Wisdom from The Action Wisdom In Action

College Degrees That Don't Pay

From CNN Money. Done in gallery format.

I'd like to add one more to the list: nurse, with the exception of scrub nurse. A regular RN or BSN has to go through all kinds of schooling, get a degree, then continuing ed classes and refresher training, get re-certified all the time (at your expense) for all manner of things, put up with union crap, hospital administrator crap, Medicare and Medicaid crap, patient crap--all on top of a lousy $40k salary. The only way they actually make any money is to work loads of overtime religiously, or become a scrub nurse (basically a surgical assistant).

For all the time and money required just to continue to be able to call yourself a nurse, the pay just isn't worth it.

I have a nurse-relative who managed to strike a balance after riding the education/certification merry-go-round for years: become a hospice nurse. The pay is low, but so are the duties, the amount of crap you have to put up with, and the amount of ongoing education and certification required. You apparently spend more time entertaining the patient than actually treating him.

My nurse-relative takes her guitar to work with her. She's even produced a CD of songs that soothe the dying.

Posted by Cute at 7:25 PM

Labels: education/career, financial (non-tax)