VA Nurse Pay Scales

What Members Are Saying (AI-Generated Summary)

Members are discussing the hiring process and potential pay grades for nursing positions at the VA, with some sharing their experiences of long wait times and varying offers. Questions about salary scales, job postings, and negotiation strategies are also being raised, along with inquiries about tuition reimbursement and educational benefits for VA employees.

Need help finding Title 38 pay schedules? I stumbled across this today for anyone who needs it: Title 38 Pay Schedules

If you know your VA's station number you can look up the pay scale in the first section or you can look up the state in the section below.

Grade 01 = Nurse I

Grade 02 = Nurse II and so on

Nurse I, Level 2 pay starts at Step 03 and Level 3 starts at Step 05.

As a new grad with a BSN, I started as a Nurse I, Level 2, Step 05.

Hope this helps!

Specializes in Emergency Medicine.

How often are the raises? I got offered Nurse 2 Step 5 in Southern California

Specializes in Nursing Informatics, Home Health, Telehealth.
On 3/24/2020 at 11:39 PM, EDNP100x said:

How often are the raises? I got offered Nurse 2 Step 5 in Southern California

For Nurse 2 or above it's every two years.

Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.
1 hour ago, JENFKB said:

For Nurse 2 or above it's every two years.

Any idea how they calculate the steps? I know the levels are very subjective and see people coming in at a wide range of levels. Thank you.

Specializes in Nursing Informatics, Home Health, Telehealth.
On 3/29/2020 at 6:55 PM, RosesrReder said:

Any idea how they calculate the steps? I know the levels are very subjective and see people coming in at a wide range of levels. Thank you.

Education, projects, leadership, years of experience, etc. I don't think there is an exact formula it all depends on how well you write your 9 dimensions and who's reading it. I am not a member of the board though, so this is just from my experience.

Hello everyone,

Can someone please explain about VA Dallas hiring process for nurse residency?

Thanks,

Hello,

Grade 1, Steps 1 & 2 = Level 1 (entry level no experience).

Grade 1, Steps 3 & 4= Level 2 (A level 1 nurse must progress through the 3 levels of Grade I nursing before promotion to Grade II; no levels can be skipped).

Grade 1, Step 5-9 = Level 3 (The next promotion would be Grade II; some nurses max out on steps and never promote to Grade II).

I am interested in applying as new grad ADN with 2 years of LPN experience in the pittsburgh, pa area. So my starting wage would be 60.7k or am I reading the chart wrong?

"Nurse I Level III - An ADN or Diploma in Nursing and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR an ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a Bachelor's degree in a related field and approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a BSN with approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Master's degree in nursing (MSN) or related field with a BSN and no additional nursing practice/experience."

Specializes in Operating room, ER, Home Health.

I believe that LPN count at 50% for experience. As a new RN grad you will have a good chance as starting off as a N1, step 1 or 2 which is around 55k a year.

Seems a little low and non competitive for the market of the area at the moment. Do you think negotiations are available or are they pretty firm on their offers? I also have 8 years of PCT experience.

Specializes in Operating room, ER, Home Health.

The VA is known for starting low but End up high. In 20 years and you have your BSN your wages will be around 89k. You need to look at the benefits. Where else are you going to start at 8 hrs of vacation & 4 hrs of sick pay a pay period. There is no call offs, etc. work load is normally lighter than the public hospitals. It also has a defined pension and equivalent to a 401k. There are multiple health insurance options.

this are some of the things you have to think of besides just wages.

On 6/1/2019 at 10:13 AM, Danish said:

You will start your position as the same step and grade, just on the NP scale. Your first proficiency will be 1 year later and most NPs become nurse III at that time if they are involved in committees and such. It is still considerably less than the community pays for NPs though. I had offers for well over $30K more that I turned down to stay with the VA.

Hey there. I just submitted a giant Nurse III proficiency, and per the consensus, our NPSB is also quite bias and it seems nearly impossible to get unless you work on one certain floor. I am a 2 step 5 and chose not to redo my N3 proficiency as it was deferred. I did a massive national program evaluation that impacted both local and national levels. I obtained my FNP-DNP this year and did the NNEI scholarship, so I will be starting a new position as an NP at the same facility or at least in this VISN. From what I have read, I will just start at the same grade and step on the NP scale. Ny question to you is, are most NPs easily moved to Nurse 3s after a year of practice or is it still as giant of a feat to get a Nurse 3 as an NP as it is as an RN? Thank you!

Specializes in PACU RN.

Would you be able to help interpret the VA pay scale. BSN with 6 years of experience. I noticed above Grade 01=Nurse 1 and Grade 02=Nurse 2  

With a BSN are you automatically Grade 02/Nurse 2?

I am confused between Grade and Level as well. I see comments referencing Nurse 1 Level 1, Nurse 1 Level 2... The terms used such as Nurse 1,2 or 3 do not match the payscale.

Thank you

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