Cardio-Thoracic Differential Pay

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I work on the Cardio-Thoracic OR team and we are separate from the "main" OR in that we do not do anything except heart and lung surgery. However, our base pay is the same as everyone else.

There have been grumblings lately about trying to get a differential for our team based on the critical nature of our patients, our higher amount of call time, etc. I was wondering if other hospitals across the country pay more for nurses on the heart team.

Any input would be much appreciated as I hear these discussions strengthen at our hospital.

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

So my ruptured AAA isn't critical? To answer your question, in the facilities I have worked where there has been a cardio team they received the same base pay as everyone else. The extra call the cardio teams endure is considered par for the course and people who didn't want that amount of call simply got off the cardio team.

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Specializes in OR Hearts 10.

We get 7% were I am at right now. We work regular OR rooms also but our call is 3-4 times more then the regular OR staff. On call we cover hearts and vascular.

Where do you work? You can PM me the answer if you don't want to list it on line. The reason I'm asking is because next week I'm interviewing at a Heart Center.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

No base pay differential; however, we start a half hour earlier than the rest of the OR and that half hour is with night shift differential. There is a monetary incentive for reaching a certain number of on call hours, and the only people who get it consistently are CTOR staff.

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Yes, we had a diff of $6.00/hr. This was initiated to attract nurses to our team when we were opening the program. When i transferred back to the general OR, that diff was gone from my base rate so fast my head swam!

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Specializes in Cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.

My CV team has a specialty pay differential of $1.90/hr. We cover CV and thoracic call and also take back-up general call and work in the main OR when CVT surgery is slow. I have worked in 4 CVORs in the Western USA and all 4 programs gave some kind of incentive to be on the CV team. I feel like it has always been deserved with the extra amount of call taken and the acuity of patients. Also we never get many breaks because other RNs are "scared" of the CVOR, the procedures or the surgeons.

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Specializes in MedSurg (Ortho), OR.

During my CV time, the CV team got the same base pay. But, we do get a monthly stipend.

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Does anyone know if there's a differential pay in new york hospitals?

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