kepschafer

G'Day again. I find 'power' to be a negative rather than positive word. The first part of your sentence says it all: "Nurses have the ABILITY". Yes, we have the ability to do all you mentioned and more because of our unique situation. I still do not believe we have nor need power. Cheers Keppel

G'Day! Just wondering what the starting wages are for RN's with BSN in the US. I am aware that different states pay different amounts. In Australia the 6 states and 2 territories all pay different amounts but the average for a first year out with a Bachelor of Nursing (BN) is about AU$40000, which is about US$30000 a year or about AU$19 per hour, about US$14 per hour. There is no diploma entry into nursing in Australia. To become a RN you must complete a BN. Thanks for your help with my interest. Keppel :mortarboard:

G'Day, In Australia you would be hard pressed to find any hospital left where nurses where any white, let alone all white. I think that the word 'power' is negative and we should never assume that we have 'power' over our patients. The trend that I see in the forum is related to 'respect or regard' rather than 'power'. In Australia our peak nursing body - the Royal College of Nursing, Australia - promotes itself as the 'Ultimate Nursing Professionals'. I disagree with this however. As a student I exchanged to the US and found that US nurses are regarded as true professionals. In the community nurses are respected in the US. In terms of your yearly salary you are remunerated accordingly for the difficult and important role you play in the provision of healthcare. This is not the same in Australia - heck, teachers are paid more than we are as nurses! Nursing in Australia is not seen as an important profession in the community - being a nurse is 'nice' not 'oh wow, a nurse - what an important job you have'. We are para-professionals in Australia - not quite there. Whether that has anything to do with not wearing white uniforms I am not sure. My current uniform is a red shirt and charcoal pants with black shoes - someone in the forum suggested red as a colour of power - I disagree - it doesn't give me any power. The thing about uniforms that I don't like in Australia is that often the Patient Care Assistants wear the same or similar uniform as nurses and this causes confusion with the patients as to who the care giver is. I think that a uniform colour is not about power but rather about identification as the Nurse set aside from the other healthcare workers in the hospital. And ultimately a uniform should provide professionalism and respect for the knowledge and skills you have as a RN - not power. Cheers Keppel