An appropriate hourly rate of pay for a Registered Nurse at the bedside?

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. What is an appropriate hourly RN wage at the beside at greater than 1 yr experience?

    • 3
      $10 - $15 per hour
    • 12
      $15.01 - $20 per hour
    • 55
      $20.01 - $25 per hour
    • 65
      $25.01 - $30 per hour
    • 50
      $30.01 - $35 per hour
    • 39
      $35.01 - $40 per hour
    • 24
      $40.01 - $45 per hour
    • 22
      $45.01 - $50.00 per hour
    • 33
      $50.01 or greater per hour
    • 3
      I am not in nursing in order to recieve a pay check, I would work for next to nothing

306 members have participated

I know that cost of living is said to vary from one area to the next but with few exceptions the cost of living is actually comparable.

I have lived or journeyed to many areas in the us and can say the basic costs of living are not that different except when it comes to housing costs.

The price of a new vehicle, and maintenance is very similar.

Some places rent is lower yet the utilities are higher.

State taxes some times are higher in places where you would least expect it.

Some people have the added burden of city taxes.

The cost of day care from what I have heard is similar as well as private schools.

Clothing costs are similar.

Food prices in grocery stores are basically the same with the only major variable being the price of meat or seafood depending on the area.

Answer based on duties and responsibilities

Nurses who have more experience should make more money, period. I certainly do not think it is unreasonable for an experienced nurse to make 80,000 a year.

I know in a few of the major cities, such as Boston, they do.

Specializes in LDRP; Education.

Wild-

You are starting to appear bipolar. Don't get so nasty, for christ's sake.

You are acting as if $80 is just sooooooooo normal and that I am the psycho one for thinking it isn't.

I don't know ANY bedside nurse (and I am not talking about flippin agency or travelers, Wild - so please eliminate them from your argument) that is making $80,000 a year - STRAIGHT TIME. And I have said that this type of salary is INSANE for a nurse with limited experience, let alone new grads.

Yes, hospitals, based on what you are telling me, are already paying that for that amount (if not more) for agency nurses and travelers - however, we for example only utilize one traveler. That hospital is not paying it's entire nursing staff of 2,000 that amount - so it's not like there is some endless pot of money. Also, perhaps agency or travelers are actually cheaper for the hospital rather than paying a nurse time and half and call in bonuses. I don't know - it's just a thought. Secondly, you didn't address the fact then that based on your statement, agencies are just as guilty for holding out on the nurses - if they are able to dictate a price and only give the nurse a small portion. Why aren't you also hounding the agencies for a bigger piece of the pie?

Secondly, if $80,000 is so normal, why aren't you clearing that? And if you are (seeing as you left the nursing profession for basically a sales type/commission job) why did you leave the profession? You make it seem like if a nurse could clear 80K straight time that we would solve the nursing shortage. Well...despite this FACT that nurses are "making this all the time in areas of the country" we lost one nurse already......YOU.

You are not making sense.

And you will not change my mind about paying a new grad this amount. A nurse with 15 years of experience should probably be making 80K as a bedside nurse, but certainly not one of MY limited experience. That is all I am saying Wild. Now drop your defenses and READ what I am saying.

Susy, actually trying to get you to see anything is useless and pointless. In the past, there have been multiple discussions on these various subjects that you actively participated in. Please fill free to look them up using the search function.

It is apparent that either the information that goes in is not stored or that it is not processed. Either way, this is a fruitless conversation and that has become more than apparent by following your previous posts. It will have to go on without my involvement because I do not have the time nor the desire to play with you. I am sorry but you act like you just showed up on this board yesterday when in fact you have been coming here regularly for a long time.

If anyone else besides Susy has any relevant questions, then I will be happy to answer them or explain.

Specializes in LDRP; Education.

Gee Wild, I just LOVE it when you bail out on a debate.

It always appears that the more questions that are asked of you, the more suspicious and angry you get - for example, when I asked you how is it that a hospital pays $100,000 to the agency for an agency nurse a year - I honestly didn't know, and why would I? I'm not an agency nurse and have no desire to be. So I then ask you, in a serious manner, and somehow that lit your fire. :confused:

And I have no idea why. Underlying issues, perhaps? I also don't know what in the hell you mean about me acting as if I am new here? Whaaaaaatttt????? Oh, if you mean that people can't grow and form opinions, well then I am guilty. I know my opinion about pay doesn't matter, because, according to you, it's negated as I don't have kids to support. Gee, how dare I make that choice. What nerve.

Good luck in your conquest to get $80,000 for a nurse with..and I will say it again...

LITTLE OR NO EXPERIENCE (ie NEW GRAD) as that is what I have disagreed with for so long throughout these posts. I suspect if that happens, the nursing shortage will end very quickly.

Wow! You girls are almost out of hand. Stressed.

Money is such a touchy subject. It just swoops in and takes over, but the bottom line is, (or at least should be) the average person is typically quoted as saying, "Got to hand it to ya, I could never do it" referring to Nursing: cleaning up shit and vomit, watching people die every day, dealing with the stresses of everyone around you (family, doctors, really sick people) etc....

