Can You Afford the Life You Desire On a Nursing Salary? Are we paid what we deserve?

Prior to becoming a nurse I’d taken on jobs in so many different areas. I was literally all over the place. Customer service, banking, sales associate, nurse assistant…I even worked at a friends cleaners to earn some extra cash. I knew the things I wanted and desired were not attainable for me without a consistent paycheck in a stable position. 

When I made the decision to become a nurse it was after already graduating with an associates and bachelors degree. Nursing was my opportunity to grab success and obtain that stability I was craving. 

Starting out as a new nurse I’d done my research as to what the job entailed, what the salary would be and lucky for me I am the daughter of a nurse so I was able to get a general idea of what the profession was like. 

I had the idea that once I became a nurse I would be able to do all things I couldn’t do before and would retire 35 years later.

Absolutely not.

First, I commend all nurses who’ve stayed in the profession until retirement. That’s some real dedication. My mother is one of those people. I am not. 

While I truly enjoy certain aspects of nursing like the people and the selfless and rewarding feeling of helping someone else…the reality for me was that I was overworked, underpaid and undervalued. 

I learned this immediately as a new nurse. Your salary is 65,000 or so  BEFORE taxes.   A typical shift for a nurse is between 8-12 hours, 3 or more days a week. Yes, there are plenty of opportunities for overtime so you can make more. However, swapping my time with family and friends and over stressing myself for more money I was not interested in doing all the time. I was a mother and had a family.

For my first nursing job I was actually hired in part time. Thinking back on it now I should’ve declined and opted for another position on another floor full time but as a new grad I was just excited about the offer. (Don’t be me). Then I was told the open position was for midnights. 🤒. It wasn’t odd to have 6 patients on nights because my floor was understaffed and on nights most assume we are twiddling our thumbs which is not the case. Working nights was busy and we had kids on my unit so it was constant monitoring. 

The workload for me wasn’t too bad initially until I start having the same workload while also carrying the position of charge nurse. But even still the paychecks just did not seem to compensate for the work I put in. I found that after taxes a huge chunk was taken out for health insurance. I was being disrespected by members of the multidisciplinary team (MDT), oncoming day shift, doctors, patients, etc. The reality was that lots of nurses sacrifice time with family and friends to work. Getting a day off is not the easiest thing in the world to do and not to mention the stress nursing has on not only your mind but your body as well. 

Now don’t get me wrong—a paycheck was better than no paycheck but it just was nowhere near what I’d expected. As a valuable member of the MDT team and  as the primary point of contact for patients while in the hospital—we deserve more. 

The average salary of a registered nurse with a Bachelors degree, working full time,  is between 63-80k depending on where you live. Most nurses I know are at the lower end of that scale and like I stated before that is BEFORE taxes.

Right out of school as nurses we are excited to hit the ground running and soak up that experience in a hospital setting. I’d encourage more research into exactly what it is you want to do as a nurse. Is it bedside? If you’re  a student—volunteer a couple hours at your local hospital and see what the nurses are doing. Or shadow a nurse for an even closer and detailed idea. There are so many nursing opportunities that still allow you to help others while also making more money. 

I noticed out of the class of people I graduated nursing school with—only a handful are still working at the bedside. Save yourself some time, stress and energy and choose wisely. 

Nursing can offer you ample opportunities to do what you love and earn a nice income. 

1. Prepare-research the opportunities for new nurses. Bedside isn’t the only option.

2. Use your voice- ask for more hours, a raise as appropriate, etc. (squeaky wheel gets the oil)

3. Be in the know- shadow or volunteer on your desired area of interest and get an idea of what the workload is like. Make the best decision for you.

4. Consider leaving the hospital and looking into other healthcare related positions in which your nursing degree makes you a strong candidate for.
   

   In my next blog I will talk about jobs I never knew existed that are earning up to six figures and will hire you based on your nursing experience!!!