Salary Negotiation Ortho Hospitalist APRN

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Hi,

I have just been offered an Ortho Hospitalist Position and am going to be meeting this week to get the salary, benefits, ect this week. I need to be prepared for negotiations, but I can not find any data on salaries. This position is through a very large Ortho private practice. The practice does all the Ortho for the hospital in addition to having their own day surgery, clinic, and office( they are now building an additional 20k sqft surgical center and office attached to the existing building). There is one NP already doing the position I was offered and I will be the second. We do all the Ortho consults, round, and follow ups. I have been offered an FNP position at a family practice for $95k. I also have an NP on my floor where I work as an RN that is a new grad Cardio Hospitalist and she started at $130k with no nursing or cardio experience. I live in New England and he hospital I will be working in is a fairly large hospital. Any info on salaries, opinions, or experiences would be appreciated. Thank you!

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As an ortho NP I would not settle for less than $120/year. They will likely offer you something significantly lower so be prepared to defend your rate. The surgeons are making close to, if not over one million annually!

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Penniv,

Thank you for your response. I was thinking that $120k was my number. What is my defense though? I was trying to find some literature or surveys with salaries. I was also thinking of stating that surgeons will be freed up to bring in more money with me doing the non surgical aspects. Are you an Ortho APRN?

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I have been an ortho NP for 6 years. I doubt you will find literature supporting the salary. If possible, find out what the PAs are making since unfortunately they usually get higher pay. I think you'll just have to come up with a number and know that it's your bottom line.

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The salaries data published in the nursing journals are not very dependable anyway. The folks who write those articles depend on NPs to honestly self-report their incomes in the surveys; and, sadly, some of us either over-inflate our income to try to impress others or don't participate in these surveys at all because what we actually earn is so embarrassingly low. I have actually seen this.

Unfortunately, lowballing is a thing now and every NP should expect it no matter how much experience they have or how good they are. If they can get you cheap they're going to try. And from a business point of view it would be foolish of them not to try. But, even as a new grad, you should not settle for $95k. The ortho surgeons are making several hundreds of thousands of dollars a year more than you, and you will be doing all the stuff that they don't want to be bothered with. You can do better than $95. Hopefully you asked for more. And just in case you didn't then begin preparing yourself for your next position and leave as soon as you get some experience.

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I'm curious...Are you an acute care NP?

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I'm curious...Are you an acute care NP?

This was meant for the OP, and Penniv. Just trying to figure out what kind of NP they want for ortho

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry, Cardiac/Renal, Ortho,FNP.

Well, if it helps. These posts are right BUT I think the default for everywhere is this magical "$95K" number. I've heard it so many times I think it's plain stupid. Some have no background/experience, etc., and others have 20 years as an RN or some other field and get the same number in the beginning. As for myself I've got 10+ years as a chiro, 3 years RN to include ICU and Ortho, and got offered $95K/yr by a major hospital chain for a very similar job (40+ admitting ortho's). I thought the salary sucked but it was my first real offer so I took it but backed out months into credentialing for another clinic job that paid a little more but I have a tiny commute which is worth thousands to me (I hate traffic and want my sanity). So I'd say, if you have some leverage, don't take less that $110K-$115K to start...push a little but just know when they won't budge.

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No, I am an adult NP. If you were to actually look at my licensing it says "Primary Care Adult Nurse Practitioner." I knew I never wanted primary care and since my RN background is 100% ortho that's where I have stayed.

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