Survey: Would there be a nursing shortage if...

jaylynn67 · Aug 10, 2005

are you kidding me 11.00 an hour?? i think maybe when you started nursing thats what it was? i would HOPE that most nursing jobs start at over 20 an hour. I make 15 right now as a secretary. I really cant believe how pessimistic alot of these posts are.

mattsmom81 · Aug 10, 2005

Sadly most nurses simply resign themselves to the shytty conditions and put up with things once they find a place where they have SOME positives. I can put up with a lot if I'm working around good people who cover each other's backsides, and support one another. Nursing has turned into a competitive dog eat dog type environment in too many places.

I would NEVER work anywhere that mandated overtime or insisted I clock out on time then return on my own time to finish (this second one is against the law by the way...but I also know many nurses do this for their own peace of mind)

It has gotten to the point that I no longer can take good care of my patients AND also, within the designated shift, keep up with the paperwork and tech systems for the facility. We are expected to do more with less...but these are people's lives hanging in the balance. Hard row to hoe.

Gottago · Aug 11, 2005

Statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Labor actually prove this is true.
In 2000 the Health Department found that teachers were making $14,000 a year more than RN's. When you calculate the difference on an hourly basis, teachers make even more because they have a lot more time off than RN's do.
Why do teachers make more? 42 percent of teachers belong to a union, while only 19 percent of RN's do.
Yet, the few RN's who do belong to a union still do better than non-union Rn's. In 2003, the Labor Department reported that union RN's made, on average, $7,000 a year more than non-union RN's.
This doesn't include other benefits that unions negotiate on behalf of nurses, such as patient ratios, restrictions on mandatory overtime, retirement benefits, etc.
Union workers across the board, in all industries, do better as well. In 2004, the Labor Department also reported that union workers made, on average, $9,000 more a year than non-union workers.
The more unionized a profession is, the more money they make. So, unions do make a difference when it comes to pay.

...

silly sunshine · Aug 19, 2005

Here are the results of last months survey question
Would there be a nursing shortage if nurses were paid better and had better benefits? :

Please feel free to read and post any comments that you have right here in this discussion thread by clicking the "Post Reply" button.
Thanks

They wouldn't hurt. I gave up a better job with great bennies and pay to become a nurse. I do agree that if management treated us with better respect, encourging the positive that we accomplish than up our rears when we've done something wrong ( usually a small detail on paperwork) our work enviorment would increase ten fold. The atta boy's are in the basement, while one tiny flaw is screamed to the world, makes one less likely to give it ur all as it should be. There's way to many great nurses out there that quit their profession D/T to this attitude. What a shame! I every day ? why I became a nurse because of the shabby treatment nurses recieve from upper managment. Give us Kodo's for a job well done and advice where we could have done different on a job not up to grade. Not always pointing to the negative, does nothing but bring u down. Thus makeing us feel less than we are, instead of bringing us up to improve ourselves for the benifit of all.

Nancy2 · Aug 19, 2005

I once had a job that paid REALLY well as nurse. I thought it was actually more than I should have been paid. The work was interesting and the patient load was 1:1 and none of my patients were critically ill. The job itself was wonderful!!!!!!! I really got to give great mursing care and use my brain/ I was invoved in diagnostic studies...However, my manager was awful! She was constantly looking for the negative and made going to work something I dreaded only because of the environment she created. When she would go on vacation the unit ran very smoothly and everyone got along famously. She'd be back for 2 days and the caos would start. The problem was, she was best friends outside of work with our director! Where to go? I tried the chain of command and found the pressure got even tighter on me. I left that facility after 16 years because of this situation.

Next I worked for a smaller hospital for much less money but had a great manager that encouraged and mentored and was MUCH happier. I don't think it's the money or the work....I just think some PEOPLE SUCK!!!

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Aug 19, 2005

I am not a nurse, but based on what I have heard from nurses and family members who are......the number one thing is better working conditions and overall RESPECT. The money in part is an issue, but mostly the benefits. Some move on to different careers for the sole idea of a secured retirement.

A shortage will still exist since the supply is not meeting the demand....but a lot less IMO.

itsy-bitsy · Aug 23, 2005

if administration would brook no nonsense from the docs who treat nurses like dirt (or patients & families, for that matter), then more would stay. it's one thing to be a little growly because you've had a rough day, or are in pain or worried--it's a whole 'nother matter when you're given tacit permission to vent your spleen on someone who's wants to help you do what is best for the patient, or who is there to help you/your loved one.

xrockstheheart · Sep 13, 2005

Jessica what the ### are you doing on the forum putting in your two cents worth when many people on this forum are trying to resolve some life threatening issues? the shortage of nurses can be relative or absolute. if it is absolute it is a question of not being able to do the work because it exceeds the amount of work a human being is capable of doing. If it is relative it means the staff does not have the experience to handle the patients or the acuity. In either case we have a nursing shortage precisely because nurses put up with it, go union.

