Rich nurses?

Nurses General Nursing

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you guys are mostly from the USA?

I just glanced over a thread and it seems you guys are ridculously overpaid?

In Australia.. nursing is by far not a well paid job. Its maybe just average. My step dad who was a traffic controller - held a sign that said "slow" and "stop" on the flipside got paid $10 an hour more than me.. i kid you not.

If nurses trully went into nursing for the right reasons, salary wouldn't even be an issue. The real issue would be having the proper equipment and the proper staffing to do an adequate job in caring for the sick and infirm.

What are the "right reasons"?

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

If nurses trully went into nursing for the right reasons, salary wouldn't even be an issue. The real issue would be having the proper equipment and the proper staffing to do an adequate job in caring for the sick and infirm.

Bottom line, the issue is always money, no matter how you phrase it, disguise it, or present it.

Thats why I do so well in nursing, I recognize this as a fact.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
What are the "right reasons"?

Why everyone knows that it was to be vestal virgins, wiping fevered brows, looking at the MDs as though they were G-d on earth, to hand out pills without question, faint when something bad happens, live in a dormitory, and give all of our miniscule pay to the poor. Besides everyone knows that we just need pin money, and are just biding time until we marry a rich doctor (except for male nurses, that will get scholarships to med school), whereupon we will be the office nurses, and do charity luncheons and shop Talbot's and Chico's for the rest of our lives.

Sarcasm intended.

( sorry, but I just couldn't help myself)

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Hi! Everyone,

I've noticed that many of us seem reluctant to state our $. I am an RN, (and I love that this site is so warmly inclusive of ALL nurses, no matter what their level of educational prep). I live near Buffalo, N.Y. and make $19.00/hr teaching CNAs, no benefits. I love my job, but must deal with the reality that Per Diem LPNs in a nearby NF make $19.97/hr. If you need the benefit package, your wage is much less, and positions with benefits seem fewer and fewer. NY taxes plus SS take 23% of my paycheck right off the top. Our NYS property and school taxes are second highest in the US. When we talk about why nursing positions can't be filled, the grueling workload on top of mandated overtime seem to be reasons I hear the most.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.

I collect approximately $30,000 a year between my SSDI and my health annuity. According to some, I am grossly over compensated. Considering I made more then $85,000 the last year I worked, I am grossly under compensated (considering the last year I worked was 1988).

Woody:balloons:

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If anyone was taken aback or offended, it probably had to do with the phrase "rediculously overpaid." My interpretation of that is we are paid an excessive amount for the work we do

I have heard people who don't work in the medical field complain nurse salaries are obscene.

I feel like that caveman on the Geico commercial when his response to the woman's comments is..."uh....what???"

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OH I worked with a nurse who said to me... and I quote

" My husband makes a huge amount of money... I don't really need to work,

I just do so to keep my finger on the pulse of nursing (as she put her finger on my wrist... as if to take my pulse)"

I never did like that girl.

:trout:

and to wilburs mom ouch, 19 something an hour? I am in MI and make $32.18 /hr

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
OH I worked with a nurse who said to me... and I quote

" My husband makes a huge amount of money... I don't really need to work,

I just do so to keep my finger on the pulse of nursing (as she put her finger on my wrist... as if to take my pulse)"

I never did like that girl.

:trout:

and to wilburs mom ouch, 19 something an hour? I am in MI and make $32.18 /hr

I hate to say this but a new graduate, down here in SW Florida, starts out between $17 to $19 per hour. And in 2002, when I applied for a job, in Albany, New York, they started a new nurse out at $41.20 an hour. And I wasn't applying as a new graduate. When I first saw her salary quote, I thought she was working down here in the south.

Woody:balloons:

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nurses will never recieve their due

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My family does pretty well but it is certainly not due to my salary....my husband makes the bulk of the income in my house! :)

It is important to remember that while salaries vary from region to region, so does the cost of living. Comparing wages internationally is even more difficult due to exchange rates, tax rates, differences in workload and responsibilities, etc.

Do you feel that nurses in Australia are underpaid?

I so agree with you

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Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.
OH I worked with a nurse who said to me... and I quote

" My husband makes a huge amount of money... I don't really need to work,

I just do so to keep my finger on the pulse of nursing (as she put her finger on my wrist... as if to take my pulse)"

I never did like that girl.

There are those of us who don't have to work so but do it for the experience or to keep our skills fresh. Don't write us off just for this reason. Bragging or acting superior is another issue entirely.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
nurses will never recieve their due

Just what is their due ehh.

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