slip into something more comfortable... like a coma Well aren't you the most adorable black hole of need I don't know what your problem is but I bet it's hard to pronounce Don't let your mind wander it's to small to be let out on it's own Wipe your mouth there's still a tiny bit of BS around your lips ...... and so many more ok gonna pee my pants if I keep reading these

"life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that takes our breath away." hey that's mine :yelclap: thanks for appreciating it !

I agree whole heartedly!! And nor does the nurse deserve to have to deal with that stress or potentially loosing her liscence over greediness. I feel for you sister! Let me know if anything I can do to help!!!

Someone should call this nurses house and leave a message that they are fired! :smackingf Life isnt about how many moments you take a breath but how many moments take your breath away

Hee Hee I know that look you are speaking of. I have worked in inner city in NJ 7oo + beds I have worked in sm metrop city 200+ beds and none can compare to the education I have gotten in the 12 bed hospital I work for now. We have to do it all. We have great staff and all of us have a previous specialty and compliment each other so wonderfully. We thrive on eachothers knowledge and learn so much! AND I think you have a closer relationship with the Dr.'s because they have to depend on you more. a gazillion hurah's for rural nursing that save lives everyday!!! Life isnt about how many moments you take a breath, but how many moments take your breath away -Anon

Gooey.. want a job??? LMAO I'm so sorry to hear that your CEO,COO is so damn greedy! I think that many sm. hosp are looking at large prob. I work for such a great organization that truly believes in pt. care and employee satisfaction. I'd be very apt to talk to your state board of nursing, state board of health etc. if these things are truly happening. You can do it anon. and if you do loose your job over the whole thing ... well I'm not sure your job is real secure there even if you didn't. The other thing is if you do turn them in for something and they investigate you need to make sure that your claims are really valid. ie-ICU patient in M/S I don't know of many CAH that will take a TRUE ICU pt. I AM NOT SAYING YOU ARE WRONG OR LYING. I know that CEO's COO's can be devious bast$#^'s. I can try to find numbers and people for you to contact if you need help.

Hi all... I am a nurse manager for a small CAH 11 acute beds 1 L&D 2 ER our max staffing is 3 RN's and 1 CNA. We rotate turns through the ER and divide up the other patients. The problem we are experiencing right now is 3 RN's moving on to other jobs w/i the hosp. (good for them bad for us), CNA moving to days. So total pt count at max is 13 if we have a mom and babe. Then of course there is the ER/ doc clinic and all those small rural RN's know what I mean by that. (prob. lg city RN's get same crap) We can have 5-6 pt's come through at a time 1 or 2 true ER or urgent care needs the other one's have a temp for last 8 years or something and decide 2am is the time to get that checked out. So the board is willing to offer extra incentive even though we have great group of people that have been graciously signing up for OT. Any suggestions there? What have your hospitals offered for extra days? I thought about maybe even OT pay with comp time on top because we do the same thing for low census (LWA =low work activity) but people currently have to use PTO if they want paid for these hours. Give them earned comp time and it's extra time off they are getting paid for??? Does that sound enticing to anyone? feedback greatly appreciated! Life isn't about how many moments we take a breath, but how many moments take our breath away. - Anonymous