[adnstudent]

I am exploring different fields of nursing throughout this website and have learned a lot. I'm enrolling into an adn program in spring and am inquiring about the different areas in nursing. Taking many other things into consideration after some resarch, I am wanting to know the higher paying areas in nursing. Any advice will be greatly appreciated....thank you!!!

[jethrobodine]

if money is your goal then get out now. getting a degree in hospital administration will get you further faster into an area where you will be able to buy that big boat in the future. coming out of school as a nurse you will make a bit more initially, but you will max out in a few years and then get essentially squat increases regardless of your training or seniority. on the other hand, you will have security for the rest of your life as long as you stay at the bedside because a good number of nurses aim for higher paying management positions. these are the positions that get the axe when hospitals downsize every couple of years, just about the time you have gotten into that cushy job. if you have other options at this stage of your life and you don't really WANT to clean poop and puke and blood the rest of your life you need to really consider why you are going into nursing.

[TazziRN]

If salary means more to you than nursing (not being mean, making a point), then nursing is not for you. We are overworked and underpaid. We make a lot of money compared to many other jobs but we do not make nearly what we're worth.

[potato]

to answer your question...

after graduation, plan on spending a year or two in med-surg. look at it like this...it is one to two years more of education, and you get paid ok for it.

then if you insist on working as an employee of a hospital, critical care would probably pay best. after your med surg, switch hospitals, collect a 7-10k sign on bonus, and demand good pay, say 25-30/hr.

better yet, join agency nursing and get paid much better.

while your doing all of this, you could go to a university and get your rn-msn. these programs are not as common as rn-bsn, but they do exist, and i mean at major universities. they often give you dual credit for taking some classes, applying them to both your bs, which, of course, you have to have to get an msn, and also applying them to your msn. you will get paid well afterwards.

as a side note...don't let the others discourage you. some nurses think money is a poor motivation for becoming a nurse. you know, like money is a poor motivation for becoming a doctor or a lawyer.

[TazziRN]

Potato, how do you know all this when your profile lists your occupation not as a nurse, but "Other"?

We cannot demand a salary, especially at a union hospital. Yes there is a nursing shortage but new hires will get paid what all other new hires do.

[laughing weasel]

Three years ago my only concern with employment was how much I got and what my benefits were(particularly days off). If you had told me that you loved your job and would keep working if you won the lottery I would have nodded and backed away slowly thinking wacko. I still believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the consideration of compensation as a factor in selection of specialties. I love being a nurse and compensation is just one of the perks. If you really want to know why nurses are not paid more it is because of the prevailing attitude that doing it for money is bad. if that is the only reason then i agree you will not only be a poor nurse but you are probably going to suck at any job you choose. It has been my experience that there is always some room to negotiate and that you will actually be treated with more respect if you do it correctly. Nursing is such a wide open field why not select the higher pay as long as you still love the work?

[potato]

sorry everyone, i shouldn't be posting here.