RN jobs and pay (Fairbanks, Eielson AFB: appointed, health insurance, houses)

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by ziggy2022

Never said a dang thing negative about Native Alaskans...

You said something about how some people, based on a common stereotype, might generalize about native Alaskans being drunks, but you wouldn't.

I guess some people around here take that as a negative comment.

"Yeah, you said A, but you really mean B".

I find it amusing that others are accusing you of making assumptions, while it's actually the other way around.

[gemstone1]

"The traveling medical professionals are the problem in Alaska"....wrong, they are the solution. If there was no need, there would be no travelers. Supply and demand.

Regards
Gemstone1

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

"The traveling medical professionals are the problem in Alaska"....wrong, they are the solution. If there was no need, there would be no travelers. Supply and demand.

Regards
Gemstone1

I wouldn't call it a solution. Heck, in my profession we have travelers as well. Rural Alaska isn't for everyone. Villages and hubs are each dynamic in their own way, and sometimes they are accepting of those that are willing to be accepted, and sometimes they are rejecting of those that want to be accepted.

Traveling professionals are seen as money chasers. They are seen as part of the problem. Many bush communities will accept an outsider, when they know an outsider either: A. is committed or B. different

Sometimes the only way a terrible professional (teacher, medical personal, police officer, etc) can get a job is to go where there is a high demand.

Ask why there is such a high demand for professionals in the bush, and then you might start to understand the problem.

[Haolejohn]

My experiences with Nurses has been positive. Even the traveling ones, however the traveling doctors, not so much.

Let's just say, when nurse friends of mine 4000 plus miles away can diagnose an issue without seeing the person, but two traveling doctors and the head Dr at the local hospital didn't.

I almost lost a child that week and when I think about it, I really hate traveling Medical professionals. Wrong to clump them all together, but it is how I feel. Of course, I calm down and realize that not all are that way. There are good ones out there.


To the OP:
Don't do it just for the money.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

"The traveling medical professionals are the problem in Alaska"....wrong, they are the solution. If there was no need, there would be no travelers. Supply and demand.

Regards
Gemstone1

They are the solution to what? My comment was specific to substandard medical care, and travelers aren't the solution to that. The (not always workable) solution is going Outside for those of us who can. The mindset that substandard care or nothing is all we get is what's wrong. If travelers get paid so much more, then perhaps part of the solution is providing attractive pay to those who want to stick around.

But then there's this, so maybe it's a Catch-22.

The other thing that gets us is the high salaries paid to mediocre nurses just to keep them at the jobs in more remote areas. Getting paid an executive salary on a associates/bachelors education makes people feel really entitled.

Eta like Haeljohn, though, I think the issue is more with doctors than with nurses.

[mizzile]

Originally Posted by ziggy2022

People feel entitled that are on welfare as well. It's the ME generation's influence. Further more, what the hell is an executive? Just ALL executives? How much does this executive make? These general statements are founded on nothing. Do you know what a nurse does? I'm not talking about the mediocre ones that can't do anything BUT work in the locale you're referring to. I'm talking about the ones that know their sh!+ and could save your life if you had a heart attack at a baseball game - because they've saved other peoples lives over and over again. It's just what they do.

Why do thugs that run around a football field and abuse animals while they laugh get paid millions while someone who flies to the moon or performs an 18 hour surgery to remove a brain tumor get paid a portion of that.

Come on, Mizzle

Yes I know what nurses do. There are a lot of nurses in state who can barely do basic math but are getting paid 80-90K plus. OF COURSE they are going to start feeling like they are hot dookie just because they're suddenly raking in the cash.

As for the rest of your haranguing...

[mizzile]

Originally Posted by Haolejohn

My experiences with Nurses has been positive. Even the traveling ones, however the traveling doctors, not so much.

Let's just say, when nurse friends of mine 4000 plus miles away can diagnose an issue without seeing the person, but two traveling doctors and the head Dr at the local hospital didn't.

I almost lost a child that week and when I think about it, I really hate traveling Medical professionals. Wrong to clump them all together, but it is how I feel. Of course, I calm down and realize that not all are that way. There are good ones out there.


To the OP:
Don't do it just for the money.

Ooof. Nurses are not supposed to be doing diagnosis. They are supposed to be under a physician's supervision for a reason.

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by mizzile

Ooof. Nurses are not supposed to be doing diagnosis. They are supposed to be under a physician's supervision for a reason.

Tell ya what. They nailed what was wrong based off the symptoms and a short Facebook post. Amazing what nurses know. If only we had checked our messages before our fourth trip to the ER in 5 days.
Might have saved the medevac from happening.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Haolejohn

..Let's just say, when nurse friends of mine 4000 plus miles away can diagnose an issue without seeing the person, but two traveling doctors and the head Dr at the local hospital didn't. ..

Same thing happened with someone I know. He was having difficulty breathing after having some hardware installed in his body at the Anchorage hospital, and the doctors there weren't coming up with any solutions.

600 miles away a local non MD talked with the man's wife over the phone, and encouraged them to look into a possible embolism.

After prodding the staff, tests were done and it was indeed an embolism.

An MD degree isn't required for making a correct diagnosis. What's required is an active interest in the patient.

[Metlakatla]

Nonetheless, mizzile's point was a legal one, and she was quite correct. That still doesn't make most of the local quacks any more qualified. Pretty sure that many of the docs working in AK are fresh out of Caribbean med schools.