Advocate hospital starting salary for new grads

2011NursingStudent · Jan 24, 2011

Actually for those that think that a pay rate of $26.75 for new grad is good you are fooling yourselves. Especially at Advocate Il Masonic which sits in one of the most expensive areas of Chicago. To be honest the pay for the whole of Chicago and the midwest is depressed and intentionally held down by all the hospitals in Chicago and the surrounding areas (except the University of Chicago, county and VA hospitals.... to a degree because they are the only ones unionized or forced to keep up with cost of living). After graduating from a BSN program in Chicago proper, working in the City for 6 years then pursuing travel nursing on the West coast and now I have returned to Chicago eight years later (I have been a nurse for almost 14 years) I am appalled to see the wages stagnant and pathetic. The reason for this is that hospital systems are not accountable to anyone. They set the pay rates, they do not negotiate, they charge for parking!!!, decide whether to hold raises for a year or two (which most have here in Chicago because of the economic downturn), continue to increase the amount the nurses have to shoulder for their medical, dental, and vision, and increase the workload w/ unsafe staffing levels. You want to see fair or decent pay practices???........... look where unions exist. The East Coast (NY, MA, etc) and the West Coast (WA, OR, CA). You will realize that the pay in those areas are $28,000-60,000. more than Chicago. Remember Chicago has the highest tax rate in the country and the fact that we are the third largest City in the country, the cost of living here is brutal. Keep this in mind people, when you see a Union trying to form at your local hospital show an interest and get involved. They are only trying to improve work conditions, nurse: patient ratios, wages and benefits, decrease the politics of the hospital, and give the nurse a more level playing field. It is sad for me to see how well the nurses are treated on the West Coast to come back to Chicago to see nothing has changed. It unfortunately is part of the culture here: Crooked politics, graft, corruption, theft, violence, and an unhealthy view of formed labor. Also, new grads and people that never thought out this fact: whenever you hear a hospital is Magnet or has good "health grades," ask yourself what does that have to do with you???? Has that improved your pay or work conditions.......it is a gimmick! While I am not saying all hospitals are bad and there are good ones here like Rush but the majority stink and try to make it look like they are on your side......they are not and don't be fooled. WAKEUP CHICAGO!

The income tax rate is still around 5% with the increase - if you look up income tax by state, Illinois is in the middle. Wisconsin is 7%. The sales tax is astronomical, but there is no mortgage tax here, and stating that Illinois has the highest tax rate in the country just isn't true. The poster two up said California has better wages...license plates are going up to $500 there, min speeding ticket is $500, they're talking about paying in IOUs again, so that's not going to be good for hospitals, and the California income tax is variable, but can go up to 9.3%.

JamieJCST · Jan 24, 2011

I just wanted to add that as of Jan 1, Christ and Hope will only hire BSN nurses because of Magnet designation. As far as I know, these are the only Advocate hospitals doing it at this time but I'm sure the others will follow if they are Magnet hospitals.

netglow, ASN, RN · Jan 24, 2011

Looked 'em up and copied this:

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and certification in your current area of specialty within 2 years or 2,000 hours.

MrChicagoRN, RN · Jan 25, 2011

Cost of living varies greatly by region. And salaries usually reflect that.

Using the cost of living calculator: http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx

Using the 26.75 base salary for comparison, Chicago's regional $55,640 requires $77,419 to live in the San Franscisco area. (39.14% difference)

Also, California law mandates staffing via ratio, while Illinois law requires staffing by acuity, and forbids mandatory overtime.

Acuity is better.

In addition, most nurses will also be receiving shift & weekend differentials, so most will be earning over $60-70,000 per annum.

Finally, salaries aren't everything. 1st of all, the trick is still to find a job. There is no nursing shortage in the top tier hospitals. And those are the ones where you will generally find the greatest learning experiences and the greatest opportunities for professional growth.

guest64485 · Jan 26, 2011

Also, California law mandates staffing via ratio, while Illinois law requires staffing by acuity, and forbids mandatory overtime.
Acuity is better.

The dream implementation of acuity is better, but in practice, this does not get properly done. Acuity forms are designed by the hospital, and not regulated by much more than just mandating that some nurses be on the committee. At the last hospital I worked at, we were told that our new staffing by acuity form revealed that we needed to cut our patient load by 2 patients each, but instead of giving us more staff, they were instead changing the form so that it would reflect our current staffing numbers (which clearly shows how meaningless "staffing by acuity" is).

Staffing by acuity also does nothing to take into account lunch breaks where you can have 12 or more patients. It is a good charge nurse that will split up patients based upon acuity, and that's the critical factor, not a form that asks few questions which misses the real issues that make individual patients heavy or light.

I would argue that legally restricting numbers of patients per nurse(like in California) and having the oversight of a good charge nurse to balance acuity is far better than acuity-only systems run by IL hospitals.

erbryan · Feb 6, 2011

Christ requires you to have a BSN now that they have (Maggot status) Mangnum status , As far as South Suburban its a Ghetto hospital in the suburbs, Consider something else than Advocate

NICU_babyRN, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2011

My net for last year was almost 60K. I've been working at the hospital for about four years and started as new BSN grad. After taxes and benefits are taken out my take home was 40K! Just keep this in mind new grads!

And yes, most Chicago "magnet" hospitals are going for BSN only and/or 2+yrs experience.