Comparing A Nurses' Salary

[Joe V]

According to Indeed, Registered Nurses (RNs) earn between $55,726 (< than 1 year experience) - $72,833 (10+ years of experience) per year in 2021.

Forbes reported back in 2019, that top hospital CEOs were making $1 million+. Payscale currently lists the average Hospital Chief Executive Officer salary at $153,479.

How do you feel about your salary compared to other professions?

Click Like if you enjoyed it.

Please share this with friends and post your comments below!

[FinnyBooBoo71]

I agree with you RCBR. It is depressing. I am thankful to be offered a job but $20 a hour will barely cover my about $900 tuition bill along with other cost of living expenses. Yes we may be doing the same work but there should be some incentive for getting a BSN.

[finchfamily4]

My husband hires new grads for his department and they all start out around $65K/yr as Engineers. You would think a nurse would be given at least that! I'm going on 20 yrs as a BSN RN and the most I've made is $60K/yr.

[RCBR]

Surgery182 said:

@RCBR

Why would you go to a larger university and pay tens of thousands of dollars to get the same degree that you could have gotten much cheaper at a community college?

Are you for real??? Universities award bachelor degrees. Community colleges award associate degrees. They are not the same degree. Please approach reality. I cannot believe you think that 2 and 4 year educational institutions award the same degree. Are you even a nurse?

Surgery182 said:

@RCBR

You can't necessarily argue that you got a better education because the content of nursing school is arguably the same.

Yes I can. The content is not the same. BSN graduates have 120-130 credit hours of education versus 60-70. Sorry, but twice the credit hours IS A BETTER EDUCATION. Now, if you think all that extra education makes no practical difference, look at the research done by Aiken et al. showing that the higher the education of nurses the lower the mortality of patients.

Surgery182 said:

@RCBR

The NCLEX is a pretty standardized test that everyone must pass.

The NCLEX is a joke, sorry. Do you really think a 75 question multiple choice exam evaluates your skill and ability as nurse? At its best the NCLEX tests the bare minimum knowledge you need not to kill your patients the first week of work.

Surgery182 said:

@RCBR

So really the only one to blame about having tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt is yourself.

True, I accept responsibility for my choices, but I don't regret them. The Saint Louis Community College had a 2 year waiting list when I applied to nursing school where the University I attended had no waiting list, which means I graduated two years earlier. Those two extra years of RN income (80K) more than pays for the student loans. I think this is the same situation (long waiting lists at community colleges) in most markets.

Surgery182 said:

@RCBR

And should you be paid more for having a BSN? I would say no. Someone already mentioned that experience typically trumps classroom education.

I trust scientific research more than anedoctal evidence. The Aiken research clearly correlates better clinical outcomes with more extensive formal nursing education.

QUOTE=Surgery182@RCBR

Go to any nursing manager and ask who their best/hardest working nurses are and I bet the answer will be a mix of BSN and ADN nurses (along with diploma grads).

All anedoctal evidence. Again, please read the scientific reasearch on the link between ASN/ADN and BSN nursing education and patient mortality.

QUOTE=Surgery182@RCBR

Some ADN nurses may not be able to write an excellent paper on the microbial skin count near an incision on postop day two, but they will run circles around a BSN nurse who got an 'A' on said paper.

How do you know they run circles on BSN nurses? Sorry, you have no evidence for what you are saying.

[SE_BSN_RN, BSN]

BrandonLPN said:

I don't get your point. Of course the nurses all don't make the same amount. A nurse who's been working for 20 years deserves to make more than the new grad. You move up the pay scale with experience. But BSNs do not deserve a separate, higher pay scale than the ADNs.

The problem with the pay scale, at least at my old job, was based on 1-5 years of experience, 5-10 years, 10-15 years and 15+, and most of the time it was only $1 difference from one group of years to the next.

And, yes, the BSN's do deserve a separate higher pay scale than ADN's. They have more classes, and more clinical hours. An ADN is 2 years, a BSN is 4. Big difference in class and clinical time. And, that varies from state to state. That is the same as saying a BSN should get paid the same as a NP. Only 18 months difference in schooling there, along with more clinical hours. As well as a great deal more responsibility.

[SE_BSN_RN, BSN]

Surgery182 said:

@RCBR

Why would you go to a larger university and pay tens of thousands of dollars to get the same degree that you could have gotten much cheaper at a community college? You can't necessarily argue that you got a better education because the content of nursing school is arguably the same. The NCLEX is a pretty standardized test that everyone must pass. So really the only one to blame about having tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt is yourself. And should you be paid more for having a BSN? I would say no. Someone already mentioned that experience typically trumps classroom education. Go to any nursing manager and ask who their best/hardest working nurses are and I bet the answer will be a mix of BSN and ADN nurses (along with diploma grads). Some ADN nurses may not be able to write an excellent paper on the microbial skin count near an incision on postop day two, but they will run circles around a BSN nurse who got an 'A' on said paper.

