Where do you stand on "Nurses don't get paid enough"?

[Convoy2022_TrumpSupporter]

To me I am on the fence about it. When I was a student, we were taught not to complain, if we complained in our clinical about too much work we would get a warning, or be kicked out for not being competent. Now that I am working its much different. I have a union who will stand up for me.  So now workers like me, often complain about workloads, and being overworked asking to come in, working lots of hours etc..

Here in Ontario we have Bill 124 where the Government froze our wages. I saw many Nurses protest this, but of course we cannot go on strike as lives will be on the line which is not good. One nurse said that they don't just change diapers, but they keep patients alive and are closely monitored, while being spat on, and yelled at. 

So this begs the question, are you becoming a Nurse because you like it? Or are you doing it for the money? I don't think Nurses are underpaid, I do think they are worth more than they currently are. 

[Tegridy]

Tough question for any field. I do think big cooperations have too much power but basically comes down to what the market will bear, which….. doesn’t always have an answer. Currently seems like nurses are having a good amount of power through many quitting and traveling but how much are the worth monetarily? Good question LOL.

If people are unhappy they can attempt a career change if able. Obviously I could think of about 50 different career choices before ever going back to nursing, but that’s just N=1 and doesn’t really answer the question.

Overall people are fairly ignorant about other types of jobs and assume theirs takes more “brain power” and is “more important” than other careers. This includes myself for those with tomato launchers locked and loaded.

 

The above post mentions saving lives, but… essentially if we did not have accountants the country would collapse so one could argue they do save lives. Same goes for many fields though it may not be as obvious as those providing direct medical care. Same goes for administration, some are good some are bad but the hospital would collapse without them. Money doesn’t grow on trees, at at least it didn't until this year…

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

9 hours ago, morelostthanfound said:

 I've said many times; CPAs, engineers, IT....all pretty much require the same length of educational preparedness, but most enjoy much more respect, better hours, and working conditions, and less hazards for the same or better pay.  

May be true but I have/had no interest in doing those things and at 58 I would have no interest in going back to school. Maybe I’ve just been lucky to have worked in facilities where I am respected and more than fairly compensated or maybe the boundaries I set let others know I will not be abused. Sure I had had my share of unpleasant co-workers and patients. That goes with the territory in psych. I was injured/assaulted once about 15 years ago after which I left psych for about a year but psych is my niche so I went back. I truly love my patients and co- workers and barring winning the lottery buying a ranch to raise pretty ponies, I would not trade my life or my job.

[Guest 1152923]

4 hours ago, JBMmom said:

I'm a second career nurse, and I left my previous career after 17 years. At my hospital right now nurses with 5+ years of experience are getting approximately $42/ hr, with all the differentials on top of that. In my previous position the entry level was a master's degree, and after 17 years with mostly reviews exceeding expectations, my salary was in the range of $44/ hr. So I think the pay, comparing nurses with an ADN and five years of experience, is not really underpaid. 

In your previous career, could your mistakes or omissions be directly responsible for a person's death?  Were you ever exposed to assaultive/combative patients or those that were positive for infectious, highly transmissable, and deadly viruses? I have!  In addition to HIV, hepatitis, COVID-19, TB, MRSA..., I once had to care for a Creutzfeldt-Jakob patient-ie 'Mad Cow Disease'!  Did you previously work the most undesirable shifts, weekends and holidays while having little to no respect from your management or administration.  I'm sorry that a master's degree prepared person of whatever industry you were in was so poorly compensated but we should not justifying nurses' incommensurate salaries and treatment just to level the professional playing field-sorry!

[Guest 1152923]

7 minutes ago, hppygr8ful said:

May be true but I have/had no interest in doing those things and at 58 I would have no interest in going back to school. Maybe I’ve just been lucky to have worked in facilities where I am respected and more than fairly compensated or maybe the boundaries I set let others know I will not be abused. Sure I had had my share of unpleasant co-workers and patients. That goes with the territory in psych. I was injured/assaulted once about 15 years ago after which I left psych for about a year but psych is my niche so I went back. I truly love my patients and co- workers and barring winning the lottery buying a ranch to raise pretty ponies, I would not trade my life or my job.

This is your experience in CA (with strict N/P ratios), but is no way representative of most acute care nurses working at busy hospitals in other areas of the country.  As a travel RN, I have been all over the US and dangerous understaffing, insufficient supplies/equipment, and near crisis operation has become the new normal, er abnormal. 

[JKL33]

1 hour ago, Tegridy said:

The above post mentions saving lives, but… essentially if we did not have accountants the country would collapse so one could argue they do save lives. Same goes for many fields though it may not be as obvious as those providing direct medical care. Same goes for administration, some are good some are bad but the hospital would collapse without them.

