Pay??

[Suzy2]

I am curious as to what is avg pay for a psych nurse?? Is it more than med/surg nursing? I am planning on switching to psych and have put in a few applications. I just want to know what to expect (or how to answer) when asked what type of salary I am looking for. Thanks for any insight.

[poodles]

As far as average pay, it might help if you indicated what part of the country you're in. And are you only considering Inpatient Psych, or are you also looking into Outpatient?

When I worked Outpatient Psych, I made less than I do now on an Inpatient unit. But I never had to work a holiday or weekend, and only occasional evenings. I also had more paid holidays, and the vacation accural rate was better.

The hospital I work at is union, so we're all on the same pay scale (except the weekend program RN's who get paid a premium rate). I work near Pittsburgh, in a smaller community hospital (part of a much larger regional health system, and most of it's hospitals are non-union). I think the starting rate for a new grad is between $18 and $19, and our payscale tops out around $25 or $26. We make less than nurses at our system's larger hospitals, but we don't have to fight Pittsburgh's traffic, pay for parking, or wait for a shuttle to take us from a distant parking lot to the hospital.