After looking at the countless rants of nurses who can't get a job for months on here and seeing nearly all job listings for nurses requiring experience, I went on to conclude that getting a nursing job now isn't easy.
Why don't employers keep lowering the wage until there is only 1 or 2 applicants willing to apply instead of the usual 70 to 80? Don't you think an employer could get away with a job offer for $32 an hour for a RN instead of $33 an hour? Why not offer $8 or $10 an hour?? RN are working for FREE via internships! 33% of nurses at hospitals are nothing more than internships, free labor. The clinical experience at colleges means absolutely nothing. I bet you that a hospital can still get RNs if it paid $10 an hour for wages. On the news a while ago I heard of a company hiring programmers at MINIMUM WAGE, they had NO PROBLEM getting programmers willing to work for that much with no chance of pay increases. If you are an unemployed RN, wouldn't it be better to land a job as a RN for $15 an hour rather than be jobless?
On my way towards becoming an RN I've already encountered an obstacle. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get in anatomy, physiology, or microbiology. All classes were completely filled as soon as they were available to a group of students. I went to every class to petition and most of the time there were 3-4 times more people petitioning than people registered for the class. I will never get in those classes since I'm already working full time. Students taking more units (classes) last semester are the first allowed to register for classes. Students like me who struggle to get in a single class will always be the last allowed to register which means the classes I need will be closed. I'm not stupid and know I need to attempt to pass my classes with "A's". I'm getting a little discouraged when I'm not even given the opportunity to take the classes I need and when RNs can't find jobs at this time.
As far as those hard to get into prerequisites. I experienced the same thing - the best time to register is the day of or after payment for a term is due. People are nearly almost dropped for nonpayment. Good luck!
Specializes in Surgery, Tele, OB, Peds,ED-True Float RN.
First of all, not all of the world is having a surplus of nurses like your area! My province is 1000 RN's short right now. We just got a raise to try to increased recruitment of nurses. I'm pretty sure if the RN's in your area were getting $10/hr they'd move here! Also, the minimum requirement for entry into practice here is BN/BSN so I think professionals with a university degree + the amount of stress nurses have, deserves what we are currently making!
They have already frozen pay raises and increased the amount they hold out of peoples pay for health insurance and increased deductables. There are many benefits that have been cut and some that have been eliminated. Believe me they already thought of cutting pay but they went through the back door. Most people are getting less in their pay check one way or another.
Lower quality? If you could hire 2 RNs working for half as much, I think quality would greatly improve when a registered nurse is assigned to half as many beds. I hear so much complaining on here that nurses are overworked and can't provide the full care that they can being assigned to so many beds.
I can tell from this comment that you have no experience at all dealing with administration or the "bottom line." Whatever on earth leads you to believe that they would hire twice as many nurses at half the pay? The number of nurses and amount of work would NOT change. All that would change is a larger profit for corporate & larger salaries for those at the top. And yes, the stress level would escalate because the ratio of experienced nurses to inexperienced nurses would plummet and newbies would be left to flounder. Scary? Kinda--that whole life or death thing can really get to you when it's all on your shoulders!
OP- you are not the only one who has had to wait to get into classes. It took my 5 years to finish my prereqs and doing college hopping because I couldn't get a class here or there. If you want something bad enough you stick it out.
I think with a salary in the 30's/hr, some days I feel underpaid still. It is a mentally/physically/emotionally exhausting profession. You have to learn to deal with death on an almost daily basis in certain roles. If wages were to lower would less nurses be in nursing? Definitely, I would go back to bagging groceries, the first job I ever loved. I didn't have to deal with so many stressors I do now. Our salaries reflect our large amount of knowledge, and our stress level.
As previous posters said, there is a large glut of new grad nurses in a horrible economy. Lowering wages wouldn't solve the problem, it would just result in less experienced nurses staying in the profession, and the level of care would decline.
You seem smart enough. Hey if you really don't care to make 15.00 per hour then save yourself some time and give those nurses out here some respect. Go apply at Mcdonalds!
Cut my salary and I will walk out the door and do something else in life. OP, you state you're trying to get into A&P classes, therefore you obviously don't have a clue what it's like out here in the real world of nursing. I'd like to see you do what I do on a daily basis for $15 bucks an hour and see how long you'd put up with the crap. I can go work as a secretary for $12-15 an hour and be able to answer phones, type letters, and sit on my rump all day. Sign me up.
Hospitals force us to work short staffed. It's not the nurses that force us to. We are nothing more than a line on an expense report. If the hospital cut my salary from say $30 to $15, they would NOT hire two nurses. They would still hire just one and save the other $28,000 into their pockets. This is how hospitals work and don't let them tell you otherwise :)
To be quite blunt, which nurse would you like assisting your Doc during surgery? The one making $32 an hour or the one making $8? Have you noticed the trend with jobs where you make only a few dollars an hour over minimum wage? The turnover rate is outrageous. People can't live off of that long term so they will move on to something else with better pay.
Not to mention - who's going to pay $60,000 and up for nursing school to make $8 an hour? I sure wouldn't. I can tell you the biggest reason there is such an enormous waiting list for the classes at so many schools, is because people know the potential there is to make a good living...and that is as it should be. I believe wholeheartedly that any health care position where a persons life is in your hands should be competitive to get into and adequately paid. EMT's for example, don't make nearly enough as it is, IMHO.
If it were as easy to get a job as a nurse as it is to get a job at McDonald's, and they pay wasn't much different, then health care would be in for a whole world of trouble incomparable to the issues it faces now.
Supply and demand. Garbage men get paid well because no one would do it for less. If our wages went down to $15/hour the field would absolutely, immediately clear out and nursing schools would as well. Personally I wouldn't even show for my 2 week notice.
A lot of students have this pie-in-the-sky thought of "I can't wait to help everyone in the world. My pay scale is secondary." That view will change as soon as you work day in and day out of the hospital. Not saying you'll become completely jaded like some nurses, but you certainly won't be there out of benevolence.
Reno1978, BSN, RN
1,133 Posts
As far as those hard to get into prerequisites. I experienced the same thing - the best time to register is the day of or after payment for a term is due. People are nearly almost dropped for nonpayment. Good luck!