RNBSN1000

I think it depends on your motivation for going back for your FNP (but that is true at any age). I've done some of my NP clinicals alongside a much older RN who is currently in an FNP program, and she is not doing well. It is obvious her motivation for going back to school is for a less-strenuous and (possibly) higher paying position, but I definitely didn't see her taking on any responsibility for her education during clinicals. She basically deferred everything to the Dr, saw as few patients as possible, and "copied" other patients to meet her quota. I have seen other NP students in clinicals like her, but her case was more cringe-worthy as she was taking on that debt nearing retirement age. But as long as you're motivated and realistic about the profession I'd say go for it!!!

I'm with Aya and so far I'm impressed. They do provide health/vision/dental insurance with no premiums. I can't vouch for how good it is, because I haven't used it yet.

I'm just clarifying what a competitive base pay is in a major city in Texas nurse_swan. I'm doing my research on pay, benefits and how medical organizations treat their RNs.

$38/hr base (excluding differentials)?

I think it depends very much on which region you live in, the culture of the city and the educational options in the city. When your city is full of for-profit career-colleges offering unaccredited but "state-approved" nursing degrees, it can shape how the public views the profession.

I grew up with white collar professional father who was unemployed over 1/3 of my childhood and a minimal-wage part-time working mother. We technically lived below the poverty line on many occasions but never drew public assistance. I was without health insurance for many years as a child and thank god I was healthy. Filling out a scholarship application for graduate school recently, it really got my goat that applicants received "extra points" if their families drew public assistance any time during the applicant's childhood, but that's another story.. I currently consider myself solid middle to upper class, based on my dual income household and good saving habits. As someone had previously mentioned, nursing can be a very good supplemental income in a dual income household. As a breadwinner, not so much, but it depends on where you live. On another note, last weekend at a party, someone new in town struck up a conversation with me about world events and politics. A few minutes into the conversation, the newcomer interrupted me and asked "excuse me, what do you do for a living?" I told him I was an RN, "why do you ask?" He responded, "you sound too intelligent to be an RN". Honestly, my heart sank. I had just completed a nearly 14 hour shift that day and didn't have the energy to defend the profession, especially after being treated so poorly that day (cutting down to 1 nurse tech on a 30-bed step-down unit mid-shift for no apparent reason other than to save $ for the hospital).

When will they close Platt? and Virginia College?

That does not sound like a competitive wage for a city in California.

What I meant by my original comment lindarn, was that I can't believe any nurse, be it ADN or BSN, is against an increase in pay for advancing education in the profession.

I was agreeing with you, lindarn! Where I live, administration seems to love that RNs fight over nominal increases in pay... As my manager told me recently: "we pay all RNs the same because you all take care of the same patients and that's the way we do it".

I hope they close Platt and Virginia College next

"It never ceases to amaze me, how nurses can be against rewarding the effort to earn a higher college degree, and turn it into a debate about, 'outcomes". It is not about outcomes, it is about improving the standards of a profession. (lindarn)" Exactly!! It never ceases to amaze me that RNs will argue to death over pay increases of 0.50-1.00 PER HOUR for furthering their educations!! Way to be played by administration. Big time...

herring_RN Thank you so much for your detailed post. Could I please ask a favor of you? I posted the original in the Oklahoma forum. There have been >100 views but not a single response. Could you please re-post your response in the original post in the Oklahoma forum? I see you are from California and likely have a different perspective on things.

I get interrupted most "lunch breaks". If it's a short call from PT, I let it slide. Anything greater than that I clock out "no lunch". The RN "watching" my patients really can't watch 4 ICU patients, so lunch is usually shorter than 30 min anyways. Some floors are able to roll their phones to voicemail during lunch. If that were the case, I wouldn't mind unpaid lunch.

We have extremely high turnover and much of that is due to the perception that we aren't valued and we are being grossly underpaid for our skills. In a multi-specialty critical care unit such as this, it can take 1-2 years for a new grad to really be competent. Administration is constantly making us do more with less, chipping away at our benefits, no more extended weekend differential, I understand that talented "administration" must be recruited with competitive salaries. And I also understand this is a business and we are lucky to be doing so well in this economy. However, do to the constant turnover, patient care is compromised. Overall pay raises and increased pay based on additional skills would do wonders in retaining staff RNs and be more in concordance with supply and demand. I also have a huge problem with knowing that professionals have to rely on some public assistance for their families, while working at a "non-profit" with such handsomely paid administration. In the age of social media, when public backlash caused Mylan to quickly release a cheaper generic Epi-Pen within weeks, do you think the public might take notice to these gross income inadequacies within non-profit hospitals and increase RN wages?