ALT-6 Do Nurses Deserve a Raise
Nurses are the backbone of the health care system. Always on duty, the front line of medicine, a nurse is an essential component of your health. Ask anyone who has had a family member sick and in hospital how important the nurse was to their loved ones recovery.
Nurses are required to co-ordinate the care of the patient, advocate and intervene on their behalf, communicate with other health care professionals especially the doctor. As technology changes daily, it is the responsibility of the nurse to remain current and active to provide you with the most updated care available. Nurses must be compassionate empathetic and kind. A nurse must be able to work long hours including nights, evenings and days. On Christmas Day while your home opening your presents, a nurse is at work, caring for your sick grandmother. When your in the hospital and you wake at night with terrible pain, its the nurse that will come to your aid.
Do nurses deserve a raise? It is a question I ask myself often as I have spent the last twenty-six years of my life as a Registered Nurse. In a time of financial restraint, government cut-backs and shortfalls its is sometimes hard to decide who deserves a raise and who doesn't.
Four years ago I lost my mother to cancer. A retired physician herself, she was totally dependent on the nurses for care. I went home at night knowing that her needs would be met. I went home at night safe in the knowledge that my mother was in good hands. That to me was priceless. So I say yes, nurses do deserve a raise. But I say that from the perspective of a grateful family member. Experience is always the most profound teacher.
