NP making six figures?

Specialties NP

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Hey all,

The general salary figure I hear for NPs disappoints me as I'm sure it disappoints the NPs!! I mean an NP providing primary care which includes prescribing medication, diagnosing medical illness, and paying substantial and only getting arround $70K is disgusting!

Is there any place in the country where NPs get paid $100K+? Maybe agency or something? Thanks.

The money is wherever you put it.

If you want it bad enough, any speciality will make it for you.

Dave

I liked hospital work alot. However, there was not a lot of room when needing a raise. You were confined by the beaurocrats and the fact that most hospitals are crying poverty. I also worked with PA"s. They didn't realize that the average nurse probably made near what we made on most days and got the shift diff and what not. After I left another PA resigned. Since then they have upped the pay.

I find that I might have more 'value' per se in private practice. THere is more opportunity to prove your value and that will mean easier bargining come the right time.

I found it was very hard for the nurse in me to talk money. It still gives me the willies.

Good luck to all

Originally posted by EastCoast

I also worked with PA"s. They didn't realize that the average nurse probably made near what we made on most days and got the shift diff and what not.

What effect, if any, do PA's have on NP salaries? Have they lowered NP salaries? And is this potentially the reason why NPs may not make as much as CRNA's?

that's an interesting question. it's funny the 2 PA's who had always been PA's were pretty happy with the salary. myself and the PA who had been an ICU nurse first felt that we were underpaid for the level of responsibility. so in effect perhaps employers consider the NP/PA interchangeable for salary issues.

I looked and listened to a lot of mid-level providers before taking my present job in a private practice. I believe that a private practice situation is most likely to provide for the best situation. In my situation, I work with the Board members(surgeons) everyday, they have a detailed look at how and what I am doing everyday. In my 23 years of nursing, all spent in a hospital, it is the first time I have had this type of contact with the Board. At the very least, they have some idea what I am talking about.

No offense intended for any PA and his/her role, I feel we should join together as mid-level providers, as they can more identify with my agenda over a bedside nurse. The money is doled out by he or she whom holds the power. PAs are, at least in my state governed by the medical board ie doctors. I believe this explains why that in many situations that an NP is paid less. In numerous situations that I am aware of the PA just completed school with no medical background and he/she is paid more than an NP with 20 years nursing of experience. I am often amazed at the lack of understanding about what an NP can do. A lot of people hear the word nurse( as in nurse practitioner) and lots of assumptions are made, and they hear the physician (as in Physisians Assistant) and assumptions are made. NPs often do not come out on top in this assumption game. I always introduce myself as a provider and after I explain my role I tell them that I am an NP.

Off the beaten path but...

my sister-in-law who is a nurse too constantly tells people...........

"my sister in law is an NP and she's just like a PA"

no matter how many millions of times i try to say "please..don't say that" she does.

in her mind a PA is held in a more 'respectful and responsible' light than an NP.

Had to get that off my chest. thanks.

Specializes in oncology.
Originally posted by EastCoast

Off the beaten path but...

my sister-in-law who is a nurse too constantly tells people...........

"my sister in law is an NP and she's just like a PA"

no matter how many millions of times i try to say "please..don't say that" she does.

in her mind a PA is held in a more 'respectful and responsible' light than an NP.

Had to get that off my chest. thanks.

Wow! I'm sorry, that has to be very annoying!

Any smart NP, that wants to make more money would become self-employed, unlike PA's who HAS TO work under the supervision of a doctor, NP's are licensed to work independent of a Physican, in almost every state. They work in collaboration with a physican, rather than "under the supervison" of one. Using this knowledge my best friend who is a Certified Nurse Practioner, applied for a medicaid/medicare billing number- this allows the CNP to bill for their services, and she contracted herself out to several family practioners, she gets paid 1099 income, carries her own (which is impressive for the Physician that contract her services) and last year she made over $150,000. From a liability stand point, I understand that Physicians dont mind hiring NP's as independent contractors, because they dont have to be liable for any malpractice on the NP's part. Of course she has pages of references, and didnt just become self employed immediately after obtaining her Certification. I also hear that many CRNA's are doing the same thing-contracting out their services. Often the physician will assign many of their medicaid/medicare patients to them-the contacted NP's.

A little off topic but, my grandparents, no matter how many times I tell them that I am going to school to be a Nurse Practitioner, still refer to it as PA. I have been an RN now for three years and have been in NP school for the last year and a half.

Considering the added responsibility and liability, I think it's a travesty that NPs in general aren't making 6 figures. I graduated at the top of my class getting my BSN and have a 4.0 now. However, I am already so burnt-out that I am considering just going back to waiting tables when I graduate. I have been working almost full time and going to grad school full time simultaneously. Maybe it will be better when I graduate. :confused: I am beginning to lose my motivation for doing this and I am so in debt now from school, I wonder why I didn't just go to med school in the first place? At any rate, I am pretty discouraged about the whole thing. I should have just become an artist and I'd probably be happier and have more money, because I wouldn't be in so much debt. :o

hey ruby-

i remember that burned-out 'working & going to grad school' feeling...try to believe that it DOES get better! truly it does. i suggest you try to reserve judgement about whether or not you made the right career decision until after you finish school. you have a huge amount on your plate right now. i have a question: is there any chance you can cut back on work hours any amount as you finish school? it might relieve some of the pressure. at any rate, just wanted you to know you have my empathy!!!

good luck.

hi ruby,

FNP girl made me remember how bad my last semester was...

i stopped going to lectures completely and only attended my clinicals. by graduation they wanted to make me repeat the semester but in fact they couldn't as there was no lecture attendance requirement and i still was on the deans list.

It is grueling but only sometimes....if someone hasn't walked the same path it is hard to understand how incredibly 'tired' you feel.

Hang in there. Find someone to commiserate with and think of it as a treadmill. It will stop sooner or later. Also take a day or even half a day a week to just do nothing just for you. You deserve it.

Good luck.;)

Specializes in oncology.

do ANY of you np's make 6 figures or close?

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