I always thought that a hospital with a true CEO would step onto a Med-Surg floor at least once a month and work a 12 hour shift adherring to all the policies he/she spends hours in boardrooms creating while tending to individuals who are diminished into base humans as a result of Illness; experience the harrassment, the UNcollaboration of the team, the mental and physical stress, ...and then decide if his/her nurses are adequately paid. Don't hear of see much of that, do we?

It's plain to see and say that most of our new doctors are spoiled, coddled, falsely-revered people with no social skills who get so much reserve just because of their title,...and certainly what they do is hard work, hard-thinking, (Hippocratic or hypocritic??)and rarely genuine despite their wages. And we spend our working hours putting out their fires, modifying their oversights and mistakes and tending to the vocational (aka spiritual, mysterious) ideal of the Humanistic disposition of the ill.

Difficult to put a price tag on that and that's probably why an "adequate" one never has been established. However, NuRSE does NOT equal Martyr.

Shall we open up the Work Ethic Can o' Worms now?

That's a biggie for me. That part frustrates the absolute F---! outa me....like I spend an hour of precious time tracking down SOMEONE for a prn med order on a post-op who's in pain, vomiting and bleeding when that should have been thought of PRIOR to their admission -- I should get THAT doctor's salary for every minute I've had to utilize my brain and body to rectify their inefficient action for the sake of the patient.

But I ..."CARE". I'm a care-giver. I'm a selfless carer. I'm a nurse. Nurse. Nursey-nurse.

In the business world we live in, I should certainly be compensated thereof. Yet nurses seem to be exempt from monetary compensation, retribution. What Nun in our illustrious history etched this in stone?

Perhaps there is a minute of selfish lucid thinking when I'm dashing about beds and bedpans (my license threatened at every movement) do I think "I'm not paid enough for this" -- basically I don't even have the time to even consider this poignant factor.

I think it's fair to say We should be paid just under what a doctor is paid, afterall we are held just as accountable if not moreso, and nowhere and never is it right anywhere that someone should make a lot of money and NOT be held accountable for their actions and intentions.

OOOPs! That money thing just swooped upon me. Gee, I guess I'm a bad nurse for even thinking this...geez...

...let the bastard bleed to death....eh? If I made $20 more an hour (or 60, 80, a million a year) maybe I'd care a little more....

...oh, and, Suzy?....your signature quote from Barbarella is so wierd and strange...is that from the Jane Fonda Sex Kitty movie or is there a philosopher out there that I missed in my studies?? Forgive me either way but I'm laughing my ass off here over a well-deserved martini....

Specializes in LDRP; Education.

I guess James, I don't find it any more weird than yours.

And by the way, as much as you may think - Wildtime is NOT a woman - though he *****es like one. I can see the where the confusion comes in.

I am not familiar with Sex Kitty movie by Jane Fonda? Perhaps late at night while you're drinking your martini and watching these flicks and pleasuring yourself, you got confused along the way.

Nice meeting you.

Up until your odd comment about my signature line and your sarcastic ending, I liked your post. I'll never understand why people around here get sobent out of shape when thier opinons are challenged. Go figure.

Whoa Susy --

I'm glad you liked my post -- I try to speak from the heart

As for you assuming I'm sitting up nights drunk and whacking off to Jane Fonda movies -- a very unfair greeting considering we never met.

All I was ASKING was what I ASKED --as I'm curious to know WHO "Barbarella" is...for the only Barbarella I know of is a 1960's movie where Jane Fonda plays a sexy space queen -- and IT'S NOT A Media FILM....

....perhaps you're the one who's bent out of shape, lady.

Specializes in LDRP; Education.

James,

An unfair assessment is probably right. Ok, fine. That was rude.

But as you will find, I am a chick who speaks just as outwardly as any drunk idiot - or as blunt as any innocent child.

Anyway, lady?? Sheesh, I'm not THAT old. I prefer "Miss."

So...let's start over - nice to meet you.

I have no idea really who Barbarella is, but I saw the quote on a bookmark and liked it. I like to NOT take credit for a saying that isn't mine, so even if the source is some whackjob, then I guess they deserve credit.

Specializes in LDRP; Education.

Oh and James...after reading your above post again....about the image of you drunk and whacking off to Jane Fonda movies....I must admit, that is kind of hysterical.

I'm sure you're a great guy, though.

:D

I just had to comment. My husbands registry told them they were to get a $5 raise and then reniged on it. This inspired him to look around and found that one hospital they sent him to regularly had an in house pool that would pay him $43 an hour. As soon as he accepted and started that job the agency upped their wages to $38 to $42 for him.

The money is out there and suddenly we actually have a decent income. Add the $43 times 36 hours for 52 weeks and you will find that is almost the $80,000 figure that was being discussed.

Specializes in LDRP; Education.

Azgirl:

Is your husband a new grad?

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