Do You Want to Make More Money? Become a Locksmith, or a Nurse!
Posted by realityrounds on March 6, 2009
The economy is in the tank, unemployment is at 8.1%, a 25 year high. There are 4.4 million unemployed, with countless others who are underemployed. So what are the media pundits solution? Become a nurse!
I have to admit, this rubs me the wrong way. It is a huge pet peeve of mine. I read quotes from CNN of a former real estate agent becoming a nurse because it is “a more stable job”. I hear the Governor of Michigan talking on “Meet the Press”, saying a solution for all the recently unemployed in the auto industry, is to retrain them in health care.
Yes, there is a nursing shortage that will only get worse because of the aging of the population. Yes, we need more nurses. But, no, we do not want people going into nursing because it is a “stable” job, or they are desperate for work. The media pundits make nursing out to be a job that any sucker can do.
Nursing, by the way, requires a college education. You cannot become a nurse through a Sally Struthers training catalog. “Do you want to make more money? How about a career as a locksmith, TV repairmen, or a nurse!” It takes two years to complete an Associates Degree in nursing, and four years for a Bachelors of Science degree in nursing. Hopefully, we will be out of this recession/depression in two years.
Please, do not apply for nursing unless you have the following qualifications:
- A love for science and the scientific process
- An academic mind, with good problem solving skills
- A love of medicine, health and social sciences
- A good attitude
- Not minding long hours on your feet, working weekends and holidays, and off shifts
- A genuine desire to help others maintain health, gain health and promote health
- A desire to promote the image and professionalism of nursing.
It would be great to have a new pool of nursing candidates who can bring some of the above qualifications to the profession. But, please do not apply if the only reason you want to be a nurse is because you can’t find a better job. Just become a locksmith then!
RR
nurse Gloria said
I have the qualifications you list. I agree that nobody should go into nursing just because it is stable employment. But nurses have long been exploited by our U.S. system of health care. Let me give you an example.
My sister and I chose two different career paths over 30 years ago. My sister chose the U.S. Postal Service for her career. I chose nursing.
I graduated from a two year associate degree program and passed the state board license exam. I went back to school while continuously employed as an RN and graduated a B.S.N. I continued to work and again returned to school to graduate from a Master of Science in Medical-Surgical Nursing program from a state university. I worked several more years and returned to school and graduated with a Master of Science in Health Services Administration while working continuously.
My sister repeatedly posted on higher level positions within the post office and was promoted to postmaster of several small towns in the course of her 30 year career.
We both raised children during our careers. But there is a huge difference between her rewards and my rewards.
Here is the list of differences which I believe shows how nurses are exploited.
1. I paid for my own education while my sister’s training was provided by the U.S. government.
2. I spent my own time outside of my work hours for further education. My sister has paid time for training.
3. My sister always had a higher salary than I did.
4. My sister always had health insurance for herself and her children. I had no health insurance for myself or my children for most of my career except for the first few years.
5. My sister has a very good pension. I have no pension.
6. My sister who is younger than I am is now retired on her very good pension.
7. I am studying for the NCLEX which I am being forced to take again in order to have my license renewed because I did not work in nursing for five years. My license was suspended for a minimum of five years without due process. I was falsely accused. I had no money for legal counsel. I had made the mistake of becoming active in local politics.
I have the satisfaction of knowing that I helped save lives, eased suffering, and helped families of patients. But my sister afforded college for her son. I could not. My sister is financially secure in her retirement. I could easily become a bag lady in my circumstances.
Social Security on my lifetime earnings is about $1100. per month. That includes the five years I worked before working as an RN for 26 years.
I believe it would be more fair for health care institutions to have a national nursing service which is organized like civil service. A high school graduate could enter the health care profession as a nurse assistant that becomes certified. Training for entry and higher levels of education for nurses would be paid by the nursing civil service program followed by nursing civil service exams.
Promotions would be by posting on available positions. A nurse could eventually receive enough education and work experience to reach the level of licensed physician after perhaps twenty years.
It is unfair to expect women, and most nurses are still women, to pay for their own educations and to work while they are caring for their children, and to take time away from their families for further education. It is simply the exploitation of women who were taught to put the wellbeing of others before their own interests. It is exploitation of our nurturing instincts.
