Compensation ?...

ilovepeds · Feb 19, 2008

The trend is not that way where I live. The hospitals where I live are very comparable to others regarding pay, regardless of peds or adult.

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 19, 2008

I've not found that trend in most of my career, either. The Peds nurses are generally paid at the same rate as everyone else.

However, I do know of a few instances where certain "hard-to-fill" specialties receive bonus pay and have never known Peds to be included in that bonus. That makes the Peds nurses paid less than a few select specialties, but not "all of nursing in general," if you know what I mean.

You have to remember that salaries are set based in part on "supply and demand" priniciples -- not on the principles of "who knows the most" or "who works the hardes" etc. If positions are hard to fill (such as nights, weekends, holidays, etc.) there are pay incentives to encourage people to work those shifts. The same goes for certain specialties. Sometimes, when a hospital has trouble recruiting or retaining nurses in a certain specialty, it will offer a bonus or salary increase to encourage nurses to want to work on those units. Peds is usually one the most popular specialties -- which doesn't give hospitals the need to pay special bonuses or higher salaries for Peds nurses.

elkpark · Feb 19, 2008

It's also been my experience over the years that nurses in the different clinical areas are paid about the same (within a given hospital). As the others noted, if there are significant differences, it's often because those particular positions are harder to fill and there is greater demand. If it's v. easy for hospitals to fill positions in a particular area (e.g., peds), there's no need for them to offer the higher salary rates that they may need to offer in other areas.

labrador4122, RN · Feb 28, 2008

I've Always been interested in PEDS...especially the NICU... I have a question...why is it that PEDS Nurse get compensated LESS than that of an ADULT Nurse?...PICU and NICU Nurses get payed the same as Adult ICU Nurses??...I found that kinda strange....yet Pediatrics one must be sooo careful for these patients are ALOT more delicate than those of adults..not saying that adults are not delicate..but the majority of ped pts everything changes...the way you talk...approach...and stress levels rising when you have a non-compliant parent...Im not sure but is it still like this today?..the Average RN starts@ 34-36/hr in NYC...would it be the same for PEDS Med-surg??or will it be less and Why?..Can anyone shed light?...i think its very unfair...you work just as hard in peds than you do when working with adults...thank you...XoXo...:redpinkhe

OMG I would be so happy if I got 34-36/hr!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I get from 26-28/hr working nights in miami fl, during the day I get 22.50

dansingrn · Feb 29, 2008

The average RN starts at 34-36/hour??? That's alot! Nurse practitioners don't even start that high around here!! (I will be an NP in 3 months, God willing!)

carxoxo · Mar 3, 2008

Keep in mind the cost of living in the NYC area. I live about 45 min from NYC and the price of a starter home that needs TLC is 500,000 dollars!!!

PedsRN1991 · Mar 5, 2008

In the hospital where I work, peds is a specialty and we get specialty pay.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Mar 6, 2008

Not here. We don't even get extra pay for working ICU or Emergency.