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Nurses salaries are too high?! Nurses earn every penny of their paycheck. Yes, i make a comfortable salary but i also worked hard for my masters degree and professional experience.
If you want to talk about high salaries in healthcare, take a look at the salaries of the upper administrators. In major metro areas, some are making over $500,000 a year.
if they run a good shop, i don't see why a Hospital Administrator shouldn't make $500,000/yr.
well, let me know some examples of limits you're willing to set. say, for instance, you took your daughter to the pediatrician for a shot next week, and the pediatrician killed your daughter because she worked too many hours, had the flu, and came into work anyways, and then injected the wrong medicine into your daughter....what's the dollar limit you'd be willing to accept as a penalty for that doctor? or, maybe no dollar penalty, maybe the doctor just loses their license?
You do realize that a pediatrician typically doesn't administer "shots".
"In other countries, governments set the rates that will be paid for different treatments and drugs, even when private insurers are doing the actual purchasing. In our country, the government doesn't set those rates for private insurers, which is why the prices paid by Medicare, as you'll see on some of these graphs, are much lower than those paid by private insurers."
This makes it pretty clear that labor costs are not the true problem.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Those malpractice suits that you and several others claim are allegedly responsible for out-of-control healthcare costs are responsible for approximately 1% of all healthcar5e costs. This includes both malpractice insurance costs and the cost of practicing defensive medicine. By way of comparison, healthcare costs overall increase by 6% or more per year. So, if we totally eliminated all lawsuits for malpractice and all malpractice insurance, you wouldn't even see the difference in your medical bills.
Don't take my word for it. Read the study done by the Congressional Budget Office about this problem. The CBO is a better source for this than your opinion or that of several other posters on this thread. Do us all favor, if you are going to continue to "beat this drum" have the integrity to respond to my argument and at least read this study first. Otherwise, don't expect to be taken seriously.
Finally, understand that reforms which eliminate or reduce these lawsuits will damage the one control that exists on the quality of medical practice outside the medical system itself. Do you really want to leave quality control entirely up to physicians and hospitals? I don't want the fox guarding the hen house, but than I'm 53 and I've lived long enough to understand the problems involved with something like that.
Just a quick comment or two. I've read several comments by nurses and family members of nurses who vigorously protest that salaries of $80,000, $90,000, and $100,000 are not contributors to high health costs. Of course, these figures don't take into account the cost of the benefits that the nurses are earning along with their salary either which presumably include health insurance and a pension plan of sorts whether it be 401K or a defined benefit plan.
Yes, you are contributing to high health care costs whether you realize it or not. I suppose a doctor earning $400,000 a year could tell me the same thing. All these salaries are considerably above average. Healthcare workers do have specialized training and that's because we Americans want good, safe treatment for our medical problems. Don't kid yourself though. These are all heavy "cost drivers"
All other fields of business are experiencing efforts to reduce costs by hiring lower salaried people with lesser skills. Its unreasonable to expect the medical field to be immune to this. America is literally bursting at the seams from high healthcare costs that go up by 6% or more a year.
I appreciate nurses too. But, stop this "snow job" in which you try to delude others and maybe yourselves that your salaries are not part of the problem.
and being the husband of a filipina woman who's family has all come over to this country over the years, I know first hand that folks in the Phillipines are keen on getting trained in the specific areas where the U.S. has a shortage of people. My father-in-law came over as a Pharmacist/Food Scientist. Kinda funny that anyone would criticize filipinos for coming over and seeking the training that puts them in the best position to make a good life...when so many Americans are happy going to college and getting a poli sci or literature degree...
Imagine that? Getting a degree or training in something of value so you can have a better life. In a former thread someone was asking about why some people from other nations make it and others don't. The discussion came down to Philippinos and Mexicans. I wrote in a post that at our Hospital if you were to see a Philippino chances are they work in Nursing, Radiology, the Lab or some other field that has education as a point of entry, while if you were to see someone from Mexico they would more than likely be working in Environmental Services, the laundry, or food service, jobs that have no formal education attatched to them.
At Kaiser, RN's and others don't pay their fair share for their medical expenses, so it is frustrating that someone getting free medical care should demand high pay also. In CA. the nurses union is very strong and attempts to run the state. They don't have my respect until they stop shifting their health care costs the patients who are already paying. Yes, there are many things driving health care, but mostly insurance and provider greed so please don't tell me I have to pay more when they pay nothing for health care.
For those that want to move to Cuba or some other Third World nation for your healthcare because it is so cheap and it cost so much more here in the United States realize that you get what you pay for. We have the best in the world.
The bed that you will be staying in at our hospital monitors your weight, movement, helps resist body sores from staying in a bed too long, sends a signal to medical staff when things are going bad or when you try getting out of bed, sends a message to the Doctor about your current care.
That RN and CNA that are caring for you are charting on Ipods and Computers and everything that is done for your care is put down, not on paper but on an electronic chart. The information from your bed, including your every movement in the bed is sent to the computer as well. Any food that you ate or medication that you took is listed.
When a medication is given to you the machine that will dispence the medicine will chart that you have been given the medicine and the RN will chart that it has been administered. Not even so much as a bandaid is not accounted for and listed as being unsed on you for your treatment. This information is listed on your chart as well.
If you need an X Ray, MRI, CT Scan, Pet scan or any other scan that information is sent to your chart.
Lab samples are taken to diagnostic equipment and results are given in minutes. The fact is that anything being done now is done in minutes instead of hours, days, or weeks.
Many high end surgery's are now performed with a robot system that is minimally evasive and lets you recover faster.
All information can be looked up by your doctor on his phone, iPad, or computer and information on treatment options can happen at the time a result is given, meaning that if you give a blood sample the doctor will have the results back faster than you would think possible. Our medicine is fast pase and results oriented. If a specialist is needed they can be called in to look at the results from anywhere in the world and it can happen in minutes. Doctors are not free to play golf and treat patients at the same time.
While all that is going on our Health Information Management Department is drawing the information together, Billing Department can bill your insurance for the exact items used and time spent within the Hospital. Medicine just is not what it used to be.
Still for those that want to, head on over to your favorite 3rd world nation and take in the cheap medicine. Just remember that you just can't compare what is happening today in the USA
Nurses have very strong political influence in California and their support is often sought for various measures.
Nurses wages vary greatly from region to region and even more so around the country.
One thing I do find odd is that Nurses have carved out a special exemption in the labor law when it comes to overtime requirements... where as many other professionals are exempt from being paid overtime in most cases... it is just the opposite for Registered Nurses.
For years, I have urged family and friends thinking about career paths to consider Nursing... many dismiss it because they have no idea the opportunities Nursing Provides...
For the record... we have Nurses with Diplomas (Learned on the Job), those with AA degrees and those with BSN or higher working at my facility as well as travelers and foreign born... one graduated in Germany and was able to challenge the California Board and was granted her California RN license...
Don't forget the California also has a provision for military corpsman to challenge also... the military has been the path for several here...
High Medical Costs are not due to any one item... they are a result that just about everything medical is expensive... a million dollar per bed to construct a local hospital... equipment costing hundreds or thousands of dollars becoming obsolete a few years out, the cost of providing free care for some at the expense of others, the cost of government mandated compliance... combined with declining reimbursements... and you get an idea why some Hospitals are closing.
I do know several Doctors that work as Operating Room Nurses... and they love it.
They no longer have the responsibility of being an employer, running an office with all that entails, the high cost of malpractice and they can easily schedule time off without impacting others...
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