The nurse staffing crisis is an urgent pain point for the country’s more than 5 million nurses, for patients, and for the entire health care system. In the last year, nurses have taken action to de…
It’s interesting because in terms of the amount of school/time you need to invest, nursing is a pretty good job. You can become an LPN in less time than it takes to get an Associate’s and then make $50k starting out. RNs can get 70-80k starting out, although some states have raised educational requirements so that you need a Bachelor’s.
You can make that much but in places they don’t. I worked as a radiology aide and an OR aide at a local hospital when I was in college, thought about pursuing nursing as both of my parents are nurses. Two years there and one year of pre nursing in college and I thought “why am I going into this career? I get treated like crap by those above me and the patients, I get no support from my supervisors, I come home every day tired and complaining about work, and the stuff I bitch about is stuff my dad says has been happening since the hospital opened in the 70s” I got a degree in history and now I work as a PM for a contracting company that specializes in historic preservation, making more than I ever would as a nurse and I go to work and go home everyday in a pretty good mood.
If everyone working in the hospital wasn’t being treated like shit then I probably would be a nurse today but my time at the hospital was a huge eye opener.
I’m reminded of Graeber’s take, that jobs that contribute nothing to society are paid extra, to compensate people for the knowledge that they contribute nothing, whereas jobs with a clear point are expected to take a pay cut in return for having a job with meaning.
Funny how it’s the most compassionate of us that are fucked the hardest by capitalism
It’s interesting because in terms of the amount of school/time you need to invest, nursing is a pretty good job. You can become an LPN in less time than it takes to get an Associate’s and then make $50k starting out. RNs can get 70-80k starting out, although some states have raised educational requirements so that you need a Bachelor’s.
You can make that much but in places they don’t. I worked as a radiology aide and an OR aide at a local hospital when I was in college, thought about pursuing nursing as both of my parents are nurses. Two years there and one year of pre nursing in college and I thought “why am I going into this career? I get treated like crap by those above me and the patients, I get no support from my supervisors, I come home every day tired and complaining about work, and the stuff I bitch about is stuff my dad says has been happening since the hospital opened in the 70s” I got a degree in history and now I work as a PM for a contracting company that specializes in historic preservation, making more than I ever would as a nurse and I go to work and go home everyday in a pretty good mood.
If everyone working in the hospital wasn’t being treated like shit then I probably would be a nurse today but my time at the hospital was a huge eye opener.
I’m reminded of Graeber’s take, that jobs that contribute nothing to society are paid extra, to compensate people for the knowledge that they contribute nothing, whereas jobs with a clear point are expected to take a pay cut in return for having a job with meaning.