USNurse1

This is where the ANA and it's PAC need to focus their efforts. I strongly feel all nurses should be writing the ANA and their State representative to bring issue with nursing salaries. The dollars floating around healthcare are going in the wrong direction, but Nurses haven't made enough of a stink to create change.

Just as DNP prepared practitioners should be called "doctor", as the title was definitely earned, then so should the billing be the same. This where I can only hope, I too, can contribute to the betterment of Nursing. Seeing that DNP graduates provide equal, and often times better primary and specialty care than our MD counterparts, DNP's have earned equal or better pay! How many times have we nurses trained the new MD grads? I love them all, and I have a great working relationship with all MD's I've worked with. Given the necessary changes that must occur to make healthcare sustainable, Nurses must find ways to quantify our value and stand up for it. Blue Devil, I hope you place yourself in the board room soon, if not already. Not only is the title well deserved, the pay should match the skill level.

I too have a cardiac background, 5 years PCU/ICU and 5 years Cardiology outpatient. I just signed on for a clinical research coordinator position with a private research clinic that does phase 1 to phase 4 trials. I start in 6 weeks, so I do not have a lot of detail, other than to say I am excited because I love reading through the research, and being very detailed in my documentation and paperwork. I am looking forward to a quieter environment and no more 12 hour hospital shifts. The research shows how damaging 12 hours shifts are to your health, in the long term. As much as I enjoyed the acute patient care challenges, 12 hours was exhausting and each year it became harder and harder to go to work happy, especially with young children at home. The pay is on track with outpatient nursing, and depends on experience and what responsibilities you're taking on. Remember, anything is negotiable! I am frustrated that Nursing continues to sit at the bottom of the priority list as far as improving the workplace. The EHR was not designed with nursing in mind, the 12 hours shifts compromise our health, the pay and benefits do not balance out, nurses are still not well represented in the board room, and nurses by law, are not allowed to bill for their services - which needs to change! There are parts of nursing we all love, however, nursing is not loving many of us back, and in the long run, administrators and whole communities will suffer. Nurse can diagnose (how many times have you saved a physicians backside?), and professionally we need to work towards being providers of wellness addressing obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. I plan to use my experience in research to learn what specifically is measured, and how, for different types of clinical research (medications vs devices). How is data collected and managed, and where data is it documented. With a strong research knowledge base, I will have a stronger leg to stand on in Informatics. I also have my CLNC (legal nursing). Like I said, Nurses have not positioned themselves to take on these bigger issues. I hope to change that. Nurses need to think in terms of quantifying our value in health care. I advise going into Research with a plan. What do you hope to learn, what can you give to the research team (strong clinical skills, especially for Phase 1 trials), and what are you going to do with your research experience in 5 years. Get on LinkedIn, start connecting with others, and see where you can go! Best of Success to you!