okay, now maybe i'm just young and naive, but could someone please fill me in on why it seems that nurses are being singled out from all the other healthcare professions of being overwork and underpaid? I recently got accpeted into nursing school for the fall and thats when i found this site. after reading numerous posts, im starting to get worried.
it seems that the pay is really low (low $20s) and the hours is hectic. Now, i really love to help people and wanted to become a nurse because i would love to make a difference and its rewarding in that way. however, i would love to buy a house one day and start a family, and i certainly don't want to have a college degree and be struggling. how is it that pharmacists can make about $50 an hour and rad techs start off at about $30 an hour and their job seems to me to be less hectic (i am def. not saying that their jobs aren't important). it seems to be that nurses pay is equivalent to someone who doesn't even go to college (post office worker, truck driver) i just think that nurses work hard, they are in stressful environments, and hey to get a bsn you need about 5 years of school.
i looked up diff sites such as salary.com, and it reports that nurses make about $60 g+ a year. You ask around and everyone (who isn't a nurse) says nurses make good money, nurses are always needed. Yet, I read here, from real people, from real nurses saying that they work long hours, are short staffed, and arent being compensated fairly. i know doctors make the money because they are the one that bring income to the hospitals or whatever, but i highly doubt doctors can work alone without a good nurse helping him.
i'm just really bummed out about my career choice right now
pharmacists have 2 years of prereqs and the program itself is 4 years (6 years total)
my bsn nursing would take 2 years prereqs and the program is 3 years (5 years total)
pharmacists are important and trusted, but are not nurses?
my point was not to look down on other professions, but to compare it with nursing. i respect any body nomatter what their job, that does an honest day work.
it just sounds unfair to me that not enough people in important places are speaking up and representing nurses. even if money wasn't a factor, nursing is a vey physically and emotionally hard job. how can a nurse do her job right if she is burnt out?
But you can't compare the level of work by the amount of time it takes. Even though a pharmacists education doesn't take much longer than a nurses, their level of education is much more difficult.
Jo Dirt
3,270 Posts
But you can't compare the level of work by the amount of time it takes. Even though a pharmacists education doesn't take much longer than a nurses, their level of education is much more difficult.