Ok, so as I'm scrolling these forums, I keep seeing posters post things like "$30/hr is normal for a staff nurse", etc.
In Indiana as a RN(BSN) with 3.5 years experience (2 years M/S, 1.5 years Periop), I only make $23/hour... and I was excited about that until I saw these posts! I started at $17.78/hour!
Obviously I'm disillusioned and need to know what a good pay rate to ask for is, because I thought $30/hour would be good...
Thats how it is at my hospital. Its a huge hospital system and no matter if you're an Office Nurse, ICU nurse, ER nurse, or M/S nurse- everyone gets paid based on time worked at the hospital. If you're a new nurse making $20/hour after 1 year and you decide to transfer to CVICU or Surgey, you'll still be making $20 there as well, until the annual performance appraisal.
Also remember to take into consideration the whole compensation package. A few dollars more per hour may seem like a lot, until it comes back out for insurance premiums.
Do I have to accept their insurance? Or can I stay on my current plan?
There are regions in the US that offer a great combination of reasonable cost of living and competitive pay. No employer will pay more than they need to in order to attract nurses.
And where are these regions?! lol I'm ready to move! The only thing that makes this difficult now is that I'm in my last year of NP school. But I'm SOOOO restless! I gotta get outta here!
It depends on where you live. I'm a new grad and base pay is $27, $2.25 night shift differential, and $4.00 differential on weekends. I should add I'm in MA and the cost of living is ridiculous!
I work in peri-operative services right now (1.5 years). Its in prep/recovery. But I feel like there's no need for that anywhere else because all I see is openings for 'PACU' travel nurses or 'OR-Circulator/Scrub' travel nurses.
I work in what we call 'Recovery II'. Basically- after the patient's surgery, they recover in PACU for about an hour, and then they come to me for an addition 1 - 4 hours (depending on their surgery - lung biopsy, arteriogram, laminectomy, ORIFs, etc.).
What areas do you think I would qualify for in the travel world?
I just came from a hospital where your job was called short stay. They admitted all the patients coming from home and got them ready for surgery, and then took the outpatients after recovery and sent them home. From my perspective, this is the easiest job possible for a nurse and as such, there are almost never travel assignments in these areas - too entry level. A new grad for much less than a travel nurse could walk right in with minimal orientation to paperwork.
Thats how it is at my hospital. Its a huge hospital system and no matter if you're an Office Nurse, ICU nurse, ER nurse, or M/S nurse- everyone gets paid based on time worked at the hospital. If you're a new nurse making $20/hour after 1 year and you decide to transfer to CVICU or Surgey, you'll still be making $20 there as well, until the annual performance appraisal.
Yup, pretty cool. But in the real world (and it doesn't get more real than travel), compensation is based on training (higher trained nurses in specialties get paid more), experience (you are competing directly with other travelers for the same bill rate), and need (supply and demand). An entry level nurse is plentiful and so demand and pay is low, and an open heart recovery nurse is highly trained and scarce.
Back to your original question, how much should I ask for? For starters, you need to find a specialty that is needed in the real world. Your NP credential (when you have it) will be far better than periop. However, you are still dealing with supply and demand, and you will have to shop around, just as you do for buying a new car, to get the best price. Some agencies and some assignments will pay better than others and shopping around is the only way to find out. You don't "ask" for a certain rate (other than to tell an agency you cannot consider an assignment for less). You will have some ability to negotiate, but only if you know what you are worth in a particular city from talking to other agencies. Unlike a staff job, where an employer can pay anything they wish (usually based on local competition though), travel companies work off of a hourly bill rate for your services. So they are completely limited by the fixed pot of money they are working with to pay you and make a fair margin for themselves.
Back to your original question, how much should I ask for? For starters, you need to find a specialty that is needed in the real world. Your NP credential (when you have it) will be far better than periop.
Firstly, Ned, thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my post.
So... did I just miss the boat on this one? Meaning- Am I too far along in the NP route where I might as well just finish up school ASAP and "restart" from the bottom of the totem pole gaining experience?
I'd have no problem transferring to an ICU or OR in my home city to be trained, but orientation alone lasts 6 - 9 months. By the time I gain my 1 year Operating Room or ICU experience, it'll be time for me to graduate and move on to being an NP.
Oddly- If I wanted to get my RNFA as an RN, I'd haveto have 2400 hours of perioperative experience, with 1200 of those hours in the OR as circulator or scrub nurse. Then, I'd have to sit and pass the CNOR exam. Then, I'd have to take a AORN approved RNFA progam.
However, as an APRN with ZERO OR experience, all I have to do is complete the RNFA program and I'm in. It makes me feel like I may as well stay where I'm at, finish school, and move on from there... which is REALLY disappointing because I need a change of scenery RIGHT NOW. I debate dropping out of NP school or "taking a year off" every other week it seems!
