Specialty pay

[BeachsideRN]

This is just a random question which may or may not have a definitive answer ... Anyway, aside from APRN practices are there any fields/sub specialities in nursing at the RN level that are more lucrative than others?

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

I get one dollar an hour more for my CEN. Over the course of a year that's maybe 2000. Over 4 years 8000. If I would go take the CCRN test and pass I could get another 1$ an hour more.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

The specialty nursing certifications through the Canadian Nurses Association, similar to the American certifications provide an additional 50 cents an hour.

More important than the pay for certifications are the job opportunities that become available (charge nurse, unit manager, educator). Some employers have even made certification mandatory.

[Larry3373]

I make an extra 2000 or so per year if I get my critical care certification (CCRN).

[PMFB-RN, RN]

The nurses I know who make the most are critical care types. This isn't because critical care nurses are paid more. Mostly they aren't. It has more to do with the transferability of critical care skills and their ability to work in a variety of different types of units and thus avoiding low census layoffs and providing the opportunity to work OT in units other than your home unit.

It's location that has a dramatic effect on a nurse's pay.

[AJJKRN]

I get $7 extra an hour for floating. Not including shift differentials, weekend pay, charge nurse pay, preceptor pay, etc...and I LOVE my job (not always all of the BS though )

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

The nurses I know who make the most are critical care types. This isn't because critical care nurses are paid more. Mostly they aren't. It has more to do with the transferability of critical care skills and their ability to work in a variety of different types of units and thus avoiding low census layoffs and providing the opportunity to work OT in units other than your home unit.

It's location that has a dramatic effect on a nurse's pay.

We have a bit of this in the OR. Obviously we manage the need for extra staff with on-call staff as we can't float someone in like we could float a nurse from STICU to MICU. We're a closed unit in that people can't float in, we're far too specialized. We do occasionally get folks to float among our ORs, but not into the OR from another department (sometimes our surgery center folks agree to work in the Main OR, etc). Some of us can float out - I have experience in areas other than the OR and I have completed the competencies so I could float to other units or to pre-op or phase II PACU. Luckily we basically don't ever get asked to float out.

We've had such a staffing crunch this year that we've had as much overtime as we could desire. They took whatever we were willing to give - coming in to help with lunches, 8hr shifts, 10hr shifts, whatever. We had critical staffing pay for shifts of 4, 8 or 10 hours over our schedule requirement (or the equivalent overtime of one of those time frames accrued that week).

I recognize that staffing is sometimes feast or famine - and that sometimes folks get sent home due to low census/too few cases, etc. We had a period two years ago where we were there, well staffed with a slightly lighter OR schedule. We sent people home early frequently. Rarely did people not get paid for their time anyways - we get a generous PTO allotment/accrual, and most people had time to cover their "forced" time off AND their vacations. Maybe this is a facility thing - as we accrue way more PTO than other hospitals I've worked for.