I have spent 11 years as a nurse. I have had the experience of floor nursing, tele, cardiac step down, emergency, travel, infusion, and now home health. I wish I could tell you I felt my $47,000 dollars for a BSN were worth it, but I don’t. I, after 11 years as a nurse, would tell you to change your degree or take a lower paying job in any other career field job at $10 an hour to start. In the long run you probably will be happier and end up with greater income potential. In 2008 when I started as a tele floor RN, I made 20.47/hr which was a dollar an hour more than anyone who can to the position never being a nurse aid prior to their first RN
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job. I now make $29.71 an hour as a home health nurse. (I do not get mileage as they give me a car and while I spend 40 hours a week at a job that I agreed to be spending 24 a week at, I do not get to charge the additional hours because I have been told that it is expected that I can do 40 hours of work in 24 hours.) So while I would say my salary is not minimum wage, it does not even come close to covering a solid middle class income as I expected it should for as much as I paid to obtain it. And that is without calculating my ‘real wage’ which is all the hours of charting without pay. I do not ever feel like I have any time with my family. Now, because I’m charting or doing case management during the time I should have been off to see my family, in the past, because I was exhausted for at least a day after a 12hour shift (and if I was working nights the exhaustion was longer). Not to mention the most disappointing part of medicine: realizing it is a business. If you actually care about other people and it eats at your soul to make a choice between leaving someone in their own feces for an hour or go to the side of an unresponsive patient, then nursing isn’t for you. If listening to your boss ? at you from across the table as to how you should have remembered to ask someone to check your other patients while you were to overwhelmed to think while dealing with an unresponsive patient, seems in reasonable, that is minor compared to the worse things you will experience with a long term career in this field.
Yes, I LOVE my patients. The thought of failing them and the crappy world of medicine I would be leaving them with is a large reason I stay. But that reason is starting to fade. The realization that the only people I can rely on is my family and I cannot continue to let my oath to my patients continue to impede that. It is not worth it. If you cannot be a salesman for medicine or think of people as dollar signs, then do not go into medicine. If you think you will make a decent living and that the school debt is worth it, it may be, but only if you start with an associates degree or plan to go into management 2 years after you get your BSN.
I wish I could advise you differently. I wish I could tell you that all the sacrifices you made to get where you are were meaningful and will lead you to great things, but I can’t. For most of you it won’t. The idea that nursing is a ‘calling’ is a subtle way to keep us under paid and permanent scapegoat for the field of medicine, don’t be one of the dunces that fell for it like I did.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
On 2/17/2019 at 5:31 PM, Sour Lemon said:
Serious question ...is there any reason why you don't go lay bricks?
When I was 13 my dad a general contractor taught me how to lay tile. He told if I got good enough at it I would always be able to put food on the table. When I was 18 contemplated getting a contractors license and going into the family business - but I wandered for several years before I became a nurse.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
Nursing is a third career for me. I worked in the horse business for a long time, then I was a teacher, then became a nurse at 48.
First, you are never too old to something new.
I love nursing. In fact many of the people I work think I am nuts. I finished my MSN but have stayed on the floor because I love almost everything about my job-the pts being the best.
I have been a nurse for 7 years now. I can't say I wish I had started sooner because every life experience helps me to be a better nurse.
If you don't want to be a nurse, then go be something else. Are there any parts of nursing that you like? Perhaps that can translate to a new profession. I taught horseback riding, I worked with vets-both of those things helped me be a teacher and then a nurse.
Specializes in Surgical Specialty Clinic - Ambulatory Care.
I wish it were a feasible thing to go back to school. Agriculture sounds like it would be interesting. But I knew when I started nursing school there would be no second chances at college. There would be no changing my career in the middle of the program either. I have to many friends that have 60k of debt from doing that and still have no degree and a job that might be decent if they didn’t have a second mortgage they were paying every month. No way to get it written off or forgiven. I was fortunate, but really not fortunate, to have my inheritance from my dad’s passing to pay off my student loans. Otherwise I would still have 15 years of payments left. I will never put my self at the mercy of a paycheck in that manner ever again.
