Work /
Polish nurses, gender and salary [32]
many of my nurse friends in Krakow had to get masters to keep their jobs in a hospital.
My wife is half way through her masters degree, in Krakow, about a third of the nurses in her year went onto the two year additional years of study after the BSc. Most do it part time (work five days, study at weekend). Some do the Master degree full time and can get a grant. Student grants for the Bsc degree course are between 300-1000 per month - dependent on exam results.
It would seem that all the students obtained jobs immediately after leaving their degree course locally in Krakow, 2200-2500pln the starting salary. A Masters degree is worth a few hundred more, the main reason to do it is not financial, they seem to like the achievement.
The Nurses course in Krakow is UK RCN approved and requires a English modules, so its internationally recognized, not that seems to be used much by the Nurses. I think there was one at least male nurse in my wifes year. They are welcome, because they have the physical strength that many of the 45kg nurse lack. The course is hard as it requires practice interspersed by study with few breaks and no sickness (no long student holidays), if you become ill you will probably fail
The better ones try to get specialised jobs,though that is hardly unique to Poland.
There is a constant demand for nurses world wide as the population is ageing. I find it unlikely that doctor would 'lower' themselves to become nurses and I doubt they are qualified anyway, they become doctors for ego reasons. Seven years study and not use their qualification? Crazy. The nurses all seem to love their jobs, how long that will last I'll have to wait and see, but 'hard' is not a description I've heard
that type of work will - of course - me beneficial to the economy in Poland, because they don't spend while they work, and they come home with plenty .
I don't think any of that is relevant. The number of men is low and very few (well, one to Sweden - out of 200) of the nurses have migrated. Males nurses have boyfriends at home they will want to return home to, so not much differance there, although children are less likely.
