Should ICU get more pay than floor nursing?!?

Specialties MICU

Published

Okay so I don't want to come off as rude or biased but I am pretty confused as to how my facility can pay medsurg nurses an extra $3/hr over what they pay me!

I know they work very hard but I work in a large level one ICU and I make critical life altering decisions on a daily bases. I have far more autonomy and with that comes more risk to my license. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my job and LOVE my facility but how can a nurse get paid more to pass meds on the floor than I do in the ICU. And before anyone makes any comments about the "just passing meds" remark, I have worked a few shifts on the floor and that is just about all I did was pass meds!

Is it like this on y'all's unit or is this specific to my facility?

Unfortunately, I think it is. We have to be so much more skilled, have so much more critical skills...and no more pay. It is equivalent to paying a company vice president the same as the office workers! are you kidding? I always say, "If they or their family was really sick, I dare say they'd want the BEST, not just a pill-pusher!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
"If they or their family was really sick, I dare say they'd want the BEST, not just a pill-pusher!

Well, I guess that tells us how you feel about non-ICU nurses. Sad how nursing cannot come together because we allow ourselves to be so divided.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Unfortunately, I think it is. We have to be so much more skilled, have so much more critical skills...and no more pay. It is equivalent to paying a company vice president the same as the office workers! are you kidding? I always say, "If they or their family was really sick, I dare say they'd want the BEST, not just a pill-pusher!

Actually, it's equivelent to paying the Vice President for Marketing the same as the Vice President for Widgets.

Yes, as an ICU nurse I had more "skills" than the floor nurses in terms of more technology to play with. They had more skills in terms of time management, assessment without technology, discharges, patient teaching . . .

We all have our skill set and to say that one is more important than another is just plain wrong. If my family member or me had a knee replacement, I'd want the best nurses on the orthopedic floor, and if I was having cancer treatment, I'd want the best nurse on the oncology floor. When my mother went to memory care, I wanted the best nurse on the memory care unit.

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Well, I guess that tells us how you feel about non-ICU nurses. Sad how nursing cannot come together because we allow ourselves to be so divided.

(What I thought was even more telling (insulting) was the comparison of ICU nurses to the "vice president" of a company and the rest of us to the "office workers."

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Sooooooo,.......The next time one of you floor nurses have a CODE or RRT, you're on your own. Since you are paid the same as ICU nurses, you should be able to handle things just fine without them.........Since you're paid the same, I assume you have the same skills, knowledge and experience as an ICU nurse and can transport the crashing patient to the Unit and take care of them. I want to be THAT patient,.........SHEESH!!!

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Sooooooo,.......The next time one of you floor nurses have a CODE or RRT, you're on your own. Since you are paid the same as ICU nurses, you should be able to handle things just fine without them.........Since you're paid the same, I assume you have the same skills, knowledge and experience as an ICU nurse and can transport the crashing patient to the Unit and take care of them. I want to be THAT patient,.........SHEESH!!!

You're just not getting it. ICU nurses have the skills and experience to handle codes and RRTs, while floor nurses do not. Floor nurses have the skills and experience to handle 4,6 or 8 patients at a time (I had 15 on nights) while ICU nurses can't handle more than 2 or possibly 3.

I know nothing about L & D and called for the L & D nurses to help when my ICU patient delivered a baby. Maybe then L & D nurses should make the most? A nurse from the ortho floor helped us set up traction on our ICU patient . . . So maybe they should make the most money. WAIT! A nurse from the Neuro ICU helped us trouble shoot our ICP monitor, so perhaps Neuro ICU nurses should make more than SICU nurses. An oncology nurse came to our unit to give an inservice about accessing our patient's med port . . . Perhaps they should get the most pay. HOLD THAT THOUGHT! The psych nurses provided the best advice about dealing with that crazy patient we had last week -- maybe we should all donate a part of our paycheck so the psych nurses should make the most.

Every specialty has specialized knowledge. Every specialty is valuable.

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You're just not getting it. ICU nurses have the skills and experience to handle codes and RRTs, while floor nurses do not. Floor nurses have the skills and experience to handle 4,6 or 8 patients at a time (I had 15 on nights) while ICU nurses can't handle more than 2 or possibly 3.