We are not saints or nuns. We are good, unselfish people who deserve to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We have to stop believing that we are “special” because we do good works without fair compensation.
The exploitation of nurses will stop when nurses put a stop to it or when there are not enough vulnerable young women who believe the big lie.
realityrounds said
It is interesting to read the varying ideas of how health care reform should be handled. Read the comments on this post: The March to Health Care Reform.
I do not agree with the complete privatization of health care, and I do not agree with the nationalization of nursing. I believe nurses should go to university and gain degrees, as all professions do. I also do not think nurses should be exempt from paying for their education, just like teachers, doctors, engineers etc. There are many jobs in nursing that pay well, have pensions etc. Many federally run health centers would have the same sort of benefits your sister enjoys at the postal service. As a side note, I just read a story about how the postal service is going bankrupt. No one is exempt from this depression.
RR
nurse Gloria said
Are you a nurse? What is your profession? How are we going to fill the gap between the nurses we have and the nurses we need? How will nurses pay for their education? Already in Illinois there are hundreds of nurses whose licenses are not renewed because they can’t afford to keep up with their student loans.
There are not plenty of jobs in nursing with pensions and benefits. There used to be more than there are now. It is even more difficult to get a full time job in nursing because health care institutions don’t want to pay for the benefits for full time RNs that they advertise. Many nurses now must have multiple part time jobs.
I’ll bet you are either a doctor or a nurse educator who also makes your living on the backs of exploited staff RNs.
realityrounds said
Hi nurse Gloria,
Actually I am neither. There are many different authors for RR, who all work in a variety of health care fields, not just nursing. Everyone’s opinion should be heard. I am happy you are so interested in finding a solution to this crisis, even if we do not agree on everything. You are obviously highly educated, and voices like yours need to be heard. I will try and post something on why there is nursing shortage, and I hope you can contribute.
Thanks
RR
nurse Gloria said
rr said, “I believe nurses should go to university and gain degrees, as all professions do.” Nursing is not like other professions. Nursing requires what other professions do of their members as far as education and motivation are concerned. But nurses are very much underpaid and cannot afford to pay for their education, especially when they have no health or dental insurance for themselves or their children. Those expenses are out of pocket.
Also, nurses are at high risk for work related injuries. They have an injury rate similar to that of construction workers. That cuts their career short after paying for an expensive education that they can no longer use after being injured. At least construction workers usually haven’t paid tens of thousands of dollars for their education. Nurses have very physically demanding jobs, unlike the other professions. One study showed that nurses in critical care areas lift more pounds in a day than machinists are allowed to by OSHA regulations. Lumbar spinal compression is common in nurses who lift patients daily for seven or eight years. Other work related injuries are due to infectious desease exposure, violent patients, or stress related illnesses which take their toll on nurses and their families.
Also, what other profession prevents its members from practicing because they are behind in paying student loans or child support? Other professionals can usually afford legal counsel to represent them against the licensing board.
Now US nurses are losing jobs to foreign nurses who are being promised green cards. I recently learned that U.S. nurses have no way to know about most employment positions before those positions are offered to foreign nurses through employment agencies hired by hospitals and nursing home chains.
Where else but in nursing are Federal dollars being used to prevent workers from organizing a union? Medicaid and Medicare dollars can be used for health care institutions to hire attorneys and consultants to prevent nurses from organizing. Did teachers have to organize against Federal dollars?
How many other professional face homelessness during or at the end of their careers? I suppose you will blame nurses for their plight. Women are often blamed when they are the victims. And almost all of us nurses are women.
nurse Gloria said
Thank you for your comments. I have one more point to make.
Who will take care of patients if there are no nurses? Why would surgeons operate and try so hard to save lives if there are no educated nurses to care for them after the surgery? Why would EMTs try so hard to get patients to the emergency room within the first critical hour if there are no nurses to care for them? Emergency room doctors give orders to nurses.
Why should we have nursing homes for our elderly if there are no educated nurses to plan and direct patient care? Who will go to our homes to follow up on patients who have been released from hospitals after an illness. Why save them at the hospital if they are only going to die at home because they or their families don’t know how to care for them? Who will care for ill people in this country without nurses?
When there are no nurses, this country will understand. Nurse Gloria
Reflections « Reality Rounds said
[...] work and thought needs to be done. My mind and my body hurts. Why did I not just become a locksmith as originally [...]