Dealing with dead and dying kids? I bet it does have high turnover. Your daughter is made of stern stuff.
Indeed.
She initially planned on joining the Air Force, doing ROTC, then having a career working with amputees. She volunteered in a VA hospital during high school and shocked me with her Air Force plans.
The Air Force ended up turning her down because her migraine medication was not on their approved list. She tried, with her physician, weaning off the medication and going to another but she ended up with debilitating migraines.
Well congrats to Kayakerkid!
I don’t think I’ve ever heard nursing called a “low-paying job”. At least not RNs. The description is probably apt for LPNs. There are such a wide variety of jobs and situations available to nurses, it’s hard to generalize about either pay or working conditions, I would think.
I think the comparison needs to be between similar job requirements. Yes, nurses get paid more than gas station attendants, but you don’t need a bachelor’s to be a register jockey. They are fairly low paid compared to programmers, engineers, accountants, etc, and have a physical labor intensive job to boot.
Nurses deserve a lot of credit. It’s not a job I’d be able to do at twice the pay rate most positions offer.
That I can’t argue with.
Same here from what I’ve heard nurses with some certifications can make serious bank. I’ve never heard of a “low paid” nurse unless we’re talking about some person with a barebones credentials acting as a caretaker of some kind.
Nurses work hard and study hard but the math smarts required to be a programmer, engineer, or accountant is a step beyond that required for nursing. They are not on the same “similar job requirements” playing field.
I had the same opinion, but my paediatric and oncology contacts tell me different: paediatric care is often some kind of wonderful, and apparently for palliative care you have to start with a certain amount of resilience, which is not sternness nor indifference.
But apparently intensive care toughens you up.
I would agree with this, but please do consider that the “people smarts” required of a nurse are several steps beyond that required to be a programmer, engineer or accountant. Nurses walk into a room and have to assess such things as a patient’s emotional state, his family dynamics, his living situation, and how to teach him how to manage his acute and chronic conditions. It’s not just emptying bedpans and handing out pills. Add to this the fact we have to tacitly diagnose conditions so that we know when to report to the doctors. It’s a complex process, but often incomprehensible/ unknown to others.
No doubt about it. But I still wouldn’t classify nursing as “low paying”, in any respect. It certainly ranks very high in my area in terms of pay for jobs requiring a bachelors degree. According to BLS data, the mean annual wage for various occupations:
Registered nurse: $71,000
Nurse midwife: $93,610
Accountant: $75,280
Computer programmer: $84,360
Civil engineer: $87,940
Then you get to the:
Home health aids: $22,870
Nursing assistants: $26,820
Of course, there are nurse anesthetists and nurse practitioners that make a lot more.
My daughter is aiming for a nursing career now - she is a senior in high school, so has a ways to go before interviews and salary comparisons. Good reading here in this thread, tho, as I am not familiar with this career path - thanks, all!
What are “incredible genetics” and did they play a factor in the OP’s daughter getting the job instead of the [del]old bag[/del] older nurse?
In the roll of genetic dice, my daughter luckily received my looks, grace, and intelligence, and her mother’s incredible sense of propriety.