Where are the nursing discounts?

[mel2234]

Apple gives discounts to educators. Teachers get discounted computers/ipads.

First responders, police, fire get discounts everywhere.

Amazon gives working teachers discounts.

Teachers, police and fire where I live get pensions, lifetime health benefits- better than what is received in most hospitals today.

I am not against any of those professions given discounts, I wonder why what we do goes unnoticed/non valued.

I guess the person bringing the patient to the E.R. is more valuable than the person who does the work in the E.R. when it comes to saving the patients.

Like to hear others thoughts on this.

[DowntheRiver]

Wow, so you are doing really well and just assume the rest of us are? I make less per hour than I did 15 years ago. I have worked fulltime as both a teacher and a BSN prepared RN. My best friend is a teacher and she makes more per hour than I do (when calculated, or when she does teacher development stuff)- PLUS a pension, and good medical care and sick time etc. I am currently working 24 hours per week and we qualify for expanded medicaid- which we are on. I suppose a nurse in California or some other high paid state possibly shouldn't qualify -but firemen can retire at 50. I have zero retirement provided by my employer. There are only a few pockets throughout this nation where nurses are compensated anywhere near fairly. I've moved around, but as a teacher, you can take your pension with you in many cases. Anyhow, I need to get off this site and get ready for work- which BTW is on a holiday and I'm getting zero holiday pay for as well.

I live in Florida. Nurses are notoriously not paid very well in the South compared to other parts of the country. I started making $22ish/hour as a new grad. However, I have worked my way up gaining experience and now work for a Magnet hospital who values nurses.

Teachers are still grossly underpaid in the state of Florida. So much so that a current candidate for Governor is making it part of his platform to raise their salary to $50,000 which is approximately $15,000-$20,000 more than they are making now.

Again, I get to leave my work at work when I leave; teachers do not. Paramedics and firefighters are often working for 24 hour shifts twice a week; I do not. Furthermore, not all county and state employees get a pension anymore. When I worked for the county, I did not have an option for a pension and had to go with the 401k plan.

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

I've worked, in my short (less than 10 years) career in health care at two "state" facilities. My employment with either provided me eligibility for the affiliated state's state retirement plan. Now, in one of those states, some slick politicians decided to "invest" the retirement fund with the investment firm that these politician's friends run. The state pension plan in that state is a hot mess, and will be worse before people my age begin to retire on the plan.

One state agency I've worked for was "state plus" because our leadership chose to incentivize some things other state agencies did not, and did not have the funds to do. On the other hand, working for a state agency is not always fun as the legislature tends to play tug of war with benefits, plans, planned expansion, raises, etc.

I don't feel like I "need" a discount for being a nurse. In general, I'm well compensated, and RNs in my specialty are highly compensated. The people running my facility have made some very intelligent moves to provide for our long term financial stability. We've gotten raises/cost of living adjustments each year I've worked there. We've gotten an incentive bonus each year I've worked there (bonus paycheck!). We get perks like longevity pay (10+ years of service), and our PTO plan, even with some changes a few years back is FAR more generous than any other hospital (and we can sell our unused PTO back for MORE incentive money).

I chose to go to grad school. If I wanted, I could buy a new computer while a student and get the discount. Where I work the tuition reimbursement program is excellent, I've paid next to nothing for my grad school degree. I think at some point, people have to learn to be fiscally responsible within their means. I haven't pursued a house at this time, but some places, including credit unions are better deals for any consumer than a big bank...and often include healthcare providers/staff in their loan programs.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Yeah I'm a Nurse and feel no entitlement or even a desire for discounts. Its not why I became a nurse. I'm fairly compensated and frankly if I wasn't I'd find a new line of work instead of waiting for some company to subsidize my lifestyle with discounts

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

In the Grand Scheme of problems facing nursing, consumer discounts is low on the totem pole.

Really low.

Like wicked low...

[Julius Seizure]

Teachers, firefighters, military, etc. work in jobs that salary-wise don't pay well enough to be worth it without one having a sense of personal duty to the job.

I have no interest in being a martyr for my job, so I would prefer being fairly compensated and leaving the discounts to others.

[amoLucia]

Kind of a tangential thought - anybody remember when nurses would get "professional courtesy' from other HC providers???

