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God is it that bad in ST Louis you would do better working at a car wash. No way I would nurse for that. LPNs make way more then that in most parts of the US.
Wow - thank goodness for the positive folks in this thread........Would some of you other folks like to tell me what job comes with completely convenient hours, has the perfect pay and your boss and coworkers are hot and work at your whim???? Cause you can have that job, I'll stay with my nursing position!
Yes nursing can be frustrating, but I learn something from everyone I take care of, even the disagreeable, dirty, uneducated cusses. It's not for everyone, but you'll be dang glad someone chose to do that job when it's you on the gurney clutching your chest. People don't get sick at the convenience of others schedules and to be present with patient's at their worst times can be a honor.
There is a lot of negativity here and I would say it completely mirrors nursing in the real world. A lot of nurses hate their jobs and it makes the work environment suck at times. That is because IMO they got into nursing for the wrong reasons. These reasons are the ones always offered i.e. get a job anywhere, make good money, never be out of work, etc. The truth is that the majority of these people are not cut out to be nurses and view it as a job and not a career. Kinda like a union auto job in a small town where theres not much else. Well, I like my job and I like helping people who are sick and I'm lucky that I also get paid well and am able to enjoy life. I really wish that the media etc., would quit promoting nursing as the catch all, cure all job and less people would enter the field. At least then I would probably make even better money for doing a job that I enjoy. That's my 2 cents.
God is it that bad in ST Louis you would do better working at a car wash. No way I would nurse for that. LPNs make way more then that in most parts of the US.
Yep, 2nd worst economy in the nation behind Detroit. Even new lawyers only make about $35K/yr. here.
It's not that dire! Many nurse make $80,000 to $100,000 a year, a nurse right out of college makes $60,000 which isn't bad pay.
They have a lot of different kinds of job choices, they can work in a hospital where they make lots of money, usually have plenty of overtime pay, or they can decide to work in a doctor's office and not work weekends and holidays.
They can do home health where they select the patients they'll see, they can work in schools with weekends, holidays, summers off - and the job involves taking temperatures and checking immunization records.
They can work in factories giving first aid to work place injuries.
I think the Obama plan will raise the salaries at first. There will be a flood of patients coming to the doctors and hospitals now that so many have insurance and will want to see a doctor every time they sneeze. That means a shortage of nurses and serious competition for nurses - which means higher wages.
Factories? Where? China? Certainly not many of those left in the USA!
God is it that bad in ST Louis you would do better working at a car wash. No way I would nurse for that. LPNs make way more then that in most parts of the US.
The car wash guys probably make minimum wage (or less if they're off the books) out there if RNs make $10 an hour if they are lucky!
When people ask me if they should go to nursing school (usually co-workers on the assistant level) I ask what they expect to get from it, why they are considering it, and what viable options they have. Now, if someone is already an assistant in the medical field (or in my case, a psychiatric hospital) they've seen a lot of what nurses do and how the conditions are. They've also picked up a lot of useful info about the environment, jargon, how a typical shift might go.
I remember one young gal in my class. The nurses at our hospital were going on strike. They were making $7/hour- this in 1981, near Boston. This young gal said, "If nurses are paid more, the wrong kind of people will go into nursing." I asked, "The wrong kind, you mean, like adults who pay their bills or support their families?"
After almost 30 years (1) with my RN, I make $45/hour, near Boston, in a free-standing psychiatric hospital. Psych nurses who work on a unit within a general hospital in the city make more (riding the coattails of intense medical nurses in "best hospitals in the country." My night shift diff is among the lowest in the area ($3.50/hour).
My observation of people who aren't "suited" to nursing isn't so much about the patients, as it is to the B.S. level of other nurses and so-called "nursing management." Now, maybe I've just had an unusually bad run, but that's why I work nights- that, and I can't get up in the morning, especially not for 7am. My hospital doesn't have straight evening shifts- it's day/evening or night, and I canNOT work days. Also, as said before, less B.S. at night- at least, there ought to be.
I'd be wary of any job or field that is primarily women (I don't do too well as one of the girls, in fact, I think one problem is that I get along too well with the male assistants, I'm one of the boys and not Nancy Nurse). I think "helping professions," and especially mental health/social services is just set up to be a dysfunctional environment- people come in with all kinds of personal agendas and issues and the job isn't concrete enough to overcome it.
I would *never* recommend that anyone go to a 4-year program. Get in as fast, dirty, and cheap as you can (community college? Hospital program?) and then, if you see a need for more degrees, go ahead and get one. I personally haven't seen the need, and anyway, around Boston, there are so many over-educated people, it's absurd. I could never keep up.
Thanks xxgingerxx for backing me up. I am so sick of these pop media articles on how nursing is going to save us all. Most of these young nurses want no part of bedside nursing. Thus they go get their BSNS MSNS as fast as they can. So they can become educators case managers supervisors.ect Most of the time they make less money. They want away from the floor at any cost. As for the RN who lived in toledo and also worked in New York those wages sound right know both areas. The thing is wages vary all over the US. In parts of the South RNS might be making 18 to 20 bucks an hour. They may have even been a nurse for some years. But the wage for the everyday Joe in the area may only be 10 buck an hour. Thus their making good money for the area. RNs can make 30 bucks an hour in New York no problem. But the cost of living and taxes are so high. That RN in the South making 18/hr might be better off. We need LPNS and RNS doing bedside nursing. But no one wants to do that and for good reason.
Nurses in this part of the South start out at 22 or 23 an hour right out of school...
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It's not for everyone, but you'll be dang glad someone chose to do that job when it's you on the gurney clutching your chest. People don't get sick at the convenience of others schedules and to be present with patient's at their worst times can be a honor.
