misconceptions about nursing pay

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As a new graduate nurse who is in the process of getting hired and have been told what my pay is going to be, I have quickly learned that nurses do not make as much as people claim. A lot of people are naive when its come to nursing pay and some even spend close to six figures for schooling. I should also note that pay does vary to location, I'm in the DMV area where cost of living can be decent to expensive. I started this thread to create a discussion about nursing pay and what people should know before they choose this field.

Not everyone researches 'new grad pay' though, they should. New grads make less than their more established counterparts, as they should. There's a thread in the career section of people just listing their new grad pay. It's eye opening,

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I found I cared less about pay as I got more experienced and educated. When job hunting, I cared more about assurances that I would be doing the kind of work I wanted to do, my work/life balance, my independence, and my benefits than the dollar amount -- as long as the pay was within reason.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
First... I'd love to know what DMV, is.

Secondly. I'd hope most people research pay in regard to the degree in which they are pursuing. I know I did. I preferred a degree in which I felt was percievably reasonable and paid well. Otherwise I would not have decided on nursing as my career.

During my L&D rotation, I remember one nurse going on and on, very loudly, about how insulted she was to be offered "only" $65 per hour to pick up a weekend shift.

I researched nursing pay before I started school. Unfortunately, the job market when I graduated was the polar opposite of the job market when I started. In 8 years, I've made as much as $30 per hour and as little as $18 per hour. It's more than the $13 per hour I made at a call center, but not much more, with far more responsibility.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I suppose my perception of nursing pay is shaped by my downscale upbringing in a household where money was always in short supply. I've enjoyed a nice, fairly comfortable lifestyle as a nurse. I eat what I want, live where I want and buy what I want. I do not live from paycheck to paycheck.

Social workers, librarians, teachers, historians, forestry workers, and other college-educated people earn less than nurses.

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The dmv stands for DC, MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. I already did some research before I started nursing school but some of those websites are not always accurate and hospitals do raise or lower their wages. Most wages for new grads working hospital in this area are set wage , most new grad base pay range from $25 -$28 an hour.

That is actually low, considering new Detroit grads can make that and the cost of living is way lower.

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I found I cared less about pay as I got more experienced and educated. When job hunting, I cared more about assurances that I would be doing the kind of work I wanted to do, my work/life balance, my independence, and my benefits than the dollar amount -- as long as the pay was within reason.

I want to second that.

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I've read that in a comparison of major metropolitan areas, DC is dead last in nursing salary relative to cost of living (NYC and Honalulu are close second and third). Otherwise I'd live there in a heartbeat. Meanwhile new grads in Sacramento can make $45-$50/hr, with 30+ year nurses making $80+ per hour. It's definitely regional. Being in a unionized hospital (typically those in the west) also helps.

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That is actually low, considering new Detroit grads can make that and the cost of living is way lower.

I agree, i think the salary is low compared to cost of living , I'm in Maryland and some parts of this area can get very expensive. You can make as low as $30,000 after taxes .

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I've lived/worked in three areas as a nurse. And let me tell you, it's definitely regional. I make more now, as an OR nurse than I made in either of my non-OR jobs. However, OR nurses in our facility make more than any other kind of clinical nurses. Obviously nursing administration, hospital administration and advanced practice nurses make more, but of the clinical patient care staff, we have the highest minimum, median and maximum salary for each job title. There's another disparity though, our ambulatory surgery center and our (affiliated) community hospital, the OR nurses there, their pay range is less than the staff in the "main campus" ORs. The staff working at the main campus have a differential added because we're a Level 1 trauma center. Though there are benefits to being at the ambulatory center (no call, no holidays, smaller cases, strictly elective cases, better hours), and of being at (affiliated) our community hospital (less call, smaller cases, more routine cases, etc). You may make more per hour in the main campus ORs - but you're expected to do more difficult cases, be more flexible (covering for cysto and GI procedures in off hours, back up for L&D OR, staffing emergent c-sections in the Main), care for sicker patients, change the plan for the day with a few minutes notice (bumping elective cases for trauma or other emergency cases), and you carry more call to help support a department that has to have adequate staffing 24/7 (plus there is a chance you can be called when not scheduled as on call, say, for example, for a mass casualty event). So it really depends what you want whether the added money per hour is worth it.

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Specializes in adult psych, LTC/SNF, child psych.
I agree, i think the salary is low compared to cost of living , I'm in Maryland and some parts of this area can get very expensive. You can make as low as $30,000 after taxes .

When I started out as a new grad in Baltimore, I made $28.50/hour. Now it's somwhere around $34/hour with shift diff. I'm happy enough with my paycheck!

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Specializes in critical care ICU.
When I started out as a new grad in Baltimore, I made $28.50/hour. Now it's somwhere around $34/hour with shift diff. I'm happy enough with my paycheck!

I'm new grad in Baltimore making $26! (29 with diff). Is it because you have your masters? I wonder if pay goes up with higher degrees.

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Specializes in acute dialysis, Telemetry, subacute.
Where is that? I only know DMV as the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Hahaha. It is DC, Maryland, Virginia. They are very close to each other and most of us that lived there got used to calling it DMV.

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