I love people and the idea of teaching others to be healthy. However, I find that nursing is more about paperwork than actually getting to deal with people, and that the time allotted to actually teach your patient’s the things they need to know to be successful at home is abysmal to non existent....I work home health now and while there is more time that I use to have, it is still abysmal to the amount that would be required to do a good job; mostly because the paperwork in home health is gargantuan compared to the hospital.
A career should be a part of one’s life, but in all my nursing careers it has over taken my life. Even currently as a home health nurse I am suppose to be working 3, 8-hour shifts a week. That’s 48 hours a pay period. I went back and looked, I have not worked less than 62 hours a pay period since I started 18 months ago. I average 80. I, at most when begged, will pick up 2 shifts a month. Still shouldn’t have me averaging 80 hrs every 2 weeks. But with mandatory on call...which is mandatory over time, and “sorry I know 6 patients a day is what you are suppose to see but you need to take 7 today.” there is no stopping the additional hours. I’ve tried saying no. I started looking for another job....again. I let them know I have interviews; and their response was, “Well you were completely compensated for all the time you worked.”
So yes, I have heard of other home health agencies not paying their nurses hourly and I really am lucky that I work for one that provides complete compensation for the time put in HOWEVER, that is not my point and I will never be satisfied with that sort of response....which is pretty much the standard response as I am on my like 7th nursing job. I want to work the hours I agreed to work, no more. I don’t want to be in a stupid committee, participate in hospital fundraising, or any of that crap (I do though because I have found if you don’t managers make your life harder.). Furthermore, I am just getting to the point that working weekends and holidays are no longer acceptable, being on call is not okay, and I don’t really give a rats *** that people think ‘that is the name of the game’. I am done with this game.
But then you go apply for medical assistant jobs or phlebotomists positions and you don’t even get called in for the interview.
Specializes in Surgical Specialty Clinic - Ambulatory Care.
I am on a Facebook page that is entitled ‘Nurses With Cards’ and this was something someone posted today and it resonates with me. I understand that some of you have found jobs you enjoy in nursing. That is great and I am glad you were fortunate. I just really feel that more often than not the experiences are like mine and that is a problem for our profession and for ourselves as future patients. There are 2.8k responses to this post so far and many of them show camaraderie. I never wanted to be a big shot in this profession. But I do feel that with the time put in school, and the responsibilities required we all deserve WAY better than how we are being treated. My favorite part of what that nurse had to say was when she mentioned that we aren’t competing to win the Daisy Award, we are just trying to make sure we aren’t ‘the one’ who forgot something that costs someone their life. ‘The one’ who gets fired and his/her license taken away because ‘They should have know better. You always put the patient first.’ Although he/she did it just wasn’t the right patient at the right time because he/she was overwhelmed. Then everyone’s response turns to, “ Well then he/she should have spoke up.” Speak up about what?! This is averagely how the job is. This is what he/she has been told is their responsibility. And the first 3-5 times they did speak up they got in trouble. Come on, no one who has had this be the majority of their nursing experience can see this profession as good.
