In reality, what is the average starting pay?

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Specializes in Home Health, Case Management, OR.

I am curious what the "real" starting pay for a graduate RN is here in Iowa?

My college quotes a starting salary of $35,000 for an ADN.

Are the majority of the positions 32 hrs a week or 40?

I just got accepted into a 2-year program and I want to have realistic expectations when I graduate and move into the workfield. I know that Iowa salary is far below say east coast salary or a large metro area, which is where most of the figgures I run into are from.

Thanks so much!

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I am not sure what the salaries are in your area of Iowa but here in the Des Moines area that is a decent estimate. I made around 40,000 last year as a new grad. I was working nights occassionally so had some shift differential on there too.

Shifts vary from 40 hours to 32 hours. I was working 12 hour days and averaged around 72 hours every 2 weeks.

Good luck.

Debblynn

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Specializes in Intensive Care and Cardiology.

New grads in Iowa (to my knowledge) on average start at around 20.00 per hour give or take a few cents.

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Specializes in Home Health Care.

Anywhere from $18 to $24 for new grads in my area.... including myself ;)

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Specializes in LTC, home health, private care.

In Sioux City, the hospitals start at about 18.00 - much lower than Des Moines. My LTC facility is offering me 20.00 after I pass my boards. That is, if I can get through the program!

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Specializes in Surgical Intensive Care Unit.

I work at the U in Iowa City, they start new grads ADN around 45,000 (22/hr)

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Specializes in Home Health, Case Management, OR.
I work at the U in Iowa City, they start new grads ADN around 45,000 (22/hr)

How competitive is it to get in to University Hospital? Can you give me any feeback as to what I could do during nursing school to increase my chances of being hired there upon completion of boards? Do you enjoy your position there and do you feel that the nurses there are treated well by admin/other staff/doc's? From what I have researched on their webpage, it appears that it is a facility that you could really grow with and stay employed with for quite some time! Sorry for so many questions I am just really been interested in what U has to offer.

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Specializes in Surgical Intensive Care Unit.

It depends on the time of year how difficult it is to get hired, and how flexible you are with what areas you want to work in. I eventually want to be in NICU or PICU, but took a job in the IPCU (Intermediate Pulmonary....like an ICU stepdown) to get my foot in the door. I love my job here! Everyone treats everyone else with respect. It takes awhile to get used to the Residents and Fellows rotating each month, but they're just as nervous as any of us were when we started. There are sooooo many opportunities here, and it's easy to transfer to a new position in house.

As far as school and graduation, I would say be as active as you can. I was BCLS, PALS and NRP certified when I graduated, and I joined the National Student Nurses Association. It's hard to do extra while you're in school, but if you've had CNA experience that helps as well. When you get closer to graduation, go ahead and apply. Sometimes they will hire people before they take their boards, just to get them through the general orientation.

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Specializes in Home Health, Case Management, OR.

Thank you so much for that information!! Now I have two years to talk my soon to be hubby into moving closer to Iowa City!!

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Specializes in Intensive Care and Cardiology.
How competitive is it to get in to University Hospital? Can you give me any feeback as to what I could do during nursing school to increase my chances of being hired there upon completion of boards? Do you enjoy your position there and do you feel that the nurses there are treated well by admin/other staff/doc's? From what I have researched on their webpage, it appears that it is a facility that you could really grow with and stay employed with for quite some time! Sorry for so many questions I am just really been interested in what U has to offer.

It would really help to have an internship of some kind in an ICU or some critical care position. Even if you don't want to work an ICU type job, they really like to see this to help you "get ahead"of all the other new grads.

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Specializes in Home Health, Case Management, OR.

Do you know how to go about getting into an internship program? Would my school have that information or would I need to contact the hospital? Is an internship something that is done post grad, after NCLEX or what? I do not know anyone who has done an internship so I really do not know what all it entails. Thanks so much for your advise!!

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Specializes in Intensive Care and Cardiology.
Do you know how to go about getting into an internship program? Would my school have that information or would I need to contact the hospital? Is an internship something that is done post grad, after NCLEX or what? I do not know anyone who has done an internship so I really do not know what all it entails. Thanks so much for your advise!!

I would contact your local hospital and see if they offer such a thing. I don't know what path you're going down, but I did an ICU internship the summer between my LPN and RN years of school.

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