Actually, YOU'RE not getting it. By NOT "rewarding" superior skills, training, experience, ability and knowledge, administration is discounting all of those extremely beneficial attributes of specialty nurses. "They" don't WANT to recognize increased ability by paying more. Any nurse who supports this attitude simply is contributing to the group oppression ALL nurses endure. In every other "business", the more you learn the more you earn. Nursing should be no different. But it is. Sure, there are nuances in every area that a well trained ICU nurse may have to learn to be on par with those working there but any non Critical Care nurse coming to a Unit has a whole body of knowledge to acquire before they are not dangerous to the patients. And yes, ICU nurses CAN take care of more than 2-3 patients, competently, as long as they are run of the mill floor patients. No floor nurse could ever walk into an ICU and competently take care of a real ICU patient. EVER......

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
You're just not getting it. ICU nurses have the skills and experience to handle codes and RRTs, while floor nurses do not. Floor nurses have the skills and experience to handle 4,6 or 8 patients at a time (I had 15 on nights) while ICU nurses can't handle more than 2 or possibly 3.

Actually, YOU'RE not getting it. By NOT "rewarding" superior skills, training, experience, ability and knowledge, administration is discounting all of those extremely beneficial attributes of specialty nurses. "They" don't WANT to recognize increased ability by paying more. Any nurse who supports this attitude simply is contributing to the group oppression ALL nurses endure. In every other "business", the more you learn the more you earn. Nursing should be no different. But it is. Sure, there are nuances in every area that a well trained ICU nurse may have to learn to be on par with those working there but any non Critical Care nurse coming to a Unit has a whole body of knowledge to acquire before they are not dangerous to the patients. And yes, ICU nurses CAN take care of more than 2-3 patients, competently, as long as they are run of the mill floor patients. No floor nurse could ever walk into an ICU and competently take care of a real ICU patient. EVER......

Every nursing specialty is valuable. So how about we reward them all.

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Actually, YOU'RE not getting it. By NOT "rewarding" superior skills, training, experience, ability and knowledge, administration is discounting all of those extremely beneficial attributes of specialty nurses. "They" don't WANT to recognize increased ability by paying more. Any nurse who supports this attitude simply is contributing to the group oppression ALL nurses endure. In every other "business", the more you learn the more you earn. Nursing should be no different. But it is. Sure, there are nuances in every area that a well trained ICU nurse may have to learn to be on par with those working there but any non Critical Care nurse coming to a Unit has a whole body of knowledge to acquire before they are not dangerous to the patients. And yes, ICU nurses CAN take care of more than 2-3 patients, competently, as long as they are run of the mill floor patients. No floor nurse could ever walk into an ICU and competently take care of a real ICU patient. EVER......

Keep telling yourself whatever you have to to feel good about yourself ... :rolleyes:

There are nurses in all specialties with "superior skills, training, experience, ability and knowledge." Could I walk into an ICU and competently care for a typical ICU client? Not any more. But I've seen ICU nurses take jobs on psych units (because they wanted an "easier" job) and be train wrecks (actually dangerous) in psych settings. I don't know where (some) ICU nurses got the idea that their chosen specialty makes them so vastly superior to the rest of us. Nurses in every specialty have something valuable to offer, and all specialties are necessary.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Keep telling yourself whatever you have to to feel good about yourself ... :rolleyes:

There are nurses in all specialties with "superior skills, training, experience, ability and knowledge." Could I walk into an ICU and competently care for a typical ICU client? Not any more. But I've seen ICU nurses take jobs on psych units (because they wanted an "easier" job) and be train wrecks (actually dangerous) in psych settings. I don't know where (some) ICU nurses got the idea that their chosen specialty makes them so vastly superior to the rest of us. Nurses in every specialty have something valuable to offer, and all specialties are necessary.

Please don't judge all of us ICU nurses based on one very arrogant (and clueless) poster! We're not all suffering from delusions of superiority!

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Please don't judge all of us ICU nurses based on one very arrogant (and clueless) poster! We're not all suffering from delusions of superiority!

(Awww, I know that Ruby -- that's why I said some ICU nurses. :))

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Keep telling yourself whatever you have to to feel good about yourself ... :rolleyes:

There are nurses in all specialties with "superior skills, training, experience, ability and knowledge." Could I walk into an ICU and competently care for a typical ICU client? Not any more. But I've seen ICU nurses take jobs on psych units (because they wanted an "easier" job) and be train wrecks (actually dangerous) in psych settings. I don't know where (some) ICU nurses got the idea that their chosen specialty makes them so vastly superior to the rest of us. Nurses in every specialty have something valuable to offer, and all specialties are necessary.

Oh no you didn't..... Typical ICU "CLIENT". My PATIENTS, have never, nor will ever, be clients,....despite what nursing schools teach. I will NEVER cheapen my relationships with my patients by refering to them as clients.

Sincerely,

Arrogant and Clueless.

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