Traveling Respiratory Therapists being offered $140 an hour to work at hospitals
- Thread starter Dave Hess
- Start date
Our hospital system is not paying for CAPR/PAPR's. A few of the ED doc's have them that they bought out of their own pocket, but no other staff has them.
N95 do suck. I am happy for winter since I am only sweating a little bit all day long instead of sweating a lot all day long. Just switching between a N95 and a surgical mask is a pain when you have to do it 100 times a day. I wear a head cover, glasses and a radio earpiece, all of which have to go off and on any time I switch. Plus you can't hear anyone with the things on.
Man you are right about hearing. My hearing is not great and all of us in N-95's sound like waaah wawa from Charlie Brown!
We are only approved for capr if you fail n-95 fit testing. But, we are not allowed to wear caprs around the sterile field/tray. I.E. you can't scrub in with one.
We wear a astm3 mask over our n-95 to keep blood off it, so it can be resterilized. It also keeps your n-95 on your face of you have a strap break.
Lol, noone I know had a PAPR bought for them. Most dont have then available. Many cant even get paid for lost wages when they catch covid and work covid units. I have zero cares about those extra dollars and what the CEO has to tell the board about their staffing budget.
Yep. Healthcare workers are treated like Walmart employees.
Staff very easily disposable whether you are sweeping floor or a doctor. Doctors are beholden to the organization they have privileges at. Trust me on this..... the last thing a doctor wants is to get their privileges revoked and security immediately escort them out of the hospital.
Don‘t like it ???
Theres the front door, get out !!!
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How is that any different than a non-traveler ? A non-traveling nurse making, let's say, $35/hour also has taxes, insurance, etc taken out.
My wife was a traveller PT out of college. She got paid at least twice her current wage 20 years ago.
She ended up in miserable locations no normal person would want to be in. The worst rural parts of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico but enjoyed the people and fellow travelers. Thankfully she left and I got to meet her .
At her work two RT have died of Covid. Not sure if worth the money.
She ended up in miserable locations no normal person would want to be in. The worst rural parts of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico but enjoyed the people and fellow travelers. Thankfully she left and I got to meet her .
At her work two RT have died of Covid. Not sure if worth the money.
No they arent. You cant treat walmart employees that badly and not end up in jail. Hospital employees are treated more like low end prostitutes. Unless you kill one, it's probably not going to go bad for you, and respecting them isn't necessary. They do the job right regardless. Put off by that description? So are they. It's part of why healthcare workers have a higher ptsd and suicide rate than veterans. You never hear about that though, for obvious reasons (noone cares. Literally. Those who conducted the only study in decades about nurse suicide rates said "we just never thought to look at it." During an interview where surprise was expressed at the rate along with "why didnt we know?".).
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Because if you work for a hospital, your taxes are taken out (including both sides of social security). You also are having to pay your own health insurance (if you don't have a plan through a spouse) and have no retirement except what you put into your own IRA or other plan.
People think $125/hour is what ends up in their pocket, but what ends up in pocket at the end of the year is a lot less than most think.
Sure it is more than making $40/hr working for a company that "takes care" of those extra expenses, but again, not everyone realizes that.
Still not a bad deal though.
In some aspects it is true.
We have a County District Attorney (Kim Ogg) that basically told one of our nurses that was assaulted by a patient that she would not take the case for the assault because that "it is part of our job" to be hit by patients. Despite the state law that makes assaulting a healthcare worker a felony.
Those contracts pay roughly $100/hr takehome. You get tax free per diem of 1k+ per week, etc. All in all, it's about $100/hr takehome. Most people who run that gig full time for a living pull about 200k per year, minus the normal taxes on about 120-140 of it, the rest is write off as per diems, etc. Comes out pretty sweet.
All that money is only good if your health is not affected by the working conditions.
I feel for those workers putting their lives on the line to keep others alive. God bless them!
I feel for those workers putting their lives on the line to keep others alive. God bless them!
If one is working contract, they are paying both halves of FICA to start with. So instead of 7.65% they are paying 15.3% in FICA taxes as contract work is probably not on a W2, but a 1099.
Likely no benefits, no 401(k) match, etc.
If one is married and has benefits from their spouse, you can make it work. I suspect all that travel and housing costs eat into the pay as well, but are deductible.
I did this sort of thing in the 1990s when everyone was looking to learn Java programming. I could make close to 200k/year traveling 1/2 the year. But I had to buy all my airfares, rental cars, hotels, meals, etc, pay both halves of FICA, fund my own retirement, etc.
Not to mention if I had to get additional certifications, all of that was on my dime and I wasn't earning while I was learning.
So while the numbers may look big, many don't realize what an employer pays or absorbs in costs when you work for someone else vs working on your own.
As for SS, yeah, I forgot about having to pay "both" sides. On regular taxes, I realize it doesn't get taken out but those folks hopefully aren't budgeting based on the full amount knowing they need to make their own estimated (quarterly) tax payments. As a traveler, you have to work through an agency, don't you ? Do those not offer health insurance ? Again, I realize the worker has to pay for this too, but it's just like the direct worker does. Granted, some employers may pay a larger % of the premium too.
I'm not sure which ones are worse than others. All of it's pretty high. Maybe 12 hour shifts with violent individuals and death and maiming contribute to problems at home?
$35/hr for nursing is about 1/2 of the average rate here in Northern CA. I’m pretty sure that most of my wife’s coworkers would choose a different profession if that was their rate.
Nurses in my region start at $22-25/hr. Keep in mind, cost of living varies wildly.
I live rural, but that's pretty much regional average. You might see high 20'/low 30's around Dallas/Little Rock/Baton Rouge.
Gasoline costs $2/gal currently. Houses are $100-120/SF roughly.