If your (college age) child expressed interest in going into nursing, would you encourage it?

[Anonymous]

Odysseus wrote:It means your kid doesn't want to be a lawyer, so I'd encourage it.

Lol

Are you a lawyer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't you OP??

I am! DH is not. Just trying to get some perspectives

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 43 and have worked as a nurse for 20 years. It's been a rewarding and interesting career. I went back to graduate school, worked as a nurse practitioner for a number of years and am now in a very flexible work-from-home job.
The only downside is the pay. I would never be able to live in NW DC on what I make alone. I make less ($95K, 20 years into my career) than most people on DCUM seem to make their first year out of school. Nursing is a great starting salary,
it's a very, very dependable salary (there are always jobs anywhere in America) but it's difficult to raise a family, buy a house, etc. on this salary in many urban areas. In DC every nurse I know who works at GWU or GU or WHC lives an hour
or more outside of the city because they can't afford to live any closer. Or they're married to a higher income earner. In contrast, nursing can provide a great life in much of rural and middle America.

This is a good point although I would say there are opportunities for higher pay as a CRNA or more in nursing administration. Nurses can be hospital CEOs (may need an MBA) or other leadership positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 43 and have worked as a nurse for 20 years. It's been a rewarding and interesting career. I went back to graduate school, worked as a nurse practitioner for a number of years and am now in a very flexible work-from-home job.
The only downside is the pay. I would never be able to live in NW DC on what I make alone. I make less ($95K, 20 years into my career) than most people on DCUM seem to make their first year out of school. Nursing is a great starting salary,
it's a very, very dependable salary (there are always jobs anywhere in America) but it's difficult to raise a family, buy a house, etc. on this salary in many urban areas. In DC every nurse I know who works at GWU or GU or WHC lives an hour
or more outside of the city because they can't afford to live any closer. Or they're married to a higher income earner. In contrast, nursing can provide a great life in much of rural and middle America.

But this is the same for most other big cities / high cost of living areas. Very few people can live in NW DC on 1 salary. Teachers, Nurses, 1st responders - not happening.

The community I grew up in was more than an hour to the city during rush hour - full of police, fire and other civil servants. Everyone knew the police who were taking kick-backs [they took vacations that no one else in the neighborhood could afford].

[Anonymous]

Yes, I absolutely would encourage it.

-I'm a lawyer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 43 and have worked as a nurse for 20 years. It's been a rewarding and interesting career. I went back to graduate school, worked as a nurse practitioner for a number of years and am now in a very flexible work-from-home job.
The only downside is the pay. I would never be able to live in NW DC on what I make alone. I make less ($95K, 20 years into my career) than most people on DCUM seem to make their first year out of school. Nursing is a great starting salary,
it's a very, very dependable salary (there are always jobs anywhere in America) but it's difficult to raise a family, buy a house, etc. on this salary in many urban areas. In DC every nurse I know who works at GWU or GU or WHC lives an hour
or more outside of the city because they can't afford to live any closer. Or they're married to a higher income earner. In contrast, nursing can provide a great life in much of rural and middle America.

This is a good point although I would say there are opportunities for higher pay as a CRNA or more in nursing administration. Nurses can be hospital CEOs (may need an MBA) or other leadership positions.

yes, there are. But these positions are few and far between. Not everyone wants to be a CRNA and be in the OR 40 hours a week. And the CRNA job market is saturated. Not everyone wants to be a hospital CEO (which essentially is a business job). And there are a very, very small number of these jobs out there. Most nurses don't even consider these jobs "nursing".
It's like saying that a teacher can make more money being a principal or the CEO of a curriculum development company. Sure, there are teachers who do this but the jobs are few and far between and their salaries are irrelevant to the 99% of teachers who are in a classroom. They're so removed from the classroom they might as well be different careers entirely.


I actually really like nursing and I think it's great that it always gets such a positive response on DCUM. But I do think people over estimate the wages and the salary (for actual nursing-not becoming a CEO) is limited and doesn't support owning a house, raising kids, etc in an urban area.
I've become far more sensitive to this in my older age..it's not something I focused on throughout my 20s and 30s.

[Anonymous]

Abosolute!

Nurses are smart, intuitive, kind, compassionate, cheerful, self-sacrificing, engaged, hard working and horny as hell. Okay ... TMI - but thats my personal experience with a nurse

[Anonymous]

Yes! Most of the middle-aged nurses I know have been able to write their own ticket, schedule-wise. A lot of them pulled back when their kids were little, taking a couple of shifts per week, then escalated their hours when they were ready to. And, they're generally pretty happy with their work!

[Anonymous]

Not really but if they couldn’t do anything else then I’d say go for it. I’ve worked with enough nurses to know it’s very difficult getting along with them.

[Anonymous]

Definitely. I actually looked into nursing, and would have enjoyed it as a career but I was too weak of a science student to pull it off. So I became a medical social worker instead!

[Anonymous]

I am encouraging my son to be a nurse and yes, people are discouraging me from doing that.

The #1 comment I get "he can't support a family on a nurses salary".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I absolutely would encourage it.

-I'm a lawyer

Another lawyer here. My HS-age son mentioned it as a possibility, among other careers. My husband seemed mortified, but I think it's great.

[Anonymous]

Nursing has been very good to me. After about 7-8 years at the bedside I moved into a leadership track. I’ve been in leadership for 15 years. I’ve had to relocate a few times but I’m the chief nurse executive for a large health system. I have huge responsibilities but still good work/life balance. A shortage of PhD prepared nurses with strong operational experience in hospitals mean we command a decent wage. I make over 600K. Im negotiating my next move to a huge system where my comp will total about 850k and all in may be close to 1M. I work hard, know my stuff and demand pay parity with the other. C-suite execs.

Tell your DC there’s a shortage of nurses who want leadership roles. Get experience, go for a MSN and beyond, climb the ladder, work hard, create good outcomes, be a leader, and show that you’re just as valuable as the CFO - then demand to be paid your worth. Being a nurse manager is a hard and thankless job but if you can do it for 3 years you can move up and it gets a lot better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nursing has been very good to me. After about 7-8 years at the bedside I moved into a leadership track. I’ve been in leadership for 15 years. I’ve had to relocate a few times but I’m the chief nurse executive for a large health system. I have huge responsibilities but still good work/life balance. A shortage of PhD prepared nurses with strong operational experience in hospitals mean we command a decent wage. I make over 600K. Im negotiating my next move to a huge system where my comp will total about 850k and all in may be close to 1M. I work hard, know my stuff and demand pay parity with the other. C-suite execs.

Tell your DC there’s a shortage of nurses who want leadership roles. Get experience, go for a MSN and beyond, climb the ladder, work hard, create good outcomes, be a leader, and show that you’re just as valuable as the CFO - then demand to be paid your worth. Being a nurse manager is a hard and thankless job but if you can do it for 3 years you can move up and it gets a lot better.

I'm an academic and I've also heard that there's a shortage of professors of nursing (retirements + growing programs).

[Anonymous]

I'm a nurse and have done many different things with my career from bedside, travel, patient coordinator, research and project management.
I would absolutely be thrilled if my child wanted to peruse a career path in nursing because you never know where it will lead to!

The money can be rewarding as well, but that should not be a motivator. I make a six figure salary but have also been doing this for many years.
Good luck.