Raises/ending pay

Specialties Geriatric

Published

I have seen lots of threads on beginning pay but what about raises in LTC nursing. It seems long term care starts nurses at wages higher than hospitals but what happens after being there for 10 years. For instance I have seen a job posting for a RN at a hospital with a beginning salary of $24 hour and an ending salary of $44 hour. I'm going to guess long term care wages don't increase as much as hospitals. Am I wrong? I'm curious because I might have to settle for LTC since I haven't had much luck with hospitals.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

We don't want nurses who think working in long term care is "settling".

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REally? more? LTC here would start you out from 22-25 most likely. No idea what the top out is but probably no more than 30 for a floor nurse. Hospital nurse starts at around 26-27

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Yes, Please dont "settle" for LTC. Huge insult to our residents, there families and the staff. Started at 10.03 (in 1995) now, at same facility I am at 26.86. I am proud to say I didnt "settle", I CHOSE to be a LTC nurse. There is nothing else I would want to do in nursing, no matter what the pay.

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I figured I would ruffle some feathers with that quote. I could give reasons but I don't think I want to go down that path. I'm sure there are plenty of other threads about it. I shouldn't even mentioned it. Sorry. Anyways, thanks for the answers so far.

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Specializes in retired LTC.
We don't want nurses who think working in long term care is "settling".
You said it very well for the rest of us LTS staff. TY
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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

I should have answered the question as well. We start new RNs at $23...$1 more for evenings, $2 for nights. Weekends is another differential.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
Yes, Please dont "settle" for LTC. Huge insult to our residents, there families and the staff. Started at 10.03 (in 1995) now, at same facility I am at 26.86. I am proud to say I didnt "settle", I CHOSE to be a LTC nurse. There is nothing else I would want to do in nursing, no matter what the pay.

Here's a chuckle for you....

I started in a nursing facility as a LPN in 1987 at $6.75/hr (nope, that is NOT a typo). I quit there about 4 years ago at $29/hr (as the ADON & now an RN). Now that's quite a raise, although it took 20 years to gain all that!

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Specializes in LTC.
You said it very well for the rest of us LTS staff. TY

I love my residents, but do not plan to stay in LTC. It takes a special person to work in LTC much less make it your career healthcare setting. While, I disagree with "settling", I understand what the OP meant.

PS: didnt mean to quote, and couldn't fix it : ) sry

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

I understand those that took offense to the OP's statement of settling, but it is a reality of most new nurses today that a hospital job is the goal. I went into LTC unsure of my goals, it was more of a convenience decision. It's worked out that I really enjoy it, but it could have just as easily gone the other way and I would have been another new nurse "using" LTC for experience to move on. Nurses are people, not saints, and there are probably many LTC nurses that feel no particular calling to that population, but still provide competent care to their residents.

In answer to your questions, I started recently at $26/hr, and the local hospital hired new grads at somewhere around $25.50, can't really comment on the moving up, since I haven't. Good luck with whatever your future holds.

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In my area hospitals start at around 23-24. My LTC starts you at 26 but no shift dif. Also, raises are 3% yearly at my facility...

As a side note, in regards to the terribly dreaded term "settle," I am not sure that it was used to describe LTC itself so much as something/somewhere that the OP just is not necessarily 100% interested in. In other words, in many cases we have to "settle" for a certain nursing job, especially at the beginning. This isn't to say that the specialty/area we are accepting employment in is any less, simply that it is not for us, or perhaps not necessarily where we ultimately want to be (or so we think...).

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Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.
We don't want nurses who think working in long term care is "settling".
working in long term care, is anything, but settling !
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