Pay range and nurse/pt ratios for Vanderbilt Med surg RNs

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Greetings,

I am an AD prepared nurse w/ close to 7 yrs experience in med/oncology/tele/surgical etc. I am thinking about moving to Nashville, which is closer to where my family lives. I have worked as a traveler for several different teaching hospitals. Currently working as full time charge RN for a med/tele floor in WA state. Make close to 40$/hr after shift diffs. Wondering what the pay scale for someone with my exp. would be at Vanderbilt in Nashville in the med-surg area. I have read 18-19$/hr for new grads in other threads, which is not encouraging at all. Also, I am wondering what the average nurse to patient ratio is at Vandy for M/S. I am actually more worried about this than pay, as I have done 1:10 before in Indiana, and it was horrible. It is usually 1:4 or 1:5 for M/S in western Washington. Any input about Vandy or nearby hospitals would be very helpful.

Thanks!

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Specializes in Emergency, MCCU, Surgical/ENT, Hep Trans.

Hey Cliley, welcome to Nashville!

The VUMC ratios are the same 4/5 w/a shared tech or student nurse. Depends upon which area you work in, surg has less, med may have more.

Can't say about the pay, but it won't be 40/hr. In my experience at VUMC (10 yrs) they are the lagging payer of Nashville. Benefits outweigh actual pay (significant if you have kids or plan to go back to school).

Roughly, you can figure about $0.75/hr/yr for experience. 10% for critical care and 10% for shift differentials. Weekends are about 25% adjusted.

We have six major medical centers in Nashville proper. VUMC, VA-connected to VUMC, Baptist/St Thomas (religious), HCA/Centennial (private), and Meharry/General (city). I have worked at VUMC and the VA. Never considered anywhere else.

Hope this helps!

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Specializes in ICU, CVICU, Surgical, LTAC.

HCA pays 1-2 dollars per hour more than Vandy but it is not the greatest organization to work for. The only benefit to HCA is that they are the biggest healthcare/hospital corporation. However they don't treat their employees very well in other areas. For example I work for an HCA hospital and they do not pay us any weekend differentials and nothing extra for Holidays even though we are required to work every other holiday. I believe this is not the case for Vanderbilt employees. From what I was told there are very nice weekend and holiday differentials as well as the great benefits mentioned by the previous poster. I am not sure about Vandy's med-surg ratios as I will be working in critical care, but HCA's arent very good. (up to seven patients on surgical at night with no tech most nights!) I am leaving an HCA hospital and taking a pay cut to go to work at vanderbilt.

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Vandy does pay less than the surrounding hospitals but is GREAT to work for. Vandy seems to value their RNs. On med/surg you only have 4-5 pts AND a tech. Many of the other hospitals will give you more. Also, the benefits are good, especially if you have children (they have a great college tuition program for children of employees)

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Anybody know what the Vanderbilt educational benefits are if you want to pursue and advanced degree?

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How does Vanderbilt pay compare with the cost of living in the Nashville area? Is it doable? Up north you make a lot more as a new grad, but pay a lot so I wonder if you end up breaking even. Thanks for any information.

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Specializes in NICU.

i think vandy starts new grads at around $19-ish? maybe $20??? at most right now.

benefits are good...insurance is good, especially if you see vandy docs, it's cheaper....Rx's are cheaper if you get them at vandy pharmacies too.

you get local discounts on movie tickets, cars, apartments, cell phone service, etc.

great tuition benefit if you continue education with nursing...esp if you do it at vandy...but must be working full time...covers at least 12 credit hours a year if in nursing (like doing your masters).

their benefits help cover up the lower pay!

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Specializes in NICU.

my husband and i have a 2BR, 2BA, 1100 sq ft apt for almost $900 a month. not awful. nashville homes DO cost more. but if you live a little outside the city (murfreesboro, spring hill, smyrna, etc), cost of living goes way down.

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Specializes in Med/Surg & Hospice & Dialysis.

Cost of living tends to be lower in Tennessee. There is no State income tax in Tennessee.

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So what is the pay after 5 years of service? do certifications add pay?

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