NEWS FLASH
Vickie L. Milazzo Speaks for RNs Everywhere in USA Today
When I spotted a feature article in USA Today stating that there is a turnaround in nursing, I felt compelled to respond.
The article said nurses were bringing home $100,000.00 annually and that careers in nursing will account for more new jobs than any other field in the next decade. It went on to say those flocking to the profession were virtually guaranteed getting hired and many received "signing" bonuses in addition to generous benefit packages.
My letter to the editor appears below in full, as it was printed in USA Today.
Dear USA Today –
Reporter Julie Appleby didn't have all the facts when she wrote about the nursing turnaround in this country. She wrote ("Professionals sick of old routine find healthy rewards in nursing") about a hiring boom and about RNs who make as much as $100,000 a year. She wrote about pension plans, sign-on bonuses and even employment contracts that provide tuition reimbursement.
Wow! If only reality were this good. Appleby quotes many California sources – a state whose cost of living is so high even a tiny bungalow in a so-so neighborhood can sell for as much as $500,000. Ask nurses in Houston or Des Moines or Tulsa about the last time they brought home $100,000. And if they did, ask them if they did it without working nights, weekends, major holidays, extended shifts and loads of overtime? The average pay for an RN in the United States is $22 an hour.
Nurses are not joining the profession because of salary – and they are not leaving because of salary. They come because they want to help people and they leave because they are denied the opportunity to deliver the quality of care that is our very nature to deliver.
The nursing shortage won't end until the managed care system provides a quality environment for nurses to work and patients to heal.
Sincerely,
Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
Owner, Vickie Milazzo Institute,
A division of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc.
(LegalNurse.com)
I encourage each of you to write letters to your local newspapers and national magazines and newspapers to educate U.S. citizens about what is really going on in healthcare today.
