Pay differential for ICU, CCRN, BSN

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Along the lines of a previous thread, I am interested in whether your institution has additional pay or differentials for critical care nurses, ICU nurses, BSN, certifications (particularly CCRN), etc.

It has always bothered me that some places have the same pay scale for all nurses, regardless of level of training and education. I whole-heartedly agree that there are excellent nurses in all areas of the field and that each area is specialized in its own way. However, it is the ICU nurse that is called upon to take the patients that are too sick for the floor, to respond to codes, to respond to MRT calls, etc. It also seems that often ICU nurses are required to float to any other unit in the hospital while floor nurses are not able to reciprocate that and float to an ICU setting.

I am in the process of gathering information on the compensation for ICU nurses to present to management and would appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in SICU, EMS, Home Health, School Nursing.

I agree that ICU nurses should get some sort of differential, but they do not at most places. At my hospital all nurses have the same base pay, and you get and extra 25 cents an hour for each degree you have. For example, the base pay at my hospital is $19.95, I have my BSN so I make $20.20.

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Specializes in ICU, oncology/organ transplant.

At my hospital we do not make more for ICU. They base pay on years out of school. They also have a $3.00 an hour pay raise when you are certified. I make $31.50/hr and a bit more for eves, weekends, and nights. I was allowed to receive the $3 bonus per hour with my CMSRN but have two years to obtain my CCRN (since I am new to ICU)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.

I'm in Australia, they brought in about 5 years ago that if you have an ICU certificate/diploma/degree you get an extra.. ooh, $1/hr. Phew!

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in the ICU we make the same amount as all nurses do, BSN makes the same as ADN, MSN makes more, but not sure what, and CCRN makes a whopping 35 cents more an hour

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.

No increase for BSN, same pay as other nurses, but a 4 bucks an hour for even studying for your CCRN.

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Our hospital has a tiered wage matrix based on complexity of skills needed in the nursing area. ICU is on the highest tier; I believe there is 5% between tiers, putting our base 10% above starting floor nurses. There's $.50 increase per hour for BSN, $.75 per hour for CCRN. We have clinical ladders and CCRN and BSN are key components to two different levels. Going up a level is an additional 5% increase. CCRN is not required, but encouraged through the clinical ladder, per hour increase, and $150.00 reimbursement for study materials or seminars and another $150.00 as partial payback for exam fee on successful completion.

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Specializes in Neuro, Med/Surg, Longterm care.

I am very curious about the Hospital you work for...more so now that I have read your last post. My mothers family is from Sikeston/Oran. They want me to move there after graduation (December 2007) I am now about 2 hours from Sikeston going to school at Bethel. (McKenzie Tn) What type of training is offered to new BSN graduates? I have to choose the hospital I want to work for and my school will arrange a preseptorship during my last semester. I will have to drive two hours or so anywhre I deside to work. Does your hospital welcome new grads? Will they offer a good training program? :icon_rolleyes:

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Specializes in Cardiac.
4 bucks an hour for even studying for your CCRN.

Sweet!

We get the test paid for, a $1200 certification bonus and an extra buck an hour.

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Our hospital has a tiered wage matrix based on complexity of skills needed in the nursing area. ICU is on the highest tier; I believe there is 5% between tiers, putting our base 10% above starting floor nurses. There's $.50 increase per hour for BSN, $.75 per hour for CCRN. We have clinical ladders and CCRN and BSN are key components to two different levels. Going up a level is an additional 5% increase. CCRN is not required, but encouraged through the clinical ladder, per hour increase, and $150.00 reimbursement for study materials or seminars and another $150.00 as partial payback for exam fee on successful completion.

That is awesome! This is the way I think the pay scale should look for RN's. Do you have any idea what departments are on each tier - particularly the 2nd and 3rd tiers?

Just to know where I am coming from, the current hospital I work at has the same pay grades for all nurses, differentials for nights and evenings. No differential or increase in pay for ICU, BSN or certification. They do reimburse for the CCRN exam fee and give an annual bonus for each certification which varies depending on how good the year was. Typically between $250-500. For those doing math, that works out to about 0.12-0.24 per hour.

Thank you everyone for your posts, keep them coming! The more ammo and info I can gather, the better!!!!

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Specializes in SICU--CRNA 2010.

My hospital starts new grads out at 18.75/hr. BSN gets 1/hr more. Nothing more for ICU though.

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BSN gets 25 cents. No critical care diff. No extra for CCRN either.

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