I am not a nurse, but based on what I have heard from nurses and family members who are......the number one thing is better working conditions and overall RESPECT. The money in part is an issue, but mostly the benefits. Some move on to different careers for the sole idea of a secured retirement.
A shortage will still exist since the supply is not meeting the demand....but a lot less IMO.

bondoson88 · Sep 13, 2005

Money has a lot to do with being a nurse, but wanting to help someone has a lot more to do with it. I remember in nursing school the instructors told us " you will never get dirty , only work 8 hour days and the money is great" Well they lied
My other point is after being an LPN for 20 years still , I have to work full time and can't go back to school I nned to find an online home study that does not cost a millions to do. If more LPN had the ability to go back and finish we would all be RN's and maybe there would not be a shortage. We do have years of experience too

Nurse 1986 I agreed with you. I've been an LVN in a acute care hospital for 24 years and I work everywhere, including critical care. I feel I am very competent and and very experienced. But the BORN in CA doesn't give me or any other LVN any credit for the on the job training in a acute care setting. I see a lot of new grads with no experience at all and I think wow there is so much to know about nursing and they're just new at all of this. With all the advances in nursing today there is so much to know and they don't have the experience or the expertise to fall back on. Nursing is the type of job that the longer you've done it the more you know. I know I know a lot more than a lot of the RN's but because I am an LVN it's as though whatever I know is negliable. The Boards have made it harder and harder for an LVN to become an RN. We can not even do any classes on-line. It is now not recognized by the state of CA for an LVN to become an RN like that. Now anatomy and phisology have to be taken separately, and also in the local community college I have to get a B in phisology to even get accepted in the RN program. but someone who never has never been a nurse who gets A's will get in the program before me. Now does that sound right? I love my job and I love being a nurse and I will not stop working in an acute care when I get my RN. I an going back to school and I have to retake a nutrition class because the one I took years ago apparently is not the right one. Another thing nursing is a lot of common sense and a lot of compassion and caring and having a gut feeling about a patient that you sense something's not right. That kind of stuff they can't teach in school you have to live it and do it and that's what I've been doing for the past 24 years. Everyday nurses, LVN's and RN's and CNA's are always asking me why don't I challenge the RN board. I tell them if I could I would do it in a heartbeat. A lot of times nurses that I don't know automatically think that I'm an RN so when I asked them could you give my patient's piggyback they ask me why I don't just give it and then I tell them I'm and LVN and they say I thought you were an RN. I could easily function as an RN and in many ways I already do but I don't get the pay or the recognition,. It is hard going back to school esp when you have a mortage and kids and you're the only breadwinner in the family. If the boards would just give the Competent LVN's a chance just to take the boards based on our years of experience in an acute care hospital there would be less of a nursing shortage which has been created by the CA BORN. We don't want to take yours jobs for lesser pay we just want a chance to become an RN too. A lot of hospitals would be staffed with their own nurses then to have to hire travelers for a lot more money. And plus we're dedicated to the hospital that we've spent half of our lives working in. Just because we are LVN's we are not stupid. Being an LVN you have to really prove yourself to others that you're not stupid. You can be a dumb RN but don't have to prove it at all to anyone. I know you nurses out there know exactly what I mean right? Of course there are dumb LVN's too.

But there are a lot of really sharp competent LVN's out there who deserve a little respect and credit for our knowledge and for our years of experience. I usually work with all RN's in CCU and they are Great! They are just like my family and they teach me a lot. so I have no bad feelings against any RN., just wish the board would give this LVN a break. Thanks

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Sep 14, 2005

It is difficult as it is, I don't think I could do it just for the money therefore I don't think more money would help the shortage very much. More people may get into nursing but only the same percentage would be able to cut it.

sjb2005 · Sep 14, 2005

I am all for more money whenever it comes my way. I have earned as much as $50/hr straight time. It's still not enough. But, it is not money. Nursing or any profession in the medical field tends to be only as rewarding as you perceive it to be. If we were less judgemental of each other and focused on a more positive regard for each others strengths and weaknesses, I think nursing would become a more rewarding and desired profession. Shelly

QUOTE=silly sunshine]They wouldn't hurt. I gave up a better job with great bennies and pay to become a nurse. I do agree that if management treated us with better respect, encourging the positive that we accomplish than up our rears when we've done something wrong ( usually a small detail on paperwork) our work enviorment would increase ten fold. The atta boy's are in the basement, while one tiny flaw is screamed to the world, makes one less likely to give it ur all as it should be. There's way to many great nurses out there that quit their profession D/T to this attitude. What a shame! I every day ? why I became a nurse because of the shabby treatment nurses recieve from upper managment. Give us Kodo's for a job well done and advice where we could have done different on a job not up to grade. Not always pointing to the negative, does nothing but bring u down. Thus makeing us feel less than we are, instead of bringing us up to improve ourselves for the benifit of all.

Jamesdotter · Sep 14, 2005

Jessica what the ### are you doing on the forum putting in your two cents worth when many people on this forum are trying to resolve some life threatening issues? the shortage of nurses can be relative or absolute. if it is absolute it is a question of not being able to do the work because it exceeds the amount of work a human being is capable of doing. If it is relative it means the staff does not have the experience to handle the patients or the acuity. In either case we have a nursing shortage precisely because nurses put up with it, go union.

Huh?

Check out Jessica's profile. She's a nursing student