One has to question why society thinks that STEM fields are deserving of higher pay than soft-skills based careers that are mentally taxing (like nursing.) Becoming a full RN or BSN requires a pretty hefty chunk of change too you know. It's not unskilled labor.
The issue is that wages are artificially depressed by hospitals and facilities that are profit driven, and
abuse the staff's willingness to "Make shit happen with less", because they actually give a shit about the people being cared for. There are numerous reasons for this downward pressure to assure profitability, with spiraling costs of healthcare due to obscene costs for certified equipment, and prohibitive drug prices, being among them. (EG, hospitals have to cut expenses whenever and wherever possible, since drug makers and pals gouge on their prices. Seriously, check out
how much a certified pulse-oximeter costs(note, they try to give you a "bargain" with the lowest costing unit being about 40$, "Their price," with normal retail prices never below 50$.), compared to
a non-certified one. (which is often around 20$.) The difference? All the bureaucracy to assure that the meter works within specified parameters. Oh-- and those certified ones? Yeah, you have to regularly have them checked and calibrated, so it's not like they are magic or anything. (
In fact, even "Blessed" ones have alarming error rates, when subjected to structured testing.) Requiring standards for calibration would allow any old meter to be properly calibrated, and blessed, or detected as irredeemably out of tolerance and junked. You might have noticed that some of the
very same models are in the "certified" category,
AND ALSO in the 'not certified' category. Exact same unit, Same parts, same assembly line. Vastly different price.)
(and no, I did not intend to make a rant about pulse oximeters. I was just pointing them out as an example of overpriced medical equipment that REALLY should not cost so much.)
When the certification process literally doubles the price on a piece of hardware, (OR MORE!!), there is a problem, and who do you think ends up having to sort out the bills? Hospitals can only charge so much you know.
There needs to be a re-alignment about how society treats medicine, and caregivers, in general. Socializing medicine, coupled with "livable wage" laws that the government is not exempt from, would go a long way to fixing this trend you are citing Reelya.