Encouragement needed - Frustrated and insulted by hourly rates

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I am a new grad. I chose to pursue nursing as a second career based on all of the stories I have heard of nurses being valuable assets in a community/in demand etc. I did well in school. I passed my NCLEX a month ago and I have been searching for a god job. As an adult I have some real-world experience of what a salary needs to be to be "good." I knew I was going to have to step back a bit in terms of money as I launch my new career but I am feeling frustrated and frankly insulted by some of the hourly rates I have been quoted. I have spent a lot of time on this site reading people's complaints about treatment/hours/pay etc and I am very worried that I have made a mistake in investing in this career. Please, someone help me regain confidence that I will find a good job with opportunities for growth.

Thanks everyone. I am in Rhode Island and I have a BSN. I am also definitely planning to go back to school for an NP or possibly PA and the plan is to go sooner rather than later. Since, as I said, I am a middle adult I want to get where I am going as soon as possible. The numbers I have been getting so far are a base rate in the hospital of $26.50 per hour with shift differentials up to $6.25 for weekend nights. The nursing home I investigated was a base rate of $25 with a shift differential of only $3 for weekend nights. I am torn between quality of life considerations (nursing home seems a little less stressful - maybe) and opportunity to make more money and have more variety which would be the hospital setting. So if I am planning to head back to school ASAP (schools basically require a year or so of experience before they want you back) does it even matter? Should I just get any job that gives me the experience so that I can go back to school? At $25 per hour I am almost thinking of this year as a volunteer year. Does this make me sound unreasonable? Are my expectations just way out of whack?

Yes. I'd say you are being unreasonable. Then again, I don't know much about cost of living in Rhode Island. I've worked in the Midwest, Appalachia, and the southeast.

I was in college when I last worked in the Midwest, and my salary as an assistant was about $14/hr with great shift differentials (which is why I worked exclusively weekend nights and holidays).

In Appalachia, as an RN, one of my jobs was about $24/hr which was well above the average and cost of living for the area. My second was $18/hr as an RN which I felt was insulting. It was a rock-meet-hard-place” situation – I had bills to pay and could not just not work.

Now in the SE, I'm in the OR. I was initially quoted the same pay rate as used for for non-OR nurses (clinical nurse I) when I took my first job with this hospital years ago (approximately $21/hr). Before I started, the rate was adjusted to reflect the clinical nurse I-OR rate. In my hospital, OR nurses are the most highly paid nurses who are not in an advanced practice role (CRNA, NP). The salary pay grades show this, across the board: clinical nurse I to clinical nurse IV (OR compared to all other units). The extra compensation is because we're in the OR and then there's a differential that our Main OR nurses get for being in a Level 1 trauma center where who knows what will roll through the door next (this only matters compared to our ambulatory surgery center). My hourly rate has been adjusted multiple times since then (market/merit raises and two promotions) – I make just shy of $30/hr. On the other hand, we have some of the best benefits in our area – our retirement is wonderful and I have never seen staff earning more PTO per pay period than we do. That matters for something too.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Hospitals in my area have starting rates of around $19/hr and nursing homes around $23/hour for new grad RNs. Granted the cost of living here is lower than in many areas.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

I went into nursing for the money and job security. I've never been shy about telling people that because it's easy to see, if you know me, that I love nursing and consider it an unexpected gift from God. I have a great job and am amazed at how much I make. Working night shift with differentials helps boost my income. Also where I work each specialty certification gets you 1$ an hour more. So with my CEN I make an additional 8000$ every 4 years. If I add one more cert I can boost another 8000$ per 4 years bringing my pay up 4000$ per year. Nurses also make good money in overtime or with prn agency jobs. From my perspective travel nursing didn't pay a whole lot more, but it's one hell of a kick. It was fun to do it for a while.

Most nurses get their best pay raises when going to a new job. In house raises are usually not very generous. Interestingly enough I make more money living/working in Texas than where I came from. Who knew.

I hope nursing turns out to be as wonderful for you as it has for me, and I'm not talking money here.

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@gonzo1 I tried to contact you. I wrote you the longest message only to find out I am not allowed to send messages because I didnt post enough topics yet ): I really want to message you...I'm sorry ):

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Specializes in Critical Care.
You're right and I probably just need a reality check for what pay is actually going to look like. It's just really depressing. I wish there were more posts on here about how people really love their jobs and it makes the money seem less important.

What were you doing before nursing and what did it pay?

