$136,000 PER YEAR AVERAGE SALARIES???

[JDgreen227]

Todays local newspaper had an article about how employers are monitoring worker productivity to reduce costs, and one of the employees mentioned in the story was a nurse required to wear a badge around her neck with a tracking device so the hospital could see where she was at all times. Sutter Health, who runs the hospital, says that full-time nurses at it's San Francisco Bay area hospitals earn salaries of ONE HUNDRED THIRTY SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR ON THE AVERAGE, NOT INCLUDING BENEFITS. (emphasis added here)

Many of them probably work overtime, but for a standard 7 day, 40 hour week, that averages out to $65 an hour....nice income. I worked in skilled trades for 31 years before retiring and was making less than $20 an hour then.

 

[J F]

I've read quite a bit on a certain nursing forum over the last few years as wife was in school and as she became a new rn...from everything I've read that's not out of the realm of possibility, as I've seen posts where some rn's were making 45-55 hr, and then time-and-half for OT.

Like everything else, it's supply and demand. San Fran is a hugely expensive part of the country to live in, hence the higher (crazy to some) wages. Believe me if a hospital could pay $10 an hour, they would.

Try not to freak.

 

[QRTRHRS]

There are people working in warehouses for ten bucks an hour give or take that are monitored like that. (Slavery has not totally gone away) While 65/hour would seem high, consider what nurses have to do on occasion.

 

[J F]

Also consider that is more like $45-55 (Remember, OT), and that $132k in San Fran is like $18k in Detroit....okay, but you get my point.

 

[J F]

And for anyone interested, I've been a carpenter (and sometimes gc), in GA over the last 15 years, so I'm familiar with that end of the deal as well, as the op mentioned being in the trades. (still haven't figure out if I'm skilled or not :laughing

 

[CliffordK]

I think the local nurses at the Sacred Heart, Eugene hospital also use the tracking devices. I'm not sure of the entire justification, but it does allow verification that the patients are checked when scheduled, and also allows locating a nurse when he or she may be in a patient's room. It may help with liability too. It gives an extra point of data if a patient (or doctor) claims improper care.

Some truckers also have GPS tracking on their rigs. Good to monitor where a delivery is for tracking cargo. It also allows monitoring speed, and perhaps other things.

Utility companies may also be using the GPS trackers.

Might as well implant all children with a GPS tracker when they are born. We'll be there soon enough.

As far as the wages.

Nursing, of course, is a multi-tier job.

RNA's are at the top (Plus Nurse practitioners and Physicians Assistants).
CNA's are at the bottom, and generally get barely minimum wage.

 

[J F]

Wer'e already there. That's not a mosquito bite on the back of your neck.















(yeah, I'm a little bored :laughing

 

[newbury]

Todays local newspaper had an article about how employers are monitoring worker productivity to reduce costs, and one of the employees mentioned in the story was a nurse required to wear a badge around her neck with a tracking device so the hospital could see where she was at all times. Sutter Health, who runs the hospital, says that full-time nurses at it's San Francisco Bay area hospitals earn salaries of ONE HUNDRED THIRTY SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR ON THE AVERAGE, NOT INCLUDING BENEFITS. (emphasis added here)

Many of them probably work overtime, but for a standard 7 day, 40 hour week, that averages out to $65 an hour....nice income. I worked in skilled trades for 31 years before retiring and was making less than $20 an hour then.

$20/hr x 2,000 hrs = $40K. If that's in say Grand Rapids it would be equal to about $75K in San Francisco Cost of Living Calculator: Compare the Cost of Living in Two Cities - CNNMoney

The average nurse in Grand Rapids makes $78K http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=279097

Perhaps you should have been a nurse.

 

[J F]

Good stuff newbury. It just goes to show us all, yet again...don't buy into headlines, it takes but a very little effort to do your own detective work.

I don't blame the op for reading and believing...but, if you're going to go beyond that, and post an opinion, then that takes a small amount of homework, if you want to be able to deal with the following comments/opinions.

 

[powerpace]

I think the local nurses at the Sacred Heart, Eugene hospital also use the tracking devices. I'm not sure of the entire justification, but it does allow verification that the patients are checked when scheduled, and also allows locating a nurse when he or she may be in a patient's room. It may help with liability too. It gives an extra point of data if a patient (or doctor) claims improper care.

Some truckers also have GPS tracking on their rigs. Good to monitor where a delivery is for tracking cargo. It also allows monitoring speed, and perhaps other things.

Utility companies may also be using the GPS trackers.

Might as well implant all children with a GPS tracker when they are born. We'll be there soon enough.

As far as the wages.

Nursing, of course, is a multi-tier job.

RNA's are at the top (Plus Nurse practitioners and Physicians Assistants).
CNA's are at the bottom, and generally get barely minimum wage.

Sacred Heart (less) as they call that place will wring every bit of life out of a nurse and every dollar out of your wallet. When they built the new hospital (the locals call it the Taj Mahal) they hired 100 nurses too many and laid them off within three months.

My wife works at the other hospital, McKenzie Willamette in Springfield, OR. Most RNs in Oregon and elsewhere work a 30 to 36 hour shift. Lots of overtime if wanted. My wife works three ten hour shifts. In the Emergency Room. Plus inservise training and advanced classes required for her position. Class fees are not always absorbed by the Hospital. ER Night Nurses average about $65 per hour. To give a little insight she also has a Masters Degree. This is required to teach Nursing at her OTHER job. For her teaching she gets a salary of $48,000 per year.

