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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It kind of comes down to how much you guide your kids career choice. My 10 year old nephew wants to be a fire fighter and my 14 year dreams of broadway. I tell them they can be a volunteer firefights and do community theater — that is not a career path we will support.

Nursing seems to me to be more professional, but I didn’t realize the pay didn’t match the work/responsibility.

Whats wrong with being a professional firefighter? They have decent pay, good job stability, and usually great benefits. And I'd certainly would encourage my DD to do that than to pursue, for example, a liberal arts tenure track position.

I think what we are seeing coming out in this thread are class distinctions. Most UMC and higher are not going to encourage their children to go into professions that are perceived, rightly or wrongly, as being below their class level (e.g. nurse, firefighter, etc.). Just as an officer in the military is not likely to encourage their child to go into the military as an enlisted person. The perception is that this would be moving down in class (again not debating whether right or wrong, but this is true.).

[Anonymous]

OP, what does your daughter like about the idea of nursing? Is it possible that (gasp) she is ok with earning <$100k and living in an apartment because she cares about giving back and wants to help people? Maybe you should respect that and not try to convince her that she should only be a nurse if it pays better than marketing or PR or whatever

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

There’s also the nurses that get paid time and half watching soap operas, talking on the phone, watching monitors all day that trigger every few hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

There’s also the nurses that get paid time and half watching soap operas, talking on the phone, watching monitors all day that trigger every few hours.

Are you talking about the telemetry floors? You don't know anything about the situation except maybe when you walk in to see your loved one and notice a nurse sitting down. Maybe they are on their break?
I had a relative work that floor. They are charting for so many patients (the number increasing every year) leaving the records that your loved one's doctors read when they come in. And in between this, it's not as if nothing happens. If some patient is on that floor, it's for a reason. A good nurse can make the difference between life and death.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is in nursing school it is a 250k degree at a good four year school and she needs a master in top to make good money.

The education and cost and work does not equal the low salary sadly. She has a calling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in nursing school it is a 250k degree at a good four year school and she needs a master in top to make good money.

The education and cost and work does not equal the low salary sadly. She has a calling

That's not unique to nursing...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in nursing school it is a 250k degree at a good four year school and she needs a master in top to make good money.

The education and cost and work does not equal the low salary sadly. She has a calling

Any private college will cost you 250k these days. We were just talking about how expensive college has gotten. I remember thinking 15k per semester was so high back in the day.

[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.

stop watching Gray's Anatomy, Susan. I am an RN and no has time to sneak into the supply room for a good time. As far as working all the time, not really. At least not in the hospital setting. Most nurses work 3 12 hours shifts per week.
OP-I am a second career nurse. I started doing something else 9-5 and switched to nursing for different reasons. I love it even with all the BS.
A few things:
-A BSN nurse can work in different places-hospitals tend to pay better than outpatient (clinics, public health, home health)
-You can find a job anywhere in the country-but pay is not consistent. Certain areas (i.e., the South) pay crap
-You can go on to a NP (Nurse Practitioner), Midwife, or CRNA program, PhD (research)---I think these programs (esp NP) are becoming over saturated because people are leaving the bedside for them.
-It really is a flexible career-in terms of schedule and what you can do-especially for only having a Bachelor's. You can switch specialties. You can schedule yourself in such a way to be able to take small breaks, time off for kids' events.
-It can absolutely be taxing on your body and mental health-as a new grad, there is always some night shift involved.
-More men are joining the career (yay-we need the balance)
-Like teaching-we do not get respect. Occasional hero worship/yay good job-sure. But not actual respect.
-I have no idea what the future holds for nursing. You would think post Covid, the powers that be would like "hey maybe these guys deserve better pay, etc." But that is not the case in many places. Crappy pay, worsening patient/nurse ratios, and the latest-hospitals brining in cheap nurses to help with the load instead of paying their staff better. All while for profit hospitals and CEOs keeping making $$$$. Nurses are not the only ones overworked in healthcare-everyone (physicians, PT, OT, RT, mental health) seems disillusioned right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

There’s also the nurses that get paid time and half watching soap operas, talking on the phone, watching monitors all day that trigger every few hours.

Are you talking about the telemetry floors? You don't know anything about the situation except maybe when you walk in to see your loved one and notice a nurse sitting down. Maybe they are on their break?
I had a relative work that floor. They are charting for so many patients (the number increasing every year) leaving the records that your loved one's doctors read when they come in. And in between this, it's not as if nothing happens. If some patient is on that floor, it's for a reason. A good nurse can make the difference between life and death.

Dialysis and nursing homes. Don’t think all my aunties would lie about spending majority of their time on the TV! They all get together and laugh about it, very low stress job for them.

[Anonymous]

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

I highly disagree. I'm a "regular RN" and make over 100k so I'm not sure where you're getting your information.

With that being said. I would highly discourage my daughter from every entering the profession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would recommend your kids avoid pink collar jobs: nursing, teaching, interior designer, librarian, etc. Even though they often require extensive training, skill, and hard work, they tend to pay less under the guise of being "family friendly" while high paid tech bros roll online at 10am in their pajamas and make 4x as much.

so unfair but so very true. :/

+2

-A social worker whose DH is a tech bro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

There’s also the nurses that get paid time and half watching soap operas, talking on the phone, watching monitors all day that trigger every few hours.

Are you talking about the telemetry floors? You don't know anything about the situation except maybe when you walk in to see your loved one and notice a nurse sitting down. Maybe they are on their break?
I had a relative work that floor. They are charting for so many patients (the number increasing every year) leaving the records that your loved one's doctors read when they come in. And in between this, it's not as if nothing happens. If some patient is on that floor, it's for a reason. A good nurse can make the difference between life and death.

Dialysis and nursing homes. Don’t think all my aunties would lie about spending majority of their time on the TV! They all get together and laugh about it, very low stress job for them.

Ah, nursing homes. You are talking about a different animal there. My relative tried working in a nursing home after retirement, seemed like a way to make some extra money (nothing like they pay at a hospital.) She ended up quitting. It was too disorganized and yet boring at the same time, considering she was used to a fast paced environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in nursing school it is a 250k degree at a good four year school and she needs a master in top to make good money.

The education and cost and work does not equal the low salary sadly. She has a calling

That's insanely expensive. Is she in a private university? I did my first two years at a community college, then transferred to an in-state university for the next two years. Got my bachelor's of nursing for less than half of what your daughter's tuition is. For graduate school, I worked three 12-hour shifts/week and took 1-2 graduate courses a semester until I was done with my master's. I didn't take any loans out for my master's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

There’s also the nurses that get paid time and half watching soap operas, talking on the phone, watching monitors all day that trigger every few hours.

I'm burnt out. Can you please tell where these types of nursing jobs are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in nursing school it is a 250k degree at a good four year school and she needs a master in top to make good money.

The education and cost and work does not equal the low salary sadly. She has a calling

That's insanely expensive. Is she in a private university? I did my first two years at a community college, then transferred to an in-state university for the next two years. Got my bachelor's of nursing for less than half of what your daughter's tuition is. For graduate school, I worked three 12-hour shifts/week and took 1-2 graduate courses a semester until I was done with my master's. I didn't take any loans out for my master's.

My daughter has a partial scholarship so “only costing” me 160k for degree. Folks go to NYU and GWU too for nursing. My daughter would love to do Georgetown type place for grad school