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Just for fun lets just pretend the starting wage for an RN (regardless of education just RN) started at $11.00 hr. Would you still be a nurse? Also, what would be an acceptable starting pay for you to consider the field?. Ill start it off by saying no I would not at $11 hr (to much risk, slave wage for the type of job it is etc) and even though our starting pay around here is $27 hr for new grads I would work for about $20 hr. Be honest with you answers :)
hi, i am an new Grad Nurse in Australia and am earning (australian) $21.33 an hour... We get loadings for late shifts and weekends... Your starting wages at $27 (American) an hour seem fantastic!!!
But i used to be in child care, so what i am earning now is great!!!
Ps... $21.33 is equivalent to US $16.50 hour!!!
After 23 years in nursing - med-surg,oncology,office,clinic,private duty...I now work in a not-for-profit respite care center for medically fragile children where the starting pay for RNs is $15/hour. All of us are here for the mission of the organization and for the ministry and service we provide to the families of the special children. BUT, not everyone can have this privilege - to work at a relatively low pay, doing something we love, and still pay the bills. We just don't live extravagantly! It all depends on your individual needs and personal interests.
If I had a choice today, I would not be a nurse for $50/hr. I started at $11.17/hr in 1984...now in my province we are at $29/hr. Still not much job satisfaction...working short and can't get any time off unless we apply a week in advance.
Look at your stub and you lose half in taxes.
Shift work means you miss half of the important events in your children's lives.
I love the post by ISONAK stating she would go back to $4/hr for pure nursing...not the crap we put up with today. Soon the next Memo to come out will say..."good job saving a life today, but you did it wrong...according to policy it states....blah blah blah"
Where has nursing gone?
I know phlebotomist that make over 11.00 an hour. I do see school nursing jobs for around 12.00 an hour, but they have a hard time filling these. How can you offer a nurse these wages while the school teachers there are making over 60k with summers off. No way, would never do nursing for that wage.l
11.00 dollars umm no 20.00 is the ball park here in north east ohio - you can make more that 11.00 at Lowes
No ,unless gas was again 50 cents a gallon or the cost of living index matched that. I love nursing ,but I also love having food,clothes ,utilities,a place to live and those kind of luxuries.
RN4NICU, LPN, LVN
1,711 Posts
I can understand where the question came from (although it was probably not the OP's intent). I, too, have wanted to ask a question like this to all the Martyr Marys out there who criticize nurses who are "in it for the money".
You know the ones I am talking about - the ones who are always saying/posting "I can't believe all these students/nurses talking about how much they are going to get PAID" or "Nurses who are in it for the money should go do something else" or "we should be worrying about the paaaaatients, not about money" etc, etc. etc., ad nauseum. I have often wondered if these Martyr Marys would work for a ridiculously low wage (like $11/hr) since they insist that they are in nursing for the "caring" not the "cash" and since they seem to have such disdain for those who look at nursing as a career opportunity - just like any other college major - rather than some sort of spiritual experience.