My wife paid off her student loans (a bunch of money) from her Nursing Batchelors degree and will soon begin paying off her Masters student loan. Nursing requires a Batchelors degree for any position. There are some hospitals that will not hire a CNA. The Veterans Hospitals have the most Masters degreed Nursing positions. In Roseburg, Or., the VA has a lot of dead wood management. One department has two supervisors that manage five people.

To give an idea how difficult it is to become a RN. Each year the local college admits 60 people into the RN course, 38 make it to the end. Average. In two years only about 30 are working as RN's the rest found out it is not for them.

 

[farmgirl19]

The medical profession, any venue, is a tough degree to obtain, and also very expensive. Veterinarians graduating today will come out of school over $100,000 in debt, from student loans, and that is just for the veterinary schooling, not the undergrad stuff. If salaries are not high, no one will want to invest the time, effort and money to get the skills and knowledge. And, if I need a doctor or nurse, I want a good one, not someone who can't survive the hard work and examinations the schooling demands.

I have a friend that works for one of those credit counceling services, and she says it always stuns her to see the kinds of debt the medical professionals come out of school with, and still have, even a few years post graduation.

 

[rtimgray]

"And, if I need a doctor or nurse, I want a good one, not someone who can't survive the hard work and examinations the schooling demands."

Reminds me of this: "You know what they call the guy who graduated at the top of class from medical school? Doctor."

"You know what they call the guy who finished at the bottom? They call him Doctor, too."

All kidding aside, anybody who complains about however much or however little someone else is making should feel free to do something about it. I work for a large corporation that has multiple vice-presidents that make millions each year. Of course, I wish I was pulling in that kind of dough, but I'm just a peon. However, I truly believe that if I were to be motivated enough and make the same educational choices, career moves and sacrifices that those folks made, then in similar time, I could be in the same boat. I'm just not motivated that much.

I've also always heard that their a two ways to become richer: Make more money or desire less stuff. I've discovered for me, it's easier to desire less stuff!

Good luck and take care.

 

[riptides]

I turned into the make more money person, two years ago. I figured a five year plan would take ten years off my life and shorten my retirement age accordingly.

 

[Gunny]

Like someone mentioned, it's not easy to get through all the required training to get a nurses degree, at least an RN, from my experience. My wife's class started out with 38 students, but only 17 walked across the stage at the pinning ceremony.
She worked and studied hard to get to that point and we as a family had to make a lot of adjustments to accommodate. No vacations, trimming the budget to pay tuition and books, study materials, extra money for all the expenses involved for the long drive to school etc. At least we didn't have to take out any student loans.
She does make pretty good money, or at least pretty good money for this rural economy, but the biggest chunk of that income is from overtime and ambulance runs when the local EMS is understaffed. Until she made it up to being a supervisor, she was required to work every other weekend and on call on certain days when she was off.
Last week, she worked 6 nightshifts, 12 hours per. Her average week is hardly ever less than 48 hours per week and is probably closer to 60 hours.
So she does make a pretty good annual salary, but on the other hand, she puts in a lot more than the 40 hour a week factory worker during the course of that year and just by being a nurse, she's taking on a pretty hefty liability potential the average worker never has to face.

 

[Travelover]

My first wife was a nurse and I can tell you that the job sucks the life out of you. Try working with cancer patients all day every day and see if it doesn't get to you, especially when you are perpetually short staffed and can't provide all the care you know needs to be done. She never made over $80K, even working in a second tier management position, but I don't resent good wages for anyone in such a demanding job.

 

[Clint S]

I work in a hospital in Physical Therapy. It is not uncommon for the CNA's to make 20 to 25$$ an hour. Especially counting in shift differential and overtime. At $35 and hour 40 hour work week and another 20 hours at 1.5 time. It's not hard to make good money, but the job is exhausting , emotionally draining. I would not do it in a heartbeat.

As far as the GPS our hospital has them too. They are part of a communication system that keeps everyone in touch. Had a time when the boss would show up when you were walking out of the jon or maybe in a part of the hospital you normally were not in. Pulled some strings and got a friend in IMT to pull up her records of checking the locator function. 30 times a day easily. Took the list to the union and said she was in fringing on our privacy. Administration turned off access to that function for her or so they say, but no more waiting boss coming out of the jon though. We know jut take the battery out of the thing at lunch (big brother could be listening) and leave it at the desk when we go on break.

 

[farmgirl19]

Reminds me of this: "You know what they call the guy who graduated at the top of class from medical school? Doctor."

"You know what they call the guy who finished at the bottom? They call him Doctor, too."

Good luck and take care.

Yep, but the doctor still managed to know enough to get through it, then go into an internship, etc. There are those that can't get through it. The fact some applied themselves more, and learned enough to get their credentials, makes me appreciate them.

 

[newbury]

And as I write this I'm watching the end of a "Deadliest catch" opilio season (about 40 days) where the crew members on one boat got $151,000 for their season for catching crab. That's almost $4,000 PER DAY LEGALLY.

That's No education required. Chance of death.

Some jobs pay better than others.

 

[riptides]

And as I write this I'm watching the end of a "Deadliest catch" opilio season (about 40 days) where the crew members on one boat got $151,000 for their season for catching crab. That's almost $4,000 PER DAY LEGALLY.

That's No education required. Chance of death.

Some jobs pay better than others.

Yeah! BUT, try getting a good t-bone on that boat.

 

[rockshaft]

Coast Guard is always at the ready. And we pay for the rescue! Crab shouldn't cost so dang much, I can't afford it!