Perhaps. But neither one of the other two fields you mention have the problem of generally being guilted into working for a significantly lower wage/salary on the basis of how crucial and important their work supposedly is and how horrible and practically immoral it would be if they made any demands. I think that's part of the reason why saving lives was places in quotes in the previous post--words like "saving lives," "heroes" and the like are part of the whole scheme here.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

1 hour ago, morelostthanfound said:

This is your experience in CA (with strict N/P ratios), but is no way representative of most acute care nurses working at busy hospitals in other areas of the country.  As a travel RN, I have been all over the US and dangerous understaffing, insufficient supplies/equipment, and near crisis operation has become the new normal, er abnormal. 

N/P Ratios don't apply to Free standing acute psych facilities in California. My basic ratio is 14 patients to 1 RN, 1 LVN/PT and two floor staff. We are non-union. Of course our patient's (Especially mine adolescent) are relatively healthy and there's usually no heavy lifting. But I have talked to many Acute med/surg nurses who wouldn't touch psych with a ten foot pole. I've worked in Nursing homes, private medical corporations and small hospital's my whole life. But because I demand respect, I get respect. Of course my demands are always done in a professional manner, which may be part of why I get what I want. 

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

16 hours ago, morelostthanfound said:

 I once had to care for a Creutzfeldt-Jakob patient-ie 'Mad Cow Disease'! 

I am not sure why this disease was listed with contagious diseases as per the CDC

"CJD is not transmissible from person-to-person by normal contact or through environmental contamination. For example, it is not spread by airborne droplets as are tuberculosis (TB) and influenza or by blood or sexual contact as are hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)."

[Guest 1152923]

15 hours ago, hppygr8ful said:

I am not sure why this disease was listed with contagious diseases as per the CDC

"CJD is not transmissible from person-to-person by normal contact or through environmental contamination. For example, it is not spread by airborne droplets as are tuberculosis (TB) and influenza or by blood or sexual contact as are hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)."

Not contagious?  Perhaps not by conventional means but I work in surgery and this patient had a brain biopsy which was later determined to be positive.  Not contagious?  Seriously?  Who do you think handled and processed this specimen (brain matter)? We wore hazmat suits, PAPRs, and incinerated everything (everything) used for the surgery (including instruments).  

[Tegridy]

2 hours ago, JKL33 said:

Perhaps. But neither one of the other two fields you mention have the problem of generally being guilted into working for a significantly lower wage/salary on the basis of how crucial and important their work supposedly is and how horrible and practically immoral it would be if they made any demands. I think that's part of the reason why saving lives was places in quotes in the previous post--words like "saving lives," "heroes" and the like are part of the whole scheme here.

I think employers play the guilt card everywhere but I agree probably not to the extent that they do for nurses. 

20 minutes ago, morelostthanfound said:

Not contagious?  Perhaps not by conventional means but I work in surgery and this patient had a brain biopsy which was later determined to be positive.  Not contagious?  Seriously?  Who do you think handled and processed this specimen (brain matter)? We wore hazmat suits, PAPRs, and incinerated everything (everything) used for the surgery (including instruments).  

Yeah just don’t eat it or stab yourself with the scalpel

[Tegridy]

16 hours ago, morelostthanfound said:

In your previous career, could your mistakes or omissions be directly responsible for a person's death?  Were you ever exposed to assaultive/combative patients or those that were positive for infectious, highly transmissable, and deadly viruses? I have!  In addition to HIV, hepatitis, COVID-19, TB, MRSA..., I once had to care for a Creutzfeldt-Jakob patient-ie 'Mad Cow Disease'!  Did you previously work the most undesirable shifts, weekends and holidays while having little to no respect from your management or administration.  I'm sorry that a master's degree prepared person of whatever industry you were in was so poorly compensated but we should not justifying nurses' incommensurate salaries and treatment just to level the professional playing field-sorry!

What you describe is not exclusive to nursing. Plenty of fields out there with much of the above with less pay. Military, law enforcement, social work, etc. 

Plenty of other jobs that can directly kill people if not performed properly. Just more than one at a time. Engineering, pilots, etc. 

I'm not disagreeing with you but let’s not be overly dramatic. 

Also, MRSA is everywhere just not in the hospital

[Guest 1152923]

13 hours ago, Tegridy said:

Yeah just don’t eat it or get cut

right?  I didn't even get 'dangerous duty' pay for it:(

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

I am happy with the money I'm making as a nurse, but furthermore, a raise wouldn't fix the biggest problems I have with this career. Don't throw more money at me to come in extra and continue to work under a plethora of safety issues that put my, muy livelihood, and my parents at risk. Just fix the problems! You know?

I mean, I'll happily take a raise anytime. Or a winning Powerball ticket. Yeah, that last one.