Actually, no. The managers will usually tell you it was the LPN who were some of their hardest working nurses. Do you know how much work that BSN put into that paper? Do you know WHY they had to write that paper?! Getting a BSN isn't a walk in the park. Getting the ADN is easier. ADN's I talk to can't answer BSN level nursing questions, so, no, the ADN can't run circles around the BSN without the knowledge.

[kabooski]

By what I've heard, new grads start out pretty close to those that have worked for 5,10,15,20+ years

New grads get paid like $21-22hr here (BSN) and only $3-$5 (give or take) an hour more for those with years of experience is sad.

I made 47K driving a Bobcat with only three years experience; others with 5+ made 70K+ driving heavier equipment... (it was all good till I got laid off)

[SE_BSN_RN, BSN]

decembergrad2011 said:

They are not trying to push BSN's away from the bedside. If anything, the hospitals concerned with magnet status are attempting to bring in more and more BSNs to the floor, hence the lack of jobs out there for ADN graduates. When I was hired in, the talk was all about those with ADNs going back to school - they are actually mandated to do so at my institution - and how there was research about improved patient outcomes with higher percentages of BSN-prepared nurses on the floor. I think you are more likely to see the ADN's scope decreased than the BSNs being pushed away from the bedside. It honestly is naive to think that there are enough positions out there for BSNs to only be working in management and research.

I don't think I'm better than anyone for having my BSN, and I listen to my ADN co-workers with more experience when I have a question. But I also grow tired of people who haven't gone through a BSN program thinking that it was superfluous. I'd rather have a professional that was "overqualified" than "bare minimum" taking care of me if you want to compare it that way. I do not compare the two because I see them on a continuum. I prefer to think of it as teaching degrees. Many places will hire you (maybe not so much anymore) with a bachelor's education degree, especially for substitute teaching. However, there is an expectation in my state that you go back and get your Master's degree after a certain period of time. Much like nurses, teachers are expected to continuously evolve and grow and learn new techniques and ideas. I feel like going from ADN to BSN, etc, is actually a great way to grow as a nurse rather than stagnating. Academics can expose you to things that the workplace cannot, and a big part of that is a little bit of idealism and theory which deserves a place in our agenda if we want to change things for the better in our work communities.

Just my opinion.

I think your opinion hits the mark, straight on. It's the same thing here where I live. ADN's are expected to go on and get their BSN. And, research does prove better patient outcomes to higher-educated staff. Here in CO, you can't teach in a classroom if you have a BSN, you have to have a MSN. You can, however, as a BSN, teach clinical courses, as long as you have 2+ years of experience in the clinical area you want to teach, but, it is expected that you get your MSN if you want to continue to teach. BSN's are, and still will be at the bedside for a long time.

[SE_BSN_RN, BSN]

kabooski said:

By what I've heard, new grads start out pretty close to those that have worked for 5,10,15,20+ years

New grads get paid like $21-22hr here (BSN) and only $3-$5 (give or take) an hour more for those with years of experience is sad.

I made 47K driving a Bobcat with only three years experience; others with 5+ made 70K+ driving heavier equipment... (it was all good till I got laid off)

Holy cow! What state do you live in? Right now, doing PDN and getting the reimbursement pay from Medicare, according to the research I have done, my pay should go up $13 an hour more when I finish my BSN if I was to go to a hospital. With my salary now, I will gladly take the new pay rate of a new RN/BSN different or not!

[Teal72]

I'm surprised how little RN's are getting paid. As a medical assistant (9months of schooling) I left and I was making $24 per hour!I became an LVN started off at 29.50 per he and then left making $34 per hr!I started RN job at $45 per hr and that's is kind of low cause the hospital that I worked at starts nurses off at $52 per hr. I live in sacramento California!

[Wild Irish LPN, LPN]

Teal72 said:

I'm surprised how little RN's are getting paid. As a medical assistant (9months of schooling) I left and I was making $24 per hour!I became an LVN started off at 29.50 per he and then left making $34 per hr!I started RN job at $45 per hr and that's is kind of low cause the hospital that I worked at starts nurses off at $52 per hr. I live in sacramento California!

eh.....not calling you an outright liar, but come on....really?...I mean, seriously?....

[Teal72]

Yes seriously...I have no reason to lie..i don't know if you can access it but you can look up the KAiser permanente contracts online and see. Or I'd anyone else in the Sacramento Region please feel free to add.. Especially if you work at KAiser!

[Wild Irish LPN, LPN]

Teal72 said:

Yes seriously...I have no reason to lie..I don't know if you can access it but you can look up the KAiser permanente contracts online and see. Or I'd anyone else in the Sacramento Region please feel free to add.. Especially if you work at KAiser!

well then, that is simply awesome my friend!....looks like I need to trade my Rocky Mountain home for the NoCal scene....happy for you ?