So much depends on your plans what you want to do with your NP. If you want to be an RNFA, then as an operating room nurse I'm biased to recommending that you switch to OR now. It is likely that you will have to make a commitment, perhaps two years, but it will be worth it.
As a first assist who is an NP, you have a good career path working for a surgeon both intraoperatively (you don't actually need the RNFA as NP), and rounding on patients. You are more valuable than a PA with your prescriptive authority. You will have no trouble to travel as an operating room RN (which currently pays way better than being a primary care NP), a FA travel role (may not pay much better than circulating if at all but will be easier), or as a travel surgical NP. This is a good step above OR working for surgeons, not the hospital (still through an agency). Learn to take vein in open hearts and the world will be your oyster! Career, travel, and good money!
You really cannot travel now with your experience. So forget about that for at least a year until you gain some specialty experience. Even medsurg will get you travel within a year.
Are you saying standard for a permanent position staff nurse? Or for a traveling m/s nurse?
I'd say as a traveler you'd be making $30-$40. Whenever I see postings for travel contracts med surg is always on the lower end of the spectrum. Specialties boast upwards of $70-$85 an hour but I never see med surg pay over $45. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. That's not my specialty so I'm just going by what I see from my own travel companies. I obviously don't follow pay trends of med surg nursing.
You really cannot travel now with your experience. So forget about that for at least a year until you gain some specialty experience. Even medsurg will get you travel within a year.
Again, thank you for your time.
I just wanted to clarify- I have 2 years of med/surg tele experience + 1.5 years perioperative nursing. I was thinking if I did travel now, it'd have to be in the M/S route. But as you said, I might as well forget it for now, get my NP, get into OR as an RN ASAP, and move on from there (such as searching for an RNFA program that offers training in vein harvesting, etc.)
When I look at Job postings for NP RNFAs, I also see "Most have Endoscopic Vein Harvesting (EVH) experience" on a lot of them. Is this what you are referring to with the open heart surgeries?
I'd say as a traveler you'd be making $30-$40. Whenever I see postings for travel contracts med surg is always on the lower end of the spectrum. Specialties boast upwards of $70-$85 an hour but I never see med surg pay over $45.
Ok- Well that's almost DOUBLE what I make now as a permanent position RN! I guess that's one of the (very few) benefits of not being a super experienced nurse with specialties - your pay is so low that almost any travel assignment will be 1.5 - 2 times what you make now!
$30-$40 doesn't really mean anything absent context. A travel nurse can be making $20 an hour but still be making total compensation of $50 an hour when travel, housing, and per diems are included. In fact, most travelers get between $40 and $50 an hour of total compensation per PanTravelers calculator (at least that was the old bell curve before the last year or so).
Historically, travel pay for specialties is around $5 an hour more, but larger trends away from medsurg inpatient care is pushing that difference higher. There are some shorter term trends that have brought together a perfect storm to allow certain specialties such as OR and L&D to have some extremely high pay. Eventually supply and demand will bring that extreme pay down.
Quoting any single number on the internet is meaningless. "I make $38 an hour for Acme Travel Nurses" would be an example. $38 an hour in what specialty? How much experience? In what city? How much are you getting for housing (and what is housing actually costing)? Per diem? Travel? Health insurance? Completion bonus? To me, $38 is far less than I have gotten for the last 15 years in total compensation per hour.
I just wanted to clarify- I have 2 years of med/surg tele experience + 1.5 years perioperative nursing. I was thinking if I did travel now, it'd have to be in the M/S route. But as you said, I might as well forget it for now, get my NP, get into OR as an RN ASAP, and move on from there (such as searching for an RNFA program that offers training in vein harvesting, etc.)
When I look at Job postings for NP RNFAs, I also see "Most have Endoscopic Vein Harvesting (EVH) experience" on a lot of them. Is this what you are referring to with the open heart surgeries?
Yes. Huge need just for the surgical part - you don't need to be an NP. NP just gives you much much more value to a surgeon (any surgeon, not just cardiac). By the way, there is a minor trend towards open vein harvest again. There is some research showing that the grafts from open harvesting last longer.
Yes, if you have medsurg experience, you could go traveling now. So you still have to decide. But you may find it difficult to later get the kind of experience you can get now. Feet will itch, but if you can delay gratification and get an internship in the ICU or OR, your career as NP will be smoother. I can promise you that you will only regret it if you don't take advantage now.
Nurse_Lightning
57 Posts
Thats how it is at my hospital. Its a huge hospital system and no matter if you're an Office Nurse, ICU nurse, ER nurse, or M/S nurse- everyone gets paid based on time worked at the hospital. If you're a new nurse making $20/hour after 1 year and you decide to transfer to CVICU or Surgey, you'll still be making $20 there as well, until the annual performance appraisal.