Search form

menu menu
  • Daily & Weekly newsletters
  • Buy & download The Bulletin
  • Comment on our articles

Wage watchers: How much does a psychiatric nurse earn?

04:48 24/11/2014

We asked Rembert Maes, 28, from Leuven how he spends the net €1,750 he earns working as a psychiatric nurse.

What do you do for work?
I work as a psychiatric nurse in the gerontology ward of the Leuven University Hospital. More specifically, I work on the observation ward for the diagnosis of psychological disorders in the elderly. These 65-plus adults come from their home environments or from a nursing home and stay one month with us on average.

In that timespan we try to make a diagnosis based on mood and cognition. Is it a mood disorder, behavioural disorder, personality disorder, psychosis, dementia, etc? We do this through neuropsychological investigations, scans and by tracking a person’s daily functioning.

Thanks to our diagnosis, an eldery person’s situation can improve significantly in terms of social life, medication or handling. And since our department takes  a holistic, systemic approach, we also try to improve the situation for the family and society as a whole.

Do you like your job?
I really love my job! My job has a clear value for society and is very meaningful. I also get a lot of appreciation from the elderly: We allow them to be themselves, we listen to them, reassure them when it’s necessary and regularly make them laugh. I also find the technical nursing side of my job fascinating, together with the fact that we deal with the whole person (both body and mind). Moreover, we get a picture of how society works because we get to see how families and family relationships “work”. When grandparents get sick, that can trigger a lot in families.

How many hours per week do you?
I work 7.6 hours a day for 10 days and then have four days of recoup.

What do you think of your salary?
I think it’s a good income; I can get by on it. UZ Leuven is one of the better-paying employers in the sector. But on the other side, my salary isn’t quite commensurate with the irregular hours, the additional workload that comes from the heavy burden of care (we’re only two people working the evening shifts for 17 patients), and many things that pop up (for example, training students).

In general, I find it a bit of a pity that with salaries the human aspects of a job and the added value that’s created for others and society aren’t taken into account.

What’s your biggest monthly cost?
My mortgage and utilities.

What do you hate spending money on?
On something that I really don’t need or that replaces something that still works perfectly.

What do you like spending money on?
On social issues and on presents for people I love.

What would you do if you won the lottery?
I would take my family and friends on a trip. And I would invest in a medicine that prevents Alzheimer’s disease, or I’d start a nursing home or village for people with dementia.  

Written by The Bulletin