Entry #10 - No Clinical Pay In This Economy?

 The long-awaited time has come, you have finally graduated high school and now begin a new journey of your life; college. As you choose which path you would like to take nursing catches your eye and you enroll in a nursing program. A few years go by as you get your prerequisites out of the way and nursing school is right around the corner and the term 'clinical' comes up. 

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These clinicals are part of the learning process where you are working from six to eight hours a day in a hospital getting the hands-on experience needed to work as a nurse. One to two days a week for two to four years, you will be working as a healthcare employee, but here's the kicker, you do not get paid for a single hour of your time. 

The debate resides in these programs not paying people who are working full time. In this economy, it is hard enough to make ends meet, but 60% of college students are living paycheck to paycheck as the cost of living continues to increase. Although there is no pay for clinical, there are programs dedicated to helping struggling nursing students get past this time. 

If you add pay to clinicals it would also be beneficial to the students in more ways than just helping with bills. Students would be able to focus more on their studies instead of focusing on going to a different job right after their clinicals. College students do not get much sleep with balancing life, school, work, and so on, but eliminating the stress of money problems can help so many students relieving stress and improve their health

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We need to take care of those who take care of us, even though students are not officially licensed nurses they are on the path to healthcare workers of the future and need to be treated right.