Highest paid specialty in nursing ?

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I'm doing my LVN clinicals (9 weeks to go) and today was our last day at this particular hospital, so as we're leaving this RN hugged me and said "remember all the money is in L&D" . Is that true ? I've never heard that before.

P.S. please don't send me any "you shouldn't go into nursing for the money" stuff. I'm not in it for the money I was just wondering if that's true.

Maybe that nurse was referring to a local facility (or facilities) in which a particular specialty or service line (ie- L&D) pays their nurses incentives for working particular shifts or taking a certain number of call hours. As I said in the other thread about salary, the hospital I work for has a uniform pay scale for ALL RN's, regardless of unit or specialty. The hourly rate for RNs at my hospital is determined by their years of experience and their clinical position (CNI, II, II, IV, nurse manager, etc). There is also weeknight, weekend and weekend/night differential involved. I don't know whether or not NP's and CRNA's at my hospital are paid hourly or are salaried. I'd imagine they are salaried and negotiate their pay upon hire (and at regular intervals thereafter).

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Specializes in Ambulatory (Urgent care) & Home Health.

I NEVER SAID I WANT MORE MONEY !!!! I just wanted to know if what she said is true.

And of course things aren't always happy in L&D, duhhh I understand complications , maternal death and fetal death . I said for the MOST part.

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Specializes in LDRP.
I NEVER SAID I WANT MORE MONEY !!!! I just wanted to know if what she said is true.

And of course things aren't always happy in L&D, duhhh I understand complications , maternal death and fetal death . I said for the MOST part.

You know, considering all I was doing was trying to help you by offering my experiences in regards to your question, did you really need to be rude in your reply by saying "duhhh"?

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I had always thought that nurse anesthesia was the specialty that offered the highest pay, and one would need to have completed a CRNA program in order to work as a nurse anesthetist. CRNAs usually earn in excess of $100,000 annually.

I thought she meant as a regular ADN/BSN.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

Any hospital I've ever worked in pays by experience,...the RN's in the OR are paid the same as ER, NTICU, L&D etc.

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Specializes in Med/surg/tele/OR.

Do we really have to ruin a perfectly nice informative discussion by being rude to each other? Lets be professional please!

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Specializes in Hospice.

I am not sure about other areas, but where I work I got about a $30,000 a year pay increase when I switched from floor nursing to hospice. Also made a similar amount when I was working as a travel nurse. I am getting my MSN in education and will have a starting pay as a professor that is similar to the starting pay of a floor nurse, so I know that isn't the highest paid specialty! ;)

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I believe that nurse anesthetists are the highest paid nurses followed by nurse administrators. There are tools online like salary wizard that give average incomes in metropolitan areas in your state for certain specialties/positions. For instance, when I put in nurse anesthesia and San Jose, Ca. I came up with an average of $185,000 per year. Other cities gave different averages. Good luck

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Specializes in Peri-Op.

Everywhere I have interviewed at pays based on experience and the higher pay I based on your ability to negotiate your wage. If you have a solid reputation with excellent references to back it up You will up your pay. My first year I made over 100k because I came out of RN school with a solid surgery reputation an negotiated for a high base hourly wage.

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