HELP! Need advice for possible career move

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Hello All,

I am a firefighter/lieutenant and am looking to change careers. I have been in fire service for almost 10 years and need some advice to see if nursing will be a good fit for me financially and professionally.

I love helping people but need better pay. I am male and need my starting salary in North Metro ATL area to be more than what I am making now after 10 years.

Can someone give me a break down (base, shift dif, holiday, OT, etc)?

Also how long is nursing school for A.S.? Would like to get my BSN after start working at a hospital.

Thanks for the help

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I'm sure that some folks from your area will be around very soon to fill you in on salary specifics. I just wanted you to be aware of a couple of factors that may have an impact on your decision.

Without a BSN, your opportunities for working in an acute care environment may be very limited. Most major metro areas have already moved to BSN-only staffing in hospitals which limits ADNs to non-acute care settings. The second factor is the extreme salary compression that has characterized nursing for many decades - and there's no indication that it will change in the future. Salaries for bedside nurses top out at around 5 years.... the only alternative is to seek additional formal education and higher level positions because even achieving a specialty certification will only give you an itty-bitty bump.

Depressing, isn't it? Jobs with the most value to society are never rewarded as they should be.

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