salary psychiatric nurse

TitaniaSidhe · Oct 14, 2003

Hmmmm no replies here. I can say this in the Lehigh Valley Area of Pennsylvania hourly rates are between $27-$45ish per hour depending on full time, per diem etc. Salary in NJ movng toward Newark & NY is higher. Myself I am federally employeed full time RN,BSN with 13yrs. experience & make above $70,000 per year salary without shift diff, week end diff or holiday pay. That breaks down for me to about $38/hr.....I think I did the math right....LOL

aussieshane · Oct 15, 2003

thankyou...................one last question. if you worked at other federal hospitals near you, would you earn the same amount . from what i see on this site wages vary a great deal. I get the picture that hospitals kind of decide what their own salaries are...or does the state determine hourly rates. thanks a lot for your help

shane

lucianne · Oct 15, 2003

Individual institutions decide what salaries are based on what the market will bear, degree attained, years of experience, etc. Hospitals in an area tend to pay similar salaries but not always. The state has no control over wages beyond the federal minimum wage. Because the cost of living varies dramatically in different areas of the country, talking about what people earn doesn't mean much. You would really need to know the cost of housing, transportation, taxes--sales, property, income, etc to get a true picture of the standard of living you could expect. In my area a nice 3 bedroom house would cost $125,000. In more heavily populated areas the same house would cost 2 to 3 times as much.

luci

aussieshane · Oct 17, 2003

thanks luci

shane

TitaniaSidhe · Oct 18, 2003

Federal hospitals work on a locality pay system for figuring out the pay scale for their nurses or title 38 employees. They take the saleries from several local or private hospitals in the immediate area & average those & thus come up with what they percieve to be a competative pay rate. This is then added to the base annual salary. The area I am in is the tri state region- NY, Deleware & northern NJ. This is beneficial to me as they have figured in saleries from NYC, Newark & such so our pay rate is higher then many other areas. Say I were to work in a different location or VISION, my pay may be as much as $10,000 less per year just b/c of the locality pay. I may be the exact same grade & step for base salery but he locality pay would eb much lower.

We also recieve shift differential of 15% for working evening or night shift. On top of this you can get an extra 15% if you work weekends.

The VISION or area I am currently in is one of the highest paying areas for locality pay in the VA system. The only one I do believe that is currently higher is California- Los Angeles area or somewhere in around there.

Considering I am in Psych I can't really complain. I make a good salery for having my BSN + 14yrs. experience. If I were in psych in the private sector I would not be making as much. Perhaps working ICU or Peds or som other speciality but not in Psych.

aussieshane · Oct 19, 2003

thanks a lot for that....id love to know specifically what you earn though ie hourly rate

yearly income.......ill tell you why i want to know. in bermuda i make great money , so before i pack up and leave id like know if im going to be better off. once again thanks for your help

shane