“THIS is why I'm retired! Loooong rant: Do you want to know why so many "good" nurses are leaving hospital floors to work in home health, administration, nurse practitioner or clinics? Let's put this into perspective. Your mom is really sick. So sick that if she gets any worse they will have to move her to ICU. She is getting IV medications and is constantly needing help navigating around her room to go to the bathroom, get in the chair or reposition in the bed. She was independent before she came to the hospital but because she is sick she is a little weak and has tubes and monitors hooked to her 24/7. Now imagine that the same nurse who is taking care of your mom for the next 12 hours has 5-6 other patients. This nurse has been out of school 1-2 years and has worked the last several days in a row because the floor is constantly understaffed. But the nurse will have help, right? Like there are aids and charge nurses? Each nurse aid has anywhere from 12-18 patients each. The charge nurse is responsible for keeping the floor running smoothly but is also responsible for four patients. Now, your mom needs help getting to the bathroom, but at the same time, one patient is having a hard time breathing, another patient's blood transfusion needs to be changed, a patient's family member is yelling down the hall about pain meds, and an elderly patient is trying to get out of bed. Who would you choose to see? Do you let your elderly patient fall? Do you get the man his pain meds? Do you go change the infusion and check your patient for adverse reactions? Do you go make sure the man is breathing? Or do you help the lady go to the restroom? Personally if it was my mom, I would want someone to help her to the bathroom. I would want someone to make sure she didn't fall or pull her IV out, but the fact of the matter is, she is at the bottom of the priority list. Do you want your nurses having to make these decisions every day because management refuses to fully staff a floor? What if I told you that CEOs and administration get huge bonuses for lowering costs, while nurses kill their selves to not make any life threatening mistakes? Because in reality, nurses are not competing to see who can win a Daisy award; they are competing to make sure that they aren't "the one" that misses something that cost someone their life. Something has to change! Edit: I had no idea my little post would resonate with so many people! The response by nurses has been both amazing and saddening. It breaks my heart to hear people left the profession they loved or that things have been the same for years. Nothing will change if nothing changes! Nurse on!”
KalipsoRed - your last posting (where you write "looooooong rant: do you want to know ...") is one POWERFUL post! Very thought provoking and realistic for many.
I graduated my AAS program in 1974. I'm glad it was that long ago because our profession 'ain't what it used to be'!!! In fact I wish I had graduated maybe 5 years before then.
I retired 10 years ago. I had health issues, but it was the climate of our job industry that did it to me.
I miss working, but not working as a nurse any more.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
Everything you are saying makes perfect sense, but the fatalism doesn't. You are making a choice. Even if you feel you have no choice, you are making a choice.
For me, going into nursing was the "saving myself" and it has been effective. Its fine you are not loving it, but to discourage others because you don't love it is just wrong. You surround yourself with other unhappy people and then use that to make a vague determination that "most" others agree with you. I disagree with that assessment.
There is a lot in nursing that is far from ideal. There are also lots of us working to change it. If it isn't for you, do what you need to do to be happy or find a way to get happy where you are.
I worked for a well known hospital. One day I just realized that I was not being paid nearly enough for what I was responsible for so I left that hospital for another hospital and got a $20,000 raise. Is it perfect? No, it has its issues like every job but at least I am being paid more to do less.
Specializes in Surgical Specialty Clinic - Ambulatory Care.
2 hours ago, not.done.yet said:
Everything you are saying makes perfect sense, but the fatalism doesn't. You are making a choice. Even if you feel you have no choice, you are making a choice.
For me, going into nursing was the "saving myself" and it has been effective. Its fine you are not loving it, but to discourage others because you don't love it is just wrong. You surround yourself with other unhappy people and then use that to make a vague determination that "most" others agree with you. I disagree with that assessment.
There is a lot in nursing that is far from ideal. There are also lots of us working to change it. If it isn't for you, do what you need to do to be happy or find a way to get happy where you are.
I discourage others because I honestly feel the healthcare system is not effective and a lie. I discourage others because there is no REASON anyone in this field should be suffering from experiences like this. I am not a fatalist. I am a realist. Realistically I feel nurses are more likely to be punished for a no right answer situation today than they have been in the past, all for the sake of the almighty dollar. I don’t feel that risk is one that should be undertaken for the shell of a profession. I wish I had known when I decided to be a nurse that I wasn’t going to be helping people, that I was mostly going to be a scapegoat for money hungry business practices. And I feel this way about nursing, doctors, teaching, policing, and EMS.
hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I
4 Articles; 5,212 Posts
When I was 13 my dad a general contractor taught me how to lay tile. He told if I got good enough at it I would always be able to put food on the table. When I was 18 contemplated getting a contractors license and going into the family business - but I wandered for several years before I became a nurse.
Hppy