Are there any certifications I can take to increase my salary??

Nurses General Nursing

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I’ve been a nurse for 5 years. I truly love my job and enjoy doing it. I’m in medsurg. I thought with time I’d find my calling but have not. I am very fortunate to work 2 jobs in great hospitals. With that said I hope this doesn’t offend anyone.

But I’m tired of working two jobs and am ready to find something else and be able to pay my bills without having to work this many hours. Yes nursing salary is great but have a lot of other outstanding debt and am wanting to not stress.

I'm at a cross roads... do I go back to school? (Take on my more debt). If I do what route do I take? I’ve talked to many NPs and other nurses who have received their masters. Still having a hard time figuring it out.

Or are there any certifications I can take to increase my salary? I’ve looked into medical sales and slightly looked into nursing consult work?

Just looking for any insight at all!

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I'm not an expert, but I feel like if your goal is to make more money and work less hours, NP probably isn't the answer.

You'd probably have to drop one of your extra jobs in order to even get through an NP program given the clinical requirements, which would put you even further behind on paying off your debt (plus accruing new debt for the program). In addition, some locations, certain NP specialties are so oversaturated that new grads can end up making even less than experienced nurses working a bunch of overtime. Also, some NPs in clinic settings end up working far more hours than RNs, which is precisely what you're trying to get away from.

Are you able to move? Maybe you could consider relocating to an area with a lower cost of living and higher nursing salaries. You could also consider traveling for a while as you pay down your debts, although you'd probably have an easier time of it with more specialized experience (i.e. ICU, OR, etc.)

Medical sales is a bit dicey; you can make a lot of money, but much of it comes from commissions. Therefore, it's not always the most predictable and you may go through spells where you're not making as much money as your used to, so you have to be prepared.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
On 12/19/2019 at 8:24 AM, Hcc19 said:

Hi

I’ve been a nurse for 5 years. I truly love my job and enjoy doing it. I’m in medsurg. I thought with time I’d find my calling but have not. I am very fortunate to work 2 jobs in great hospitals. With that said I hope this doesn’t offend anyone.

but I’m tired of working two jobs and am ready to find something else and be able to pay my bills without having to work this many hours. Yes nursing salary is great but have a lot of other outstanding debt and am wanting to not stress.

Im at a cross roads... do I go back to school? (Take on my more debt). If I do what route do I take? I’ve talked to many NPs and other nurses who have received their masters. Still having a hard time figuring it out.

Or are there any certifications I can take to increase my salary? I’ve looked into medical sales and slightly looked into nursing consult work?

Just looking for any insight at all!

Eh welcome to adult life. You’re going to have to work hard and live cheap until that debt is paid off. Nursing is one of the few jobs you can easily make six figures at with a 2-4 year degree. Doesn’t get much better. And as an NP, you’re going to work a lot too.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
15 hours ago, ArmyRntoMD said:

Eh welcome to adult life. You’re going to have to work hard and live cheap until that debt is paid off. Nursing is one of the few jobs you can easily make six figures at with a 2-4 year degree. Doesn’t get much better. And as an NP, you’re going to work a lot too.

Well I wouldn't go so far as to say it's an easy job to make six figures at. It is I'm sure if you live in a high salary area, but usually along with that high rate of pay comes a high cost of living. I live in a moderate wage and cost of living area, work one job full time and prefer to not work a ton of overtime. I have never cracked that six figure mark or even come close. The best I've done is around $65,000 year which is adequate for where I live but I'm sure not one of the 1% rich. There are positions around here where the six figure salary isn't out of range but they are either upper management or involve a lot of overtime.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I think the bigger question is - why do you have so much debt that you have to work 48-72 hours a week to pay your bills? I would put laser-sharp focus on living as frugally as possible and pay off your debt as fast as you can. I recommend reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. It changed my family's life, and now my 21-year-old son is putting about 25% of his income away into savings and retirement, and already has about $20k put away in an IRA.

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20 hours ago, ArmyRntoMD said:

Eh welcome to adult life. You’re going to have to work hard and live cheap until that debt is paid off. Nursing is one of the few jobs you can easily make six figures at with a 2-4 year degree. Doesn’t get much better. And as an NP, you’re going to work a lot too.

How exactly can someone “easily” make six figures in nursing?

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Pick up extra shifts for emergency/incentive pay as well as overtime. I found it pretty easy doing 5 days a week.

7 hours ago, kbrn2002 said:

Well I wouldn't go so far as to say it's an easy job to make six figures at. It is I'm sure if you live in a high salary area, but usually along with that high rate of pay comes a high cost of living. I live in a moderate wage and cost of living area, work one job full time and prefer to not work a ton of overtime. I have never cracked that six figure mark or even come close. The best I've done is around $65,000 year which is adequate for where I live but I'm sure not one of the 1% rich. There are positions around here where the six figure salary isn't out of range but they are either upper management or involve a lot of overtime.

I live in the Deep South. Cheap cost of living and making six figures is still easy long as you’re willing to work. I made 115k one year and 66k another as a full time college student.

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Forensics, Addictions.

Have you heard of Public Service Loan Forgiveness? Your student loans can be paid off in ten years.

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4 hours ago, SarahMaria said:

Have you heard of Public Service Loan Forgiveness? Your student loans can be paid off in ten years.

Less than 1% of borrowers who have applied for PSLF have had their loans discharged as of June 2019. I wouldn’t count on this as a viable option. It’ll hopefully get better, but don’t bank on it.

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On 12/20/2019 at 11:05 PM, ArmyRntoMD said:

Eh welcome to adult life. You’re going to have to work hard and live cheap until that debt is paid off. Nursing is one of the few jobs you can easily make six figures at with a 2-4 year degree. Doesn’t get much better. And as an NP, you’re going to work a lot too.

You can't make 6 figures as a RN in my area unless you've worked maybe 20+ years. If I worked a 3rd shift ER program, I could make around $92,000/year because of the differential. There are limits to overtime too.

A NP could make six figures.

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I was looking for other avenues in nursing to make more money whether it be going back to school.
I do live frugally, thank you.

This was just a post to see what other options are out there... even if I could go back and get a masters- what can you do with a masters in nursing?

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Just now, Hcc19 said:

I was looking for other avenues in nursing to make more money whether it be going back to school.
I do live frugally, thank you.

This was just a post to see what other options are out there... even if I could go back and get a masters- what can you do with a masters in nursing?

Research? Some of my friends with non-NP masters are still looking for jobs.

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