Aging myself.

[mel2234]

"Teachers are still grossly underpaid in the state of Florida." Not where I live, they make as much as nurses do and have 3 months off in the summer.

"Again, I get to leave my work at work when I leave; teachers do not." We are short staffed where I work, and almost never leave on time, have to work every other weekend, no snow days, way less holidays, etc. And teachers here have a real pension plan.

I guess that this can also be a geographical issue as I see your point where you live.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

If I worked 40 hours a week I'd make $22,000/year more than the starting teacher salary in my area. I work 32 hours a week and still make $10,000/year more than starting teacher salary in my area. The teachers in my area also did not get their promised raises this year; some of them have been counting on this for 3-4 years. Every year I am eligible for a raise as I am not at my cap yet AND I have the option to work on clinical ladder for a 5% pay increase. All of this and I don't have to take my work home with me and I still get 6 weeks PTO a year.

So, that's why teacher, EMS, firefighter, etc. discounts exist and we don't qualify.

This is naïve thinking.

Also, doctors make more than we do. So...

[mel2234]

"Kind of a tangential thought - anybody remember when nurses would get "professional courtesy' from other HC providers???

Aging myself."

Where I work the physicians won't even take the health insurance the employees have....

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I've worked, in my short (less than 10 years) career in health care at two "state" facilities. My employment with either provided me eligibility for the affiliated state's state retirement plan. Now, in one of those states, some slick politicians decided to "invest" the retirement fund with the investment firm that these politician's friends run. The state pension plan in that state is a hot mess, and will be worse before people my age begin to retire on the plan.

One state agency I've worked for was "state plus" because our leadership chose to incentivize some things other state agencies did not, and did not have the funds to do. On the other hand, working for a state agency is not always fun as the legislature tends to play tug of war with benefits, plans, planned expansion, raises, etc.

I don't feel like I "need" a discount for being a nurse. In general, I'm well compensated, and RNs in my specialty are highly compensated. The people running my facility have made some very intelligent moves to provide for our long term financial stability. We've gotten raises/cost of living adjustments each year I've worked there. We've gotten an incentive bonus each year I've worked there (bonus paycheck!). We get perks like longevity pay (10+ years of service), and our PTO plan, even with some changes a few years back is FAR more generous than any other hospital (and we can sell our unused PTO back for MORE incentive money).

I chose to go to grad school. If I wanted, I could buy a new computer while a student and get the discount. Where I work the tuition reimbursement program is excellent, I've paid next to nothing for my grad school degree. I think at some point, people have to learn to be fiscally responsible within their means. I haven't pursued a house at this time, but some places, including credit unions are better deals for any consumer than a big bank...and often include healthcare providers/staff in their loan programs.

What does State Plus mean?

[Apple-Core, ASN, BSN, RN]

"Kind of a tangential thought - anybody remember when nurses would get "professional courtesy' from other HC providers???

Aging myself."

Where I work the physicians won't even take the health insurance the employees have....

Move?

[NurseCard, ADN]

In almost 26 years of active nursing (multiple practice areas and states), I have witnessed a near gutting of staff nurses' benefits. Both of my parents were nurses, had much better benefits and retired with pensions (albeit modest). However, pensions, like all of the extra holidays, quality insurance, and cafeteria discounts are long gone. Paired with the wage stagnation, difficult working conditions, and lack of respect, I have ZERO hesitation in dissuading others from considering nursing as a career choice. My advice; become a CPA, engineer, graphic designer...comparable pay, waaaaaay better hours, more respect, and without exposure to infectious body fluids.

I bolded graphic designer... I chose that as my first profession and didn't make squat. You have to live in certain areas of the country to make any money doing that. My daughter wants to be a designer/illustrator/animator... art is her PASSION and I want her to follow that, but I plan on ACTIVELY encouraging her to get the heck out of KY. That means, don't find a boyfriend, don't get married, DON'T STAY IN KY.

Not to hijack the thread. :)

Nurse's discounts... don't care. Senior discounts... people on here have said

they don't want them. My mother and father in law couldn't WAIT to start

getting their senior discounts, went to Senior Day at Kroger, etc. etc..

but my father in law is uber cheap, so....