Charon

Hi All, I agree with some of what everyone has said; and I also believe that a new grad with little to no experience should not come in making 70k. I also believe that an employee that has been in the field for several+ years should be brought in at a higher rate, especially if their prior experience add's to and compliments their new responsibilities. To make a long story short; I battled with HR and I got what I wanted:yeah:. Any techs out there who are making the transition, like I did, after many years in the field..... one word of advice..... be tenacious, be bold, know your worth, and don't take the pay cut:nono:; go for the raise, what do you have to loose?

Thanks for the valuable imput guys; I can see where you are both comming from.:innerconf I think that the reason that men have a tendency to make more money is because they go into their interview with confidence and no intentions of backing down. I think that this is the stand that I will have to take; more work for less pay is insulting, especially because the level of expertise in my unit is currently acceptable at best, due to a huge influx of new hires with no prior OR experience. This means that those of us with many years of experience are working twice as hard doing our assignments and picking up the slack for others as well. There are also the coworkers that "don't know how to do that" and get away with it:madface:, while those of of who do have a level of expertise in the area get screwed. This system is broken and leads to resentment among coworkers. Since I am not planning to build my mansion this year, I am simply asking for a token increase in my salary; a $3-$5/hr increase says to me that I am appreciated. I am not trying to be obnoxious or greedy; I just don't want to start out my nursing career being resentful of others doing less work for much more pay.:angryfire The fact is that I am a valuable resource in all areas of surgical specialty and I am always happy to teach others; so I don't see why I can't be compensated for these qualities. Just because we have done things the same way for over 20 years, doesn't make the system right or just. I think that it's time for a change. I will definately keep you guys updated on my progress.

I am delerious with joy!! I Passed!!!! I Passed!!!!!! :balloons: Thanks to allnurses.com and community for connecting me with people that understood what I was going through. You guys rock! me R.N. :balloons: :balloons:

hello all, after 14+ years of being an or tech, i decided to go to nursing school and graduated last november. i took my nclex less than 24 hours ago and i have been silently freaking out (complete introvert). :wtosts: i told myself that if my exam went past 75, i would freak out... but when my computer shut off at 75, i completely lost it.:crash: i was aimlessly wandering on the pearson vue site, staring at the notation under my exam appointment "your exam results are not available at this time.", when i got linked over to this website. they must have a neurotic person alert and send us directly here to get help. reading all of your post has helped to quiet the raging beast inside my head that tells me that i failed. i can't wait to post the "i passed" message, i hope that i didn't just jinx myself with my false bravado. wishing everyone else and myself the patience to endure the wait and good luck!:an!:

I know that this is an old thread but the subject of salary never gets old. We all have to live, eat and support loved ones. I have been a Surgical Technologist in the OR for the past 14+ years and have exclusively done nights for the past 11+ years. I recently graduated from nursing school and my hospital is willing to offer me a lateral transfer in salary to take a position in the OR. Am I being petty because I feel insulted? I currently make $30/hour with a $2.50 night differential. If I can make $30+ as a surgical tech why would I accept the same pay as a nurse? I would think that my versatility is now more of an assett to the department and my training would not be as extensive (time-consuming) as someone totaly new to this environment. I work with an excellent group of nurses on nights who have basically trainied and tutored me since before I started nursing school. Should I take the lateral transfer and be grateful or should I negotiate? The starting pay for new grads at my institution is currently $26.50, so HR thinks that allowing me to keep my current salary is a huge compliment. Please share your wisdom.

The wonderful thing about nursing is that there are so many fields that you can go into that don't necessarily stress you out like the office and the unit that you mentioned. OR nursing is an option to consider as well as community nursing. Check out these fields before you give up on nursing all together. The depression is a serious problem and one that you should definately see your primary about; nurses don't just dispense drugs, we take them too. We are not all perfect and imperfection within ourselves gives us the ability to empathize with our patients.