re: Calling All Nurses

I got my B.S. in Kinesiology at LSU, worked 4 years at Pennington Biomedical in research, then went through Our Lady of the Lake's Accelerated ASN program in New Orleans. 10 months and I got an ASN. Took the NCLEX and 2 months later was working in the ED at Ochsner Main Campus. Tuition for that program was roughly $20,000 including fees and textbooks.

As far as base salary, I think I started out at $22.50/hr with $3/hr evening differential and $5/hr weekend differential. Worked 11a-11p shift for a few months then eventually 7a-7p with about 8-16 hrs overtime/week. Took home around $75,000 before taxes that year. Work in the ICU at Ochsner now and make $29/hr plus differentials, and now I'm working some night shifts which is an extra $5/hr. LSUHSC in New Orleans offers a program to get a BSN in as little as 18 months (or at least this was the case 4 years ago) for those who already have a bachelor's degree. Not sure if Our Lady of the Lake still offers their accelerated program.

How old is your wife? Does she want to further her career in the future. It's OK money for a part time gig, but we as RNs definitely do not get compensated fairly for the work we do (or at least ED and ICU RNs). There's a lot of bullshite you have to put up with, mostly from patients and families. Really never had any problems with the physicians and residents I work with...actually enjoy working with them. I'm currently paying an extra $8K to get my BSN online so I can apply to CRNA school...wish I would've just done the LSU 18 month BSN program and got it over with.