Career as a nurse -- DH has a prejudice against it

[Anonymous]

DH grew up in a rural town where like the default path for a LOT of the women in his graduating class was to go into nursing. He wants to dissuade our DD from the field because he feels it is underpaid, over worked, and not given enough respect in the profession. He claims they barely break $100k, despite working long hard hours responsible dozens of patients.

My impression is that there is a nursing shortage, and I would expect salaries to rise to approach $150k or so, a solid professional salary. And if you go into a specialty, like CNP or CNA you can break $200k riveling pediatricans and internist salaries.

Love to hear stories of nurse careers to balance out my DH's long list of RNs scrapping by in rural Georgia!

[Anonymous]

regular RN will not make 100k unless you become a travel nurse

[Anonymous]

https://www.registerednursing.org/nurse-anesthetist/salary/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.registerednursing.org/nurse-anesthetist/salary/

that's not regular RN

[Anonymous]

The nurses I know are well paid (one is a nurse practitioner) and have amazing flexibility, especially if you have children. It's one of the few professions where you can dial it back to PT (if you want) when you are raising children and then jump right back in later.

[Anonymous]

Well he isn't wrong -- they are underpaid, overworked and not given enough respect. You should focus on the fact that she can get a job quickly and not live in your basement! Win win.

[Anonymous]

Nursing shortage = lack of people willing to deal with the workload, stress and high patient ratios for the wages that are being offered. In other words, it is not a labor shortage but a wage shortage and with the trend of hospitals consolidating I would not expect it to get better anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

The thing about "nursing" is it encompasses a very broad swath of careers. Anything from CNA/LPN through RN through CRNA/APRN/NP/etc. And you can work in a variety of settings - a friend of mine went back to school to become a nurse after working in biology research for a decade and earning nothing, and after putting in 2 years at an outpatient facility she got a job as a school nurse so she has a schedule that matches her kids and an extremely easy job. You can go the other direction working in ICUs, as a travel nurse, in labor & delivery - higher stakes, more money.

After you've been a nurse for 5 years or so it's one of the best jobs I know of in terms of ability to cut back hours and keep your pay level (pro rata).

[Anonymous]

It’s a good path but she can also be a PA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:regular RN will not make 100k unless you become a travel nurse

Not true, my wife grossed just over 100k during her last full year as an infusion nurse (giving chemo, etc) at a DC area hospital. Pretty good health coverage, too.

Travel nurses could be around 200k in the current environment.

It can be a pretty rewarding job on a personal level as well, with lots of job portability.

[Anonymous]

I know a lot of men who avoid dating nurses, much less marrying them. It's viewed as a job where the woman will be working most of the time, leaving no time for a relationship. Hospitals can also be a hotbed for affairs between medical staff. Nurses are also viewed as having certain undesirable personality traits, as well.

That's what I hear from the men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:regular RN will not make 100k unless you become a travel nurse

Not true, my wife grossed just over 100k during her last full year as an infusion nurse (giving chemo, etc) at a DC area hospital. Pretty good health coverage, too.

Travel nurses could be around 200k in the current environment.

It can be a pretty rewarding job on a personal level as well, with lots of job portability.

That's specialized nursing though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH grew up in a rural town where like the default path for a LOT of the women in his graduating class was to go into nursing. He wants to dissuade our DD from the field because he feels it is underpaid, over worked, and not given enough respect in the profession. He claims they barely break $100k, despite working long hard hours responsible dozens of patients.

My impression is that there is a nursing shortage, and I would expect salaries to rise to approach $150k or so, a solid professional salary. And if you go into a specialty, like CNP or CNA you can break $200k riveling pediatricans and internist salaries.

Love to hear stories of nurse careers to balance out my DH's long list of RNs scrapping by in rural Georgia!

What part of your DH’s view do you think is wrong? He’s correct on every count. Doesn’t mean it isn’t a perfectly fine career path, but you do your kid no favors by pretending it’s something it’s not.

[Anonymous]

Cousin 1 has been a travel nurse since graduating from nursing school. She's always made excellent money doing this and gotten the opportunity to travel to all states domestically and several international locations. She started making $$$$$$ during the pandemic.

Other Cousin 2 has always worked in one hospital. She was tired of being overworked, underappreciated, and underpaid, so she quit at the end of 2021 and went the travel route. She said she's now much happier. She also feels safer because even though she's away from her kids while on placement, she doesn't have the fear of bringing covid home to her two who can't get vaccinated. This cousin is now making enough that she'll be able to take a few months off this spring with the extra money she's making.

[Anonymous]

Travel nurse did well in 2020, my friend had a tenant that grossed 300k.