Can Bachelor's degree in other area affect pay?

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Out of curiosity, I currently have a BA and I will be finishing my MBA this year. I just got accepted to a nursing program for Spring 2012. Is there anyone who has found their degrees in other areas to be useful in their field of nursing in any capacity, like salary for instance? Has anyone been offered more money or are they still started with the standard salary. If you have, what do you do in the nursing field? I have seen many jobs as case managers, insurance companies, and things like that that I may be interested in.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Having a bachelor's or master's in a field other than nursing does not necessarily increase pay. There are times where a past degree may definitely give you the edge over another job applicant, but the bottom line is usually your clinical experience.

*** As far as that goes in most hospitals bachelors degrees or masters degrees in NURSING have no effect on nurse pay. My hospital has RNs with diplomas, ADNs, BSN, MSNs, and even a few docterates all getting paid the same, based on their years of experience and qualifications. Ceritification will get you paid more, a lot more, about $2500/year more.

@Spore2008

While I don't have a PhD. I was a biology major in undergrad. I also have a medical diploma from a foreign school. Basically, I completed four years of a six year foreign medical program where I gained invaluable hands-on experience ranging from working in community clinics to being scrubbed in for exploratory abdominal surgeries. Right now that experience means nothing, but it is my belief that with a few years of nursing experience, it will.

Like you, I never pursued any degree or certificate to become rich. I did it because there was something inside of me that made me yearn for that knowledge. Now, even though some people don't believe this, my heart is telling me to become a nurse.

So many things have changed since I started Medical School. My dream was to become an Ob-Gyn, and after working with an Ob-Gyn for two years, I realized that it is the ob/mother-baby nurse that has the job I would want. While c-sections are more intriguing to me, delivering a baby lady partslly did nothing for me. Time in the O.R. was a great experience, but after completing rotations in several specialties in various settings, I have realized that the primary care setting is where I want to be and hope to have the chance to become a FNP. I know that I basically have to start from the ground up, and that's ok. I'd rather have a job that I love than be at the top!

I come from a family of nurses and have always known nursing to be a wonderful, diverse profession. Believe it or not, I truly believe that I will have more opportunities to help people as an FNP than I would as a Family Practice Physician. Like you, I aspire to teach and work with patients. Additionally, helping promote cultural-competency in the healthcare field is also important to me.

Like my clinical experience, I truly believe that your research experience will help you in your nursing career in various capacities. You will be a great asset to a medical research team, particularly one with a focus on genetics. Nursing research plays an integral role in nursing today, especially for those involved in advanced practice. Your background will allow you to provide nurses with further insight to medical and scientific research and will definitely cross over into nursing research. With a bit of experience and perhaps an advanced nursing degree, I'm sure that nursing school faculties would welcome you with open arms.

I'm just glad to see that there is someone else out there with an intense academic background who also aspires to become a nurse! :)

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

This is all very interesting. I am wondering how 'high achiever' (PhD in another field) nurses will react to the rule-bound 'low on the pecking order' environment that characterizes nursing. Let's face it, staff nurses are at the bottom of the health care heirarchy with very little opportunity for self direction when it comes to tasks, scheduling, etc.

Someone should do a study on this.... anybody need a thesis or dissertation topic?

*** As far as that goes in most hospitals bachelors degrees or masters degrees in NURSING have no effect on nurse pay. My hospital has RNs with diplomas, ADNs, BSN, MSNs, and even a few docterates all getting paid the same, based on their years of experience and qualifications. Ceritification will get you paid more, a lot more, about $2500/year more.

While some hospitals still pay nurses the same (regardless of education level), many hospitals do pay more to MSNs and DNPs. My sister, an RN-BSN, works at a hospital that pays her about $2/hour more than they pay ADNs. When she finishes her master's, she'll get another $2/hour more. She just graduated in 2010 with her BSN, so experience has very little to do with it.

@HouTx: This would make a great thesis topic. Been there, done that.

I have no problem starting at the bottom. Heck, I never climbed all that high. Please do not think PhD in a hard science is highly compensated monetary-wise. Postdoctoral research fellows begin at about 39K anywhere in the country. After five years, salary approaches 50K. This is after years and years of schooling.

I will miss self-scheduling. I worked very hard in the lab but did not punch a clock. There were weeks and weeks of consecutive 12 hour days. But I could come in at 10 am and leave at 10 pm and that would be fine.

I never thought I would pursue nursing. My undergrad majors were Neuroscience and Religion and my PhD is in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. I am hoping I will be able to utilize my science background in nursing in some capacity. Not necessarily to make more money but perhaps in being considered for certain types of jobs (academia, research, education).

For now, I am beginning an accelerated BSN program. Three very busy consecutive terms (if I go according to schedule) and I am done.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
While some hospitals still pay nurses the same (regardless of education level), many hospitals do pay more to MSNs and DNPs. My sister, an RN-BSN, works at a hospital that pays her about $2/hour more than they pay ADNs. When she finishes her master's, she'll get another $2/hour more. She just graduated in 2010 with her BSN, so experience has very little to do with it.

*** Yes I know there are some exceptions out there.

I, too, was a Biology major as an undergraduate. I decided to become a teacher when I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go in the medical field (at one time, I really wanted to be a PA). I ended up certifying in middle school and high school science and teaching high school for 6 years. I got a MS in Education while I was teaching and began working on my PhD in Education last summer. I also started a BSN program this past January :bugeyes: and have 3 semesters until graduation :w00t: I am considering changing my PhD program from one in Education to one in Public Health. I know that I will make an excellent nurse, but I also enjoy teaching. With the program in Education, I considered centering my research around nursing education; however, I believe that I would like to complete research that would be more applicable to the practice of nursing, hence the thought about changing programs. Any thoughts on this?

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