OR Pay?

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 18, 2011

Salary wise, it's the same as any other RN position. The difference is the call pay, typically a small amount just for carrying a pager but time and a half for when you get called back. Between shift differential, call pay ($2/hour), and call back pay, I typically bring home a fair amount of extra money. This may vary depending on the facility, but seems to be the most common.

Argo · Feb 18, 2011

My experience is That it pays more once you have a decent reputation in your field and in your city. If you are a real good nurse staff/directors will know who you are and surgeons will give you a good referral if moving somewhere they would like you to be. Doing specialty areas will earn you a good wage too. I'm a 4 year nurse making $40/Hr in a large healthcare system. The normal pay for someone with my tenure is $25-30/hr. I do cardiothorasics along with every other service. I have a good reputation in town and with surgeons here.

marhelper · Feb 18, 2011

What city do you live in?

SnowStar4 · Feb 18, 2011

We get lots of OT too if you want it...since they can't float nurses from other units to the OR.

MamaCheese · Feb 22, 2011

Our facility is unionized so we get the same pay as any other RN in our hospital according to the wage scale. Ditto what others said about the OT and call. I can always pick up extra hours or call if I need to make some extra $$$.

IdahoGrad · Feb 23, 2011

I'm a med/surg RN with 4 yrs experience and am one month into my new job in the OR. I currently make $24/hr on days, which I feel is pretty good since when I worked nights on the floor the shift diff was $3.50/hr and started as a new grad at $20 an hour. (In Idaho the pay is not real competitive...) Now that I'm in the OR, I get to work days and no weekends for the same pay (as working nights/weekends on the floor) and at my eval in May I anticipate my pay going to $25.50. May is when I actually hit 4 yrs of experience. I am still in training so I won't take call for another 6 months or so, but call is $3/hr where I work and add time and a half for call back.... that will be some sweet cash! However, I am thankful that we are actually well staffed and most of the time the callbacks don't even happen, so it's just $3/hr which is probably not really noticable for a shift or 2 per month. A lot of people don't like to be on call and so there's always a list in the lounge of people wanting to give up their call and you can sign up for it and then that $3/hr would start to add up, especially since like I said, you don't often get called in, you're just available. Anyway, hope that's helpful.