Question: Specialty pay for Labor & Delivery nursing?

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I'm curious how many hospitals out there are paying specialty pay differential for Labor & Delivery nurses. This has been brought up time and time again on our unit. In our hospital, the general consensus is that if you cannot float to other units and other units cannot float to you, you are considered a specialty unit. The one exception to that rule seems to be our Labor & Delivery unit. Even though we meet the above criteria, they have decided that we are not a specialty unit. Coming from an oncology/med surg unit, I can say (and I'm sure all Labor nurses can agree) that there is no way a med surg nurse could come in and do our job with no training. It would be downright dangerous. There is a mandatory 4 month training if you haven't done Labor & Delivery before and I can say that I felt like I was a new grad again going through the training because it was almost all different in every way. We are an ER, an OR, and a critical care unit.

Although I am interested in hospitals everywhere, I am most curious about those in Illinois, especially in the greater Chicagoland area. Thanks friends!

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

No, I've never worked at a facility that gave specialty pay for L&D. And I can say, as an L&D nurse, I could never float to Med/Surg - that too would be dangerous!

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L&D is not likely to receive specialty pay, nor are other units. It is usually the same across the board.

However, a handful of hospitals pay more to "critical care" - ICU/ER

Although labor and delivery is specialized in itself, I can't see why it would warrant a higher wage.

All units are unique

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I haven't run across too much specialty pay for any unit. However...all L&D units I know of are closed units. You don't float in or out. NUrse are cancelled if Low census but float? no.

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I get specialty pay as a traveler in L&D. My hourly pay is always more than med surg travel nurses at the same agency. L&D, ICU, ER and OR are the money makers in travel nursing.

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Specializes in MedSurg, PACU, Maternal/Child Health.

If you are a full time salaried employee in a hospital , you get the same pay as RNs in any other department. In all hospitals in NYC a RN working in outpatient clinic gets same base pay as any other RN in the hospital whether they are in L and D, Emergency Room, ICU, or Pediatrics. If you have certification in your specialty (you have 2 years experience and you take a national exam in your specialty and pass and get certified) you get a little extra a year, like $1000. Also if you work night shift you get paid a few thousand more a year than a day shift nurse. And with each year of experience, your pay is a little more.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I get specialty pay as a traveler in L&D. My hourly pay is always more than med surg travel nurses at the same agency. L&D, ICU, ER and OR are the money makers in travel nursing.

Yes, when I worked regional float pool (floated among a few different hospitals in the city owned by the same company), they paid about $4/hour more for the "specialty units" which did include L&D. But that's the only time I've ever worked for a place that differentiated it, and they didn't do that for their regular staff, just float pool.

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Specializes in L&D.

The hospital I am at now, does not offer it...but the one I left in Louisiana did. I believe it was 3.50 speciality pay...however when we were bought out and went from public to private, it wasn't offered anymore(although our pay remained roughly about the same/went up a bit) and it was considered included although it wasn't specifically pointed out.

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We get paid the same across the board. We float to antepartum and to post-partum, but I would never feel comfortable floating to gyn or med-surg.

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Specializes in OB/GYN.

Ditto obrn23. I've never had specialty pay, and only float within maternal-child health.

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Specializes in Perinatal/neonatal.

I received specialty pay when I worked L&D. Nursery also received specialty pay, but postpartum did not. I'm in Middle Tennessee. I am just starting at a hospital in the Nashville area in January and they do not offer specialty pay for mother/baby, but my hourly rate is significantly higher with my experience.

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Specializes in LAD.

I have signed on with a hospital that pays all starting RNs the same.

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