You really think nurses make alot of money? Let me give you something to think about

[diosa78]

So, I am tired of the student nurses that come through our unit saying "Well, nurses make alot of money." I like to gently explain to them that we don't in the following way:

I make $27 an hour. I have 4 or 5 patients with varying acuities (I work in an ER). So, if I have 4 patients, I am making $6.75/hr per patient (with 5 it's $5.40 an hour). I am responsible for assessing, verifying orders, medicating, etc etc. The last time I was in the hospital I asked for an invoice, and if I remember correctly, they charged me around $200/hr for nursing care. (Now this was on a floor, but I am just using it for general comparison).

I have to also take into consideration that hospitals have overhead (housekeeping, techs, etc.), but still that mark-up is huge. In my previous career, I was making considerably more money for less responsibility and less stress and the mark-up on the products was around 13%. I know I am comparing apples to oranges, but it's just something else to think about.

Most students gasp at this when looking at our wages like this, but it's just something I think we should consider. I sometimes think our wages would be better if they were based on acuity and ratios (for hospital nursing). What do you guys think? Am I looking at this all wrong?

[AJPV]

I think it is fallacious to calculate a "per patient wage" and conclude it is terribly low. To compare it to a non-nursing job, think of your patients as different "tasks." So you have 5 to 7 "tasks" among which you divide your time during a work shift. If you have 5 "tasks," each "task" demands roughly 20% of a single hour when you are on duty. So if you want an accurate HOURLY wage for your time spent on a given task (patient), take your "per patient wage" ($6) and divide it by the time spent on the patient out of an hour (0.20 hours) and you'll get your true wage for your actual time spent with that patient: $30/hour. Your low "per patient wage" was arrived at by assuming you are required to work with all of your patients all of the time - simultaneously existing in every patients room. Most other jobs demand employees to alternate between different "tasks" throughout the shift. If you calculated a "per task wage" in these jobs using your method, it would often be in the $1 to 3 per hour range.

[fromtheseaRN, BSN, RN]

I mean absolutely no offense, but being proud of what I do and being paid well are not mutually exclusive. I think that we have to get out of the mindset that if nursing is personally rewarding it doesn't have to be financially rewarding as well. I do make good money because I work OT, nights, and weekends, and have a PRN job on the side. The OP was only showing that on a per patient basis, our wages look terrible.

oh no offense taken! i was making that statement as why i chose nursing and left my former career, kind of a tangent off the original topic. that aside, i definitely agree that nurses are not paid enough for the work they do.

[trauma_lama, BSN]

ugh sad times for THIS babynurse....

[brownbook]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, gently me.

I guess the glass is either half empty or half full. Especially today with a horrible recession going on. People on the verge of rioting over the loss of their financial future being anything like their parents.

I always think of the line from Star Wars, "if money is all you want, then money is all you will get."

I have an ADN, I never worked more than 32 hours a week (well to be honest of course there were occasional extra shifts). I made more money than my husband who worked 40 hour weeks, has his Masters Degree in Social Work, and was also receiving bi-lingual pay.

Maybe if social workers were more highly respected and better paid there would be less destitute, downtrodden, neglected, drug abusers, etc. filling our hospitals?

To be honest money has never been important to me. I love to shop at thrift stores, (you would have to hold a gun to my head to get me into a mall.) We almost always go over 100,000 miles on our cars and wait until they literally die before buying new ones. We live in a small, modest, home,

We are very content. Of course Jesus said "be not content with the way of things." Maybe it is just me? Maybe you all should be on strike?

[NaKcl, BSN, RN]

humm,,,, $6.75/hr wages... interesting perspective. I never thought about that way.

So,,, I usually start with 6 patients in the beginning of the shift. And I usually have so many discharges and admissions, it often ends up taking care of 9 to 10 patients a day. that makes my wage $3.00/hr to $5.00/hr... not to mention all the paper works and rules you need to complete.

It is depressing!!!

In this perspective, waiting a table would be much more profitable to my time..

Have any of you guys worked as a waiter/ waitress in a restaurant?

[KareBear0609]

What does he do?

He is a union construction worker. It's the union part of it that makes him so much money.

[Sanuk]

Your low "per patient wage" was arrived at by assuming you are required to work with all of your patients all of the time - simultaneously existing in every patients room.

That's sure what it feels like.

[cindyloowho]

The last time I was in the hospital I asked for an invoice, and if I remember correctly, they charged me around $200/hr for nursing care. (Now this was on a floor, but I am just using it for general comparison).

I have to also take into consideration that hospitals have overhead (housekeeping, techs, etc.), but still that mark-up is huge.

Not to be Devil's advocate, but I'm confused about your invoice...nursing care is not a Medicaid/Medicare reimbursable expense, so how could they have charged you for it? Health care expenses are so high because of that reason...an aspirin costs $25 because they have to pay for the nurse who gave it and that service isn't directly chargable.

And another thing...when a hospital charged $25 for an aspirin, they actualy don't get that amount because the contracted rate is usually WAY lower than their actual charge. Look at your statements and you will see "charged amount" of something and then the "reimbursable amount" that will be much, much lower because the agreement contract knocks it down. Sorry, I just don't see that point of this point. Nurses make a decent living

[AJPV]

Sanuk: I hear you :smackingf

[ILovetorun]

Well, good thing I didn't choose nursing for the moolah! My husband also makes really good money (engineer) but I choose to look at our incomes (I guess my future income since I only go to school right now,) as combined rather than what he makes vs. what I make. I don't care so much about that I guess. Plus, there are many opportunities to make money. Go back to school, work a per diem job on the side, pick up extra shifts. I know it sucks to have to do all that but at least you have the opportunity if you're willing.

[Lynx25, LPN]

Haha, well, just think of the LTC nurses... I'd make 66 cents a person/hr then.

I'm OK with it, I did my research, I knew what I was signing up for, and when I choose, I can go to school and become qualified for a position with higher pay.

My husband and I split the bills, and even though he makes much more than I ever will (Without college education! Argh!) We have agreed not to pop out a million kids.

I've never understood the people that pop out four and five kids and then ***** and moan about money issues. What? They aren't chia pets, what did you expect to spend on them?

[sapphire18]

I don't really understand if a nurse is so unhappy with the money they make, why did they go into nursing in the first place? It's not like incomes for certain professions are exactly kept top-secret...change careers, become a nurse anesthetist, etc...