would you be a RN for $11.00/hr?

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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 :)

Gromit

I believe that the OP said in his opening post that he picked $11/hr as a hypothetical rate of pay. I interviewed for a job recently at a job fair (was not favorably considered) then days after the interview I saw where the employer ran an advertisement for $13/hr; $5 to $13/hr less than every job listed on my resume. I have no doubt that they were able to find someone to fill that "vacancy". As long as there is one willing person to work for low pay; there will be low pay jobs.

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Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.

You are right about that! The market will pay exactly what is demanded of it. If we had a trend of nurses hiring on for $11-13/hr, then they would offer up only $11-13/hr. Some of my fellow nurses who hail from overseas tell me that such a low pay would be a raise for them if they were 'back home', and low pay like that is actually an enticement for them. THAT can be a problem. I've never been a fan of Unions, but a union is definately one answer to that kind of issue.

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I don't know exactly what the correlation was, or if there even was one, but at a place where I once worked, when the new owner/administrator took over several years ago the first thing he did besides bring in his own new

DON (from a foreign country) was to slash salaries. The entire workforce with a few exceptions defected to competitors. According to one of the very few who were there thoughout this time, it took years and years for him to slowly bring up salaries. The only people who ended up working there were people who coincidentally came from the same country as the DON or people with bad work histories. If nothing else, I have to admit that this owner knew what he was doing. He eventually got employees to work for low wages and no one the wiser.

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Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.

Yeah, true, but what KIND of employees? I know if my place decided to cut our wages, there would be an exodus of biblical proportions to the surrounding facilities. I have worked for places (when I was desperate for work) that had conditions that were so poor (the pay as well as the environment you worked in) that the only thing they could attract were those who couldn't find work elsewhere (and it didn't take me long to realize this, and leave for better digs).

A facility not too far from my own, worked hard to promote its' new cardiac floor (transplants and all things cardiac) and offered high sign-on bonuses, higher wages etc etc -people left other facilities to go there in droves. I was still in school, but had worked there part-time years before, and the place had left such a bad taste that the only thing >I

Sometimes the grass ain't greener :) and its not always worth the higher pay, if you know what I mean.

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You know that saying about the green grass. I have never been in a position where I could just move around to suit me. It has always been desperation alley. I was taught in nrsg school about "networking" and its advantages in the workplace. I don't network, but I keep my ears open. I have heard so many interesting tidbits, that even subtracting for exagerration or outright misperceptions, there is nowhere in my immediate vicinity that I am excited about to work for. The only employer I ever ended up thinking was better than heaven itself, after a time, turned into the heartbreak of my work life. Just goes to show you, you gotta enjoy it while it's good! Sooner or later someone will come along to mess up your dream job!

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Specializes in psychiatric.

When I graduated in 1968, I started as a new grad in Mobile Ala for about $4 per hour. Of course, minimum wage was really really low, and we were proud to have a good job as a "new"nurse. Naturally, I make more now, and probably wouldn't do what I do for $11 an hour. I supervise 80+ employees and take call 24/7 (unless I can talk one of the others into taking call for me) I am a psych nurse and would love to continue to care for these misunderstood and feared patients. Caring for the psychotic or depressed or manic or demented patient is so very rewarding. When students rotate through our unit, I remind them that every nurse will use the skills they learned in psych to care for patients in all other fields!

I think when I'm too old to work as a nurse, I will volunteer; it's just in my blood.

I do think nurses are way underpaid for what we do, and what we're responsible for. We spend more time with the patient than the doctor and have to make judgement calls all the time. The patients we care for are sicker than ever and the meds we give are more powerful and potentually dangerous. I also don't think it is fair that there is such a wide range in saleries from state to state and in the different regions of the country. We all care for patients, but nurses in Alabama, for example, are paid way less than nurses in Ohio, Penn, Florida, New Youk, etc.

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After going through what I've went through in nursing school....no way! I wouldn't work as an RN for 11$ an hour because it's backbreaking work and really risky and most of the time it's (unfortunately) thankless. RN's have way too much education to accept such a low pay.

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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 :)
My employer gets what he pays for!
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No ... definitely not.

:typing

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Specializes in 30 years IV Nurse.

No way, I could work at a job with less risk. Just for kicks when I started nursing almost 30 years ago I was making $6.60 an hour and I thought I was making a fortune.

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Specializes in Critical care, Home health, Tele, Agency.
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 :)

I started at 11.76 an hour with no differential back in 1992....If we were back in the 80's maybe....but no way now with the minimum wage so high

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Specializes in Critical care, Home health, Tele, Agency.
i make more than 11 dollars an hour as a CNA for an hourly wage. I suppose if i was really really desperate and NEEDED that job , and had nothing else and no other options, then I would take it. I would definately look for another position QUICK!!!

They offer about 13 dollars an hour in florida just sitting there administering flu shots in a place like walmart...etc.....lol....and I thought that was cheap...hell no....11 dollars an hour is less than a CNA makes with no degree

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