Mary Eunice

AD refers to the payscale you are on. It stands for Administratively Determined and is used for misc job types, e.g., it is used for those who are doing a postdoc at the VA.

I think it really just depends on how well you write up your application and show how your experience satisfies the "nine dimensions" of nursing.

It took about 5-6 months. Though I think it typically doesn't take that long for most people (others I've spoken to said it was more like 2-3 months for them).

I think it is definitely possible you could start at Nurse/Grade 2, but I don't think it is guaranteed. Is there a job listing for the position? I ask because sometimes on those it will list the Grade on the payscale that the job falls under (but not the Step which is determined later by the review board based on your experience and how well you selled yourself in your application). Also, in case you don't know, the VA is notorious for being slow when it comes to the hiring process. From the time I found out I got the job to the I got the formal offer (after the review board determined what my pay would be) was several months.

Forgot to add, when people say "Nurse 1/2/3", on the excel payscale spreadsheets that is labeled as "Grade 1/2/3.” So "Nurse 1, level 2, step 5" is "Grade 1 step 5" on the excel sheet (you can ignore the "level 2" bit).

Nurse 1 step 5 in Fresno is $92,918.

I know this question was asked a while ago and so OP may not need any advice, but I'll write my comment in case anyone else has a similar question and finds this thread. I got my PhD in Nursing recently and chose not to go the tenure-track assistant professor route. I had worked for a few different professors over the years at my school as a grad research assistant, and had been told during my PhD program that I would definitely get tenure-track if I wanted it. However, after spending so many years at the school I really just wanted to get a job in a different setting. I found a postdoc program at a research hospital that I got accepted into and a year into that I was offered a permanent position as a nurse scientist. In a nutshell, my role is to bring in lots of funding to the hospital for research. So I come up with a research project I want to carry out, write a grant in an attempt to secure funding for it, and (when successful) use the funds to get the study up and running. I'll be the Principal Investigator of the study and I'll hire people (usually already within the hospital) to execute it, e.g., someone to be the Study Coordinator, nurses to be Research Assistants, and other people in various roles which can vary greatly by the scope of the study (for instance, I've hired a couple engineers to make me some novel equipment I needed). And, of course, once the study is completed you are then trying to get it published in a journal. This is similar to what I would have been doing if I went for tenure track at the university, with a few key differences. One is that I would say that while getting research published is still important in my current role, it doesn't have the same "publish-or-die" mentality that is prevalent in academia. Another obvious difference is that I am not teaching classes like I would be as an associate professor. And another key difference is the pay. I have a couple friends who also got their PhDs in nursing and who both went the tenure-track route. From what they have told me their starting salary is in the $80k-$90k range. Whereas my starting salary is $180k, and this is in a hospital system known for being on the lower end of the wage spectrum.

I had about three years of RN experience before I started my PhD in nursing. I also had a Masters degree in nursing and had worked at the University's School of Nursing as a grad research assistant. I was still working at the University while I was doing my PhD so almost all of my tuition was covered. There was a couple semesters where the school didn't quite cover all of my tuition and so I had to pay a few grand for each of those semesters. I was given a stipend during that time of $20k if I recall correctly. It was also a rule of my PhD program that I was not allowed to work more than ten hours outside of my work role at the school. But I am married and so we were able to make it work financially.

Oh that is *very* surprising they offered you Nurse 2. I mean, the requirements for Nurse 3 are: You have the doctoral degree and 15 years of nursing experience, so it should be an easy Nurse 3 offer imo. If you are not in a dire need of getting a new nursing job asap, then I would definitely request a reevaluation for Nurse 3 and reject it if you don't get it. This of course depends on your current situation and if you have leeway with not taking a job for a while longer. My main concern with accepting this offer is that since it is a tele/remote position, you may find it quite difficult to move up to Nurse 3 in the future. Going from Nurse 2 to 3 requires you to demonstrate how you have had an impact on the hospital outside of the department you specifically work in, and this could be difficult in a remote role.

From my experience the best way to get a faculty position is by doing a PhD. I did my PhD in Nursing and could have become an associate professor at that university (I was told I was guaranteed a position if I wanted it), but after spending so many years there (getting my graduate degrees as well as working as a research assistant) the last thing I wanted was to stay there tbh. So I went to work at a hospital doing research instead. I have a few close friends who all have PhD's in nursing and they all went on to be faculty. I know for a fact a couple of them already had their faculty jobs lined up before they even did their dissertation defenses.

You could start as a Nurse 3 or 4, depending on prior experience. Definitely would not start as a Nurse 2. After I got my PhD in Nursing I started at the VA as a Nurse 4, though a couple other PhD nurses I know who went to the VA started as Nurse 3. I think I got Nurse 4 due to prior years of experience doing research as a Study Coordinator at the university, while my friends only had the research experience they gained from their PhDs. I had to wait a a few months (maybe 5?) from when I got told I was getting the job to the actual formal offer. It was a long wait LOL

I have worked in a laboratory setting as a "nurse research assistant" during my nursing career. It was for research projects being run at a university and involved consenting patients, taking their vitals while they were performing exercise, collecting data for the research project, and things like that. At the time I was doing this I was an RN with a Masters degree (which wasn't necessary for this role), and then I went on to get my PhD and now work as a "nurse scientist" doing research in a hospital, though now I don't really work in a lab setting (more of an office job where my time is spent designing a study, securing funding for it, and then hiring people to do it).

It has been almost ten years since I started my career as a nurse. A year ago I started a doing nursing research (I have a PhD in nursing) in a MCOL area. My salary is $180k (40/hrs weeks Mon-Fri) and has quite good benefits. Basically I write grants to try and secure funding for research that I want to do and then use that funding in our hospital to perform said research. It also involves publishing articles in academic journals, helping my colleagues with their own projects, etc. Prior to spending several years in my PhD program, I had been a bedside nurse and was making about $70k (I think nowadays someone would be making about $80k in that same role). So my research role is quite the step up not just in pay but also work-life balance (no weekends, no nights, all holidays off, etc).