How much does a Behavioral Health/Psychiatric Nurse?

Specialties Psychiatric

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How much does a Behavioral Health/Psychiatric Nurse make per hour? Just curious.....thanks so much.

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That varies greatly, depending on the area of the country, shift differentials, work setting, etc. In my experience over the years, psych nurses get paid about the same as most other nurses in any particular hospital. As with other specialties, nurses working in outpatient clinics get paid less than nurses working in inpatient settings (the trade-off for having regular Mon-Fri hours, no weekends/holidays, etc.)

You might want to look into what nurses are getting paid in the particular cities/areas you're interested in.

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I agree w/ the above poster but would like to comment that a stand alone psych hospital pays about 3$ less/hour then a psych unit of a regular hospital in my experience.

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I am a psych nurse working in an acute psych unit attached to a general hospital in Qld, Australia. I am an 8th year Registered Nurse and I earn approx $30 (Aust)per hour. Our EEN's earn approx $20. If that helps?

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Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

Generally from US $20 - $26 US an hour in Australia depending on experience, shift coordinators and managers a bit more

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New grad RNs in California State Hospitals start off at a little over $7200 per month plus overtime. I work at one and I absolutely love it. Here's the website.

http://www.dmh.cahwnet.gov/Services_and_Programs/State_Hospitals/Default.asp

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Specializes in Psychiatric, Med Surg, Onco.
New grad RNs in California State Hospitals start off at a little over $7200 per month plus overtime. I work at one and I absolutely love it. Here's the website.

http://www.dmh.cahwnet.gov/Services_and_Programs/State_Hospitals/Default.asp

Wow! Thanks so much for the CA psych hospital site. I checked out a few and I am very curious on what the real deal is. I know that all hospitals have their issues...but what is your honest opinion of your work environment? How long have you worked there?

I am hoping that Cali is an RN compact state...

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:clown: NOT NEAR ENOUGH !!!!!!!:bugeyes:

BEEN IN PSYCH LONG TIME.....30.00/HR NOW

BUT I LOVE MY WORK , MEANS MORE TO ME THAN HIGHER PAY AND HATING TO GO TO WORK.....BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

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Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.

from reading these posts and from my experience the salary really varies quite a bit depending on what state you are in, what type setting, are you on a behavioral health unit at a large hospital or are you working in a small private psychiatric hospital or are you working in a state run hospital or in an outpatient clinic- there are a lot of variables here but I think that salary is comparable to other units such as med-surg but not as high as ER, OR, PICU, etc.

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What are some of the best hospitals to work for as a beginning psychiatric nurse in Houston Texas? Thank You

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