The starting pay sounds about average and not bad, with differentials you should be making $60,000+ a year. I think hospitals would have better pay and benefits than nursing homes simply because they have a low profit margin with many medicare/medicaid patients and many are run by for profit corp that save any money for the top! If you are planning for NP I would take the hospital job as you will get more acute care experience. Plus usually there is overtime available if you are interested so you can raise your pay that way. In my experiences raises and wages are relatively flat as others have stated so nurses with decades of experience may be making only a few dollars more than new grads. If you have a choice choose a union facility as they tend to have better pay, benefits and working conditions!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Well I guess the hospital job (with shift differential) is in line with what I hoped to make. Since I went to school in Massachusetts where the cost of living is astronomical it seemed to me like nurses made a lot of money (of course most of them have a lot of experience) so I was hoping that my step back from being a contractor (residential remodeling/carpentry) was going to be temporary. I think it still will be if I can make it through to NP or PA. I know I sound super ambitious and condescending and I don't mean to. I am really excited to start my career but I am (right at this exact moment) getting cold feet.

If you are talking Boston sure they will get paid better. Also they have unionized hospitals. States that have unionized hospitals will pay better in general and urban areas typically pay higher. You don't get rich as a nurse unless you do a lot of overtime! Like others said hospitals are aware of what their competitors pay and try to stay in line and not more. There has even been a lawsuit about this that this amounts to wage fixing. I don't know what the outcome was.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I am really sorry that this bugs you. I realize that frank discussions of money are relative to location. The northeast is an extremely expensive place to live and I hope to be a respected professional with an income that is also respectable. $25 per hour (I am really only getting bites on jobs that are "part time" 32 hours - that way no benefits) is basically a subsistence wage in this part of the country.

Most nurses I know work either 32 hrs or 36 hours, very few work 40 hours and most hospitals provide benefits even for part time, where I work less than 32 hours the premiums are double, but a hospital and all big business have to provide insurance if a person works 30 hours or more!

As I've stated before you can usually make overtime or you could use your nursing job for the insurance and keep your other job on the side.

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I think the starting salaries you mentioned are pretty typical! There are areas in the country- such as California, New Jersey, New York- where you may see salaries approaching 100,00, but this is a rarity and usually in those places with the highest cost of living. It will take about ten years before you start to approach the higher end of the salary range in your area. Then only a few more years after that, then you will hit the highest salary you will make. There is no glass ceiling to be broke through as an RN.

That being said, there are a million better reasons to be excited about your new career. Nursing is a wonderful profession. You will grow immensely as a person and have an ongoing sense of doing something of value. I know that sounds cliche, but it is the truth. There are very few jobs that can give you that deep satisfaction of making a difference while bearing witness to the most significant and meaningful aspects of life. Not may professions that give you a hefty dose of that all in one day! Hang in there. If you feel that your nursing job isn't all that it should be- then get some experience )at least 1 year) and go on to the next opportunity! There are endless opportunities which await you in the world of nursing. Just don't settle for what you see right in front of you. It is healthy to stay open to what is possible and to go grab it! The most unhappy nurses are those that stay on poorly managed understaffed units for too many years. We all know those nurses- the ones that are extremely negative, falling apart physically and never willing to change their circumstances. Good Luck to you! That world is your oyster now!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, OB, ICU, Public Health Nursing.

Focus on getting acute care experience and then find where your passion lies. After you know what type of nursing you want to do, then you can shop around for the best salary. I had a 40 year career and there were great jobs and crappy jobs, but I was never bored. The solution to better pay and a decent workload is found within a union setting. I left my career making $66/hour and that was not top salary as I was there 19 years (nurses with 20-30 years made more). I now have a great defined pension benefit which is not the same as a 401K.

Again, the apprentice carpenter does not make the same salary as the experienced carpenter or contractor. Learn your craft and then shop around. Best of luck!

Nursing was an amazing career and there is no monetary value for some of the incredible experiences a nurse has when providing excellent care.

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Hi! Do you have an idea of how much St.Anne's pays New grad RNs?

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I don't know what they pay although I have heard rumors that they do pay well. I am working at the moment in Newport although I have an interview for a job at Rhode Island that I applied for months ago. I will feel pretty badly about leaving them in the lurch but the externalities of the situation might mean I end up being sort of the bad guy in the situation. We'll see. I have heard some numbers from some rehab hospitals in Braintree that have starting rate in the low $30s. But I am not really willing to travel that far.

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Oh, I see. Thanks anyway. I hope everything goes well with your endeavors! :)

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