Would you live with these work conditions?

Question

Work for significantly less than the minimum wage,

No job security,

Face daily abuse/intimidation/nastiness from staff and the public,

Hugely overworked with no consideration as to legal workloads,

Usually poor work envioronments,

Significant stress levels,

Emotionally straining,

Long hours of work,

Get posted in vastly different work envioronments, often with significant commutes,

And on top of all this have to take on a second job just to pay some bills?

No? I didn't think so.

These conditions are what it is like as a student nurse, it doesn't get much better after qualifying.

So in response to yet another article I read recently saying that Nurses aren't smiling enough/aren't caring enough/need to do more ...

You lot try doing our job, see if you can manage it.

Answer 1

thats exactly why i chose to become a student radiographer!!!!!!

p.s spot on susie!!!

Answer 2

sure did it when i work in amusement parks in my teens!!

but if you expect it to get better elsewhere you are probably deceiving yourself... nurses have never been fully appreciated and probably will never be.. have you considered it might Not be the right vocation for you?

Answer 3

You sound like a very angry person, I think you've made the wrong career choice.

Answer 4

My sympathies at such dreadful work conditions and rates of pay.

However, when you started your training you must have been aware of the situation and the fact it is not high on the list of the governments priorities so why did you become a nurse?  You must have weighed up the pros and cons and decided it was still worth doing...no good moaning about it now.

Answer 5

tell your republican friends which think  usa is the best place to work and live    and by the way this  situation is the same in the industry  today i have to work for the same money as i did in 1984    great country ??

Answer 6

No I wouldnt want to do a job where I clean up **** and vomit all day. Go speak with your careers advisor. You have a bone to pick with him.

Answer 7

What?  We already spend 75% of our tax on the NHS.  You don't expect us to pay more do you?  You have to starve so we can spend our hard earned money on booze, fàgs and s*x.  Then we can come to you to cure us.

Answer 8

My father has just got out of hospital after six weeks in bed following a heart attack, a triple bypass & other complications.

It was spent in two different NHS hospitals, we had involvement with ambulance staff three times, the air ambulance & numerous nursing staff & doctors.

Most of the staff were fantastic, and of course without their help, my father wouldn't be alive today.

However (wait for the thumbs down), about a third of the staff were a disgrace: Ambulance men who let a very ill man walk down the steps from the ambulance & into the hospital unaided, whilst complaining to me about the length of journey they'd had.

Most staff not washing hands or using gel after emptying commodes etc.

I saw a woman sat in a pool of blood on a ward being ignored before I called a nurse.

I saw dirt left for weeks uncleaned.

I saw dying people being ignored & left to pass away without the dignity of some company for their final hours.

And I saw my father die as his heart stopped - he had been losing blood for a week, and nobody did a thing, even though they had been told. Fortunately, I was sat with him in the bathroom when this happened, and he recovered.

There are some marvelous people in the NHS, but they're not all angels.

ps My brother is a paramedic, as is my best friend. Both my wife & my mother have been nurses.

Answer 9

I'm a pre-nursing student and am not sure what you mean here. Are you talking LPN or CNA?

When you're doing your clinicals, that's part of your education, you don't get paid, you get evaluated.

Upon recieving your R.N. license, you start at most hospitals between 20.00 and 40.00 per hour, depending on your geographical location.

Nursing, for the most part, there are some cushy nurse jobs, is physically hard, mentally stressful and often without thanks other than a paycheck. However you do have job security and good benefits.

Answer 10

urrrm i personally wouldn't

Answer 11

Sounds like the U.K to me.

God,let me win lottery i will be on first plane out.lol

Actually i was a midwife for many years,through the 80`s and some of nineties,and left due to the lack of help i could give my patients with no cash in  kitty.

I now am an h.g.v and p.c.v driving instructor and examiner,after years of driving both ,now i finally get a wage that i can live on.

Its easier now for student nurses than it was when i trained.

We had no wage just a miserly bursary,and i had a baby and hubby to support.

So i do understand your plight,but i have to say,the only way you can get away from the misery you seem to be in is get another vocation.

Good luck.:)

Answer 12

Nursing is indeed a difficult career... like teaching.  If the monetary aspect is not pleasing where you are... there are other cities I am sure where your compensation could be very good after you have completed schooling.   I believe what you are experiencing now is called "paying your dues".   All the stress you are going through at this time is part of life for just about everyone, truly.  You aren't alone so remember that others think of you and the hard work you do.  

My mother was quite ill for a time a year or so ago, and she had to remain at home and a visiting nurse came once per day.  Fortunately we had the same one daily rather than a different one each day.  I know students occasionally came with her to our house.  Believe me, every single action they did for my mother is appreciated and remembered with love and affection and gratitude, knowing there are such people who do care enough about humanity to engage in such a profession.

Answer 13

Yeah, from your description I wouldn't smile either.  Where do you live?  I think nurses in the U.S. work long hours but are well compensated for it.  Maybe you should try to get a job here?  Good luck to you!  In this economy I don't think anyone is smiling.  If they are, they've had a lobotomy.

Answer 14

I would not wake up for less than £30k a year.

Answer 15

I feel your pain, i know mines not exactly the same situiation, but i'm doing a degree at uni, which i'm pretty sure i won't get employed in afterwards. The only way of getting a job in it is,  i do extra advancement courses, put weekend hours in, spend even more years in education, be willing move to the other side of the country, pherhaps leave the country itself to get a job, and its' so competeitve and stressful that its not even enjoyable anymore. Plus its porbably does'nt even pay much, even after all that effort. I know you might have it worse. But just to let you know, i feel for you!

Answer 16

student nurses dont get paid much because they are learning the job just like other apprenticships. How do you think i feel i get paid 4.98 a hour but i dont complain. As soon as you qualify to be a nurse you will get the wage they get paid which is double what i get in a year. Which is justyfied.  Yes nurse jobs can be stressful but if you cannot handle it leave. How do you think our boys in afganistan feel? they get paid less than nurses and i know for a fact they are more stressed.

Answer 17

No ******* way dude, the worst thing to do is to stay in a job which is ****. You will come home everyday pissed off and your life would turn miserable.

Answer 18

I guess people go into nursing because they want to care the sick.  

I thought RN make  good money and in demand.

Answer 19

No, but I didn't vote for this government or the people that decide what nurses get paid, its terrible when you think that pretty much pointless footballers are getting more in a day than a nurse gets a year !

Answer 20

kudos to old know all's answer.

if you dont like it, dont do it.

Answer 21

Why don't you prepare for a job in which you are truly qualified.  Your nasty attitude disqualifies you from nursing.  You might be better suited to being a postal employee or bouncer.

fs

Answer 22

I think you'll find us general public have nothing but extreme respect for Nurses and I personally take my hat off to anyone who can work with sick people, however it is simillar in all the careing profession, look at police and teachers and childcare is one of the worst, I can earn more cleanning houses than I can for being qualified to look after someones child and you would think that would be their most precious thing wouldn't you? the pay doesn't reflect that at all.

People who work and care for the elderly get a raw deal as well it seems to me that society in general has puts no value on work that involves careing for others.

Answer 23

My Daughter has one week left to complete a cna program. She will start working shortly after that close to 13.00 an hour.then is going to start RN program in the fall.Student nurses mostly have classes not sure what program your in.Most going for nursing knows what to expect. My wife is a RN for 26 yrs  working for less then min wage? I have to question that. Nursing may not be for you if your are this stressed now.

Answer 24

I thought you were a squaddie there for a moment.  Well at least you aren't being shot at.