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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I married one and it worked out well for us. DW's nursing schedule was very flexible and very helpful when we started having kids. Downside, however, is we didn't have much together time because one of us was always working.

[Anonymous]

nurses start around 50 and don't really get very big increases. as far as working all the time, most work 3 12 hour days, so not really "working all the time."

i don't see why an infusion nurse would make a much greater salary than a regular nurse. that job is easier than many other nursing jobs.

my DD could travel locally (actually closer to her home than her "home" hospital) and almost triple her salary, which she may do this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Our kids aren’t looking for mommy jobs — they may not get married, may not have kids, so we are focused on jobs where they will be the breadwinner. Wouldn’t nursing be a good option if they don’t go PT? I don’t think they will want to be traveling nurses, and I don’t want to count on another pandemic. But being like a pediatric hospital nurse should clear like $100k right?

[Anonymous]

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

Ok cool. So if your DD is in nursing during a once-in-a-century pandemic, and willing to put her her health at significant exposure risk during that pandemic, all while dealing with scores of dying people - then she could make a lot of money for one year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Our kids aren’t looking for mommy jobs — they may not get married, may not have kids, so we are focused on jobs where they will be the breadwinner. Wouldn’t nursing be a good option if they don’t go PT? I don’t think they will want to be traveling nurses, and I don’t want to count on another pandemic. But being like a pediatric hospital nurse should clear like $100k right?

OP are you trolling? I’m serious. You’re looking for confirmation that breadwinner nurses are actually a common, reasonable expectation in a career? Why don’t YOU become a nurse?

[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!

OP, how much time have you spent in the workforce yourself?

[Anonymous]

Nurses will always be in demand, always be able to find employment. But,
They are overworked, underpaid, and subjected to difficult situations, huge responsibility, irregular schedules, the general public, covid.... it's a tough, tough job.

[Anonymous]

Does your DD like working with people? She should at least do some shadowing in the medical field to decide if this is something that she can see herself doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Our kids aren’t looking for mommy jobs — they may not get married, may not have kids, so we are focused on jobs where they will be the breadwinner. Wouldn’t nursing be a good option if they don’t go PT? I don’t think they will want to be traveling nurses, and I don’t want to count on another pandemic. But being like a pediatric hospital nurse should clear like $100k right?

100k after many years? Yeah possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Our kids aren’t looking for mommy jobs — they may not get married, may not have kids, so we are focused on jobs where they will be the breadwinner. Wouldn’t nursing be a good option if they don’t go PT? I don’t think they will want to be traveling nurses, and I don’t want to count on another pandemic. But being like a pediatric hospital nurse should clear like $100k right?

OK fine, but why not steer them towards being a physician, software engineer, lawyer or an entrepreneur if breadwinning is the most important thing. What a weird post.

[Anonymous]

There is flexibility in nursing as a career (not every nurse works in a clinical setting). I know nurses that work for insurance companies, the C-suite in healthcare systems, policy organizations, as professors, for publishing companies, etc.

[Anonymous]

Your DH is right. My mom is a retired RN. She got out because she didn't like how patient care was being compromised for the hospital system's bottom line. When someone has to be squeezed, it's usually the nurses. Treatment during the pandemic is a good example.

[Anonymous]

There are many, many different directions a nursing career can take, including working in administrative roles with no bedside/clinical work, but it takes time to get there. One of my closest friends is a CRNA, which takes getting a BSN and a masters. She makes high 100s.

Nursing is NOT for the faint of heart. I work in a non-clinical healthcare role and our nurses get beat up by patients and see some horrible stuff (yes, even at “nice” hospitals like our system’s flagship - you’ve certainly heard of it.) You’re seeing people at their most vulnerable and will see death. I would suggest having your daughter talk to an experienced nurse. Many people who go into the profession do so out of a desire to help people. This is very noble, but the reality of being a nurse extends far beyond just caring.

[Anonymous]

He isn’t wrong.

NP, PA or nurse anesthetist may be bettter options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Our kids aren’t looking for mommy jobs — they may not get married, may not have kids, so we are focused on jobs where they will be the breadwinner. Wouldn’t nursing be a good option if they don’t go PT? I don’t think they will want to be traveling nurses, and I don’t want to count on another pandemic. But being like a pediatric hospital nurse should clear like $100k right?

Why is your daughter more interested in nursing than being a physician, for example? Just trying to understand what she's looking for.

If she doesn't have a spouse/kids, being a travel nurse is really lucrative.