Uncoolx2 t1_ixa3h0d wrote
Reply to comment by cloudlvr1 in WA Patient Dies in Understaffed ER Lobby, County Council Pens Letter of "Disappointment" by vegetefubberyhi01
Nursing and NAC pay has actually grown pretty well over the last 10 years because of demand.
I know NACs in my facility make over $20/hour.
I'm paid fairly well, and giving me a 50% raise isn't going to fix the problem: we aren't, and haven't been, licensing enough nee nurses for decades.
Washington is looking at a stepped internship program, but they still need to lay it out and get the bodies in line to get it going.
Looking at executive pay at the provider level, and administration pay at the university level is one part, and then increase pay for nursing teachers so we can increase student capacity.
The work is always going to have an attrition rate, and often times bedside is a gateway to other areas of nursing.
When I advocate for people to consider nursing, that is the real seller: an RN license has damn near infinite applications, and they are all short.
SparrowAgnew t1_ixaklig wrote
Wow $20 whole dollars per hour!? Does that come with a top hat and monocle or do they have to provide their own?
wolf1moon t1_ixaofcx wrote
That's not enough for Everett, but that's pretty good in rural areas. You can't really judge salary if there's not context of where you are. It's like teacher and cop salaries are pretty good in Seattle but Texas is a whole other world.
KevinCarbonara t1_ixaq3z8 wrote
> That's not enough for Everett, but that's pretty good in rural areas.
That is awful anywhere in the nation. Any person doing any job in any area whatsoever.
Nixx_Mazda t1_ixaq8fl wrote
Did they also go to a (nursing) school in a cheaper, rural area?
Uncoolx2 t1_ixavvbk wrote
NACs don't go to nursing school.
Nixx_Mazda t1_ixaxo7y wrote
Yeah OK, I should have put another question mark.
The point still stands, I think, at least sometimes.
I'm not sure on specifics, so maybe I'm wrong and it doesn't stand! I can admit that I'm wrong, if so. :)
Uncoolx2 t1_ixb2kzn wrote
I don't care, I just like you.
wolf1moon t1_ixb30lj wrote
Yeah. School for these positions is pretty cheap. At least I know my self-described trailer trash ex's mom went into nursing on the cheap without leaving that cheap town.
Nixx_Mazda t1_ixb3wks wrote
Interesting, thanks.
I was asking a real question. I kind of guess that there were cheaper, more local options, but wasn't sure.
wolf1moon t1_ixdstgs wrote
Np, I found this link. I was thinking of the associate's degree version. The different levels of education might cloud the picture here. I think the person I was talking about went to community college for it because the neighboring town had one. https://simplenursing.com/nursing-school-cost/
Out of curiosity, I looked up housing costs. A home there has increased a lot lately - I'm betting because they started catering to retirees. But a good sized house is about $500k now, on redfin, which is anywhere from $800-1200k in the greater Seattle area. Rough estimate.
Uncoolx2 t1_ixaw9hk wrote
You can't clue in the clueless.
Uncoolx2 t1_ixawswc wrote
$3200/month when you can get an apartment for $1100/month is right about on par.
SparrowAgnew t1_ixdzeum wrote
For any job you had to get training for that's a pretty pathetic wage. Don't care where it is in the country.
Babhadfad12 t1_ixa4g0l wrote
Even $30/hour is not enough when WA minimum salary is $65k in 2023.
Uncoolx2 t1_ixa5t0b wrote
Washington State minimum wage for 2023 is $15.74/hour × 40 hours/week x 52 weeks/year = 32,739.20/year.
Now, I will argue that $20/hour isn't going to be a good pull for NACs when Walmart or McDonald's are offering the same.
But I have no idea from which orifice your number was produced.
Babhadfad12 t1_ixa66qn wrote
https://www.lni.wa.gov/forms-publications/F700-207-000.pdf
Working in a hospital, especially patient facing role, is not comparable to a retail or fast food or hospitality job that one can do in their spare time during the week.
I assume the people we want as nurses and NAC are more career minded, not to mention the higher stress working environments and odd hours, nights, weekends, and holidays. So presumably, those people are weighing their options at finding a nice salaried job for $65k, or working in a hospital for $20 to $30 per hour.
And if we are not going to pay them more than a standard salaried office 8 to 5 Mon to Fri job, then watch all the better workers go do that.
Uncoolx2 t1_ixa82ve wrote
That is the minimum salary threshold for employees to be exempt from overtime pay.
If you take a job that pays the exempt salary, you can damn well guarantee you will be working overtime. Positions like that have shit like 6 day requirements or 50 hour requirements.
If you are not overtime exempt, the actual minimum salary is minimum wage × 40 hours per week, and all time over 40 hours is paid as overtime.
So, for nurses, this is a DNS/DON type salary where they are on-call 24/7 for their job.
Though, smart nurses set up their contract that they get an hourly rate for covering thr floor.
wolf1moon t1_ixapb84 wrote
When the state changed what are exempt roles, some of my dad's colleagues became hourly and made absolute bank in overtime. Overtime is how cops make so much money (some over $300k)
Uncoolx2 t1_ixaxef6 wrote
And overtime exempt salary positions is how you bilk the same people out of tons of overtime pay.
At a minimum wage of $15.74/hour a person would have to work over 26 hours a week in overtime to meet the exempt rate.
Babhadfad12 t1_ixa92yw wrote
> If you take a job that pays the exempt salary, you can damn well guarantee you will be working overtime. Positions like that have shit like 6 day requirements or 50 hour requirements.
Not in my experience. Lots of white collar office or government type jobs do not require more than 40 hours per week. Hell, if you count the time people spend on Reddit, they are probably 30 hour per week jobs.
Either way the lack of people jumping up and down to become nurses or nursing assistants is all the proof that whatever the pay is or was is not enough comparable to that of other options in the market.
wolf1moon t1_ixaozyl wrote
It really depends. Usually there are busy times and slack times. In tech, if you're only doing 30, that just means you're a slacker.
Uncoolx2 t1_ixacsp1 wrote
I would question how many of the jobs your mention here are the minimum exempt salary versus just being above the minimum salary.
"In my experience" people receiving salary are usually management or administration. Retail managers, HR, administrators, assistant administrators, etc.
These would be the majority of the workers covered by this, a lot closer to blue collar with a white clip.
tamarlk t1_ixabj2v wrote
Bah I wish is was that much. Not even close.
Proffesssor t1_ixasxo2 wrote
> make over $20/hour.
Well since the minimum wage is over 19 in parts of the state, 20 or so is pretty sad.
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