nursing salaries

skybirdrising · Nov 10, 2003

Originally posted by JGlass
In Johnson City TN we get paid with penuts,around 12 -13 penuts an hour that is!!Starting Salery,after benifits and a nice home here cost aroung 2-350 thousand so you can imagine the cost of living vrs Income..

After reading this post, I can understand why this poster is getting paid 'penuts'.

ERKev · Nov 10, 2003

I worked for a major Detroit area hospital system in ER until this past June. I was top scale and had a base pay of $27.50 with a $2.50 weekend diff and $1.50 MN diff. I am working agency now and make between $31 and $40 an hour for SD/ICU/ER, depending on facility.

Nursie30 · Nov 10, 2003

Originally posted by skybirdrising
After reading this post, I can understand why this poster is getting paid 'penuts'.

:roll

alphafe · Nov 10, 2003

Why do we put up with this kind of pay? Is it because we are "nice," "not in it for the money?" Is it because some of us have spouses and we file away the idea that this is the "second" income? Dare I ask if some of us are martyrs?

I find these pay levels shocking. I'll bet plumbers and sanitation workers make more. When I left the hospital after having my daughter, it was "nurses day" and there were flower arrangements and candy everywhere and I said "You know, why don't they give you 100K per year to start and lose the candy?" And this was in Marin County 14 years ago! There was applause.

I'm not sorry for the rant. Will we EVER see an end to female dominated jobs taking advantage of us?

I'm not a union fan, but something has GOT to be done to put nurses on par with other professionals (read: attorneys: 200+ per hour, therapists 175.+ per hour). Even a FACIALIST charges 75.00 hour!

Doesn't someone who saves lives and all the rest deserve to be able to BUY A HOUSE? Do you know that where I live in the northeast (and were I lived in CA)

there is not a single house that can be bought if one's income is 100K and you've got very little savings?

What is the most powerful lobbying group in the profession? Count me in!

OK -- I'm done now.

:mad:

Erin RN · Nov 12, 2003

I am completely happy with my pay. I work as a workers comp case manager and I am based at home which is a HUGE perk..I did my time getting beat up at the hospital. I make 54k salary plus 25.00 bonus for every hour over 95% productivity I bill..average is 20-30 additional hours monthly. I get .36 cents a mile for my car which although I am putting miles on my vehicle it does not cost me .36 to run it so I figure I make a few dollars there. My cell is paid , my long distance is paid and my high speed internet is paid..I also have awesome (and Cheap benefits)..Another thing...I truly love what I am doing, think I have finally found my niche after being somewhat of a vagabound.

Erin

NeuroICURN · Nov 12, 2003

I work in Pittsburgh PA at a Level 1 Trauma Center.

(For those of you that live in this area, no I do NOT work for the "mother-ship".)

At the hospital where I work, we are unionized (which has it's good and bad points). It does not matter here if you work in an ICU, as I do, or a regular med-surg floor. Anyway, with the contract that just passed, I now make $18.32 per hour, with a $1 shift differential. However, on overtime, we get time-and-a-half, plus an additional $8 per hour. Not too bad!

JennyJ · Nov 12, 2003

The wide variety of pay scales never ceases to amaze me. And when you take into consideration the cost of living in some areas, it's even more astounding. Lets take my wonderful home of Wyoming for example. My starting pay was $14 and change when I started just under 5 years ago. My base pay has now increased to $19.75/hr + a 20% differential for being in the float pool and another 10% for working nights. Which brings my actual pay to just over $26 an hour. Which isn't too bad, I suppose, particularly considering that the 5 bedroom house we live in is only $650/month. The cost of living out here is very low, and it's nice raising children in a place where there is so little crime. (Not enough people to have a lot of crime, I suppose). I wouldn't want to live and work in a place that, while the paycheck is bigger, the cost of it is too great. I love that my children can get on their bikes and ride to their friend's house a mile away and I'm not worried about what may happen to them. People still look out for each other here, taking care of your neighbors is still a way of life, not just a "nice idea".

dared1 · Nov 12, 2003

I am a LPN in Atlanta, Ga and I work for a HMO and I make $19.84 an hour. I am not sure how much the RNs make.

TCH pedi nurse · Nov 13, 2003

I started working at Texas Children's Hospital (Houston) 3 years ago @ $21.50 an hour on the day shift. I was fresh out of nursing school. The pay opportunities seem pretty good here (even though they are not the highest in the medical center area.) Before graduating I checked out the hospitals between Springfield, MO & Little Rock, AR and the starting pay they were offering was a pathetic $12-$13.

I'm now up to $25.13 + working on the week-end program I get an additional 20% to my base pay + I was just awarded a $500.00 a month bonus through a hospital program called EXCEL (gives you a yearly bonus for going above & beyond what is required as a staff nurse.)

Totalling it all up, I really make $33.37...$34.84 when I charge.

Anybody interested in pediatrics should check TCH out.

Hasta!

PS. almost forgot...I work on the pulmonary/adolescent unit

LilRedRN1973 · Nov 13, 2003

I just found out that the hospital here starts new grads out at $24.13 an hour plus shift diff. Not too shabby!

nsmith_rn · Nov 13, 2003

not enough for the BS that we put up with

verock · Nov 15, 2003

Here's a great link on nursing salaries. Click on the state and it will tell you the avg. amt. a nurse makes. http://html.themilwaukeechannel.com/sh/idi/health/nurses/index.html