Visiting nurse job offer salary?

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Specializes in emergency, vascular surgery/telemetry, med-surg.

I'm looking for anyone's opinion:

I was recently offered a job in home health as a visiting nurse in the NYC metro area. The offer is for a full time position, it's salaried @ $65,000/yr. I'm currently working in a hospital making approx. $74k (I'm paid hourly)-- I am having a really hard time justifying making the switch financially. I've heard of a lot of home health agencies that pay per visit or hourly, and offer reimbursement for gas for commuting to different patients. I'm assuming that if there was pay for gas and visits that it would be mentioned in the offer letter. I was thinking of asking for more info... The area I live in has a high cost of living and I am saving to buy a home in a few years. So even though I want this job I don't think I can take it :(.

Specializes in emergency, vascular surgery/telemetry, med-surg.

I was also thinking of asking about opportunities for salary growth in the future.. The company seems really great and I feel I would truly enjoy the work, I shadowed a RN there and loved the experience. I've only worked in hospitals and am used to the clinical ladder-style of getting raises, etc. When you are salaried are you guaranteed raises throughout the years?

This company also offers a pension plan (as opposed to the 403b that I'm used to).. I'm not sure how I feel about that either..I have no experience with a pension plan and I'm finding mixed opinions when researching this online.

I would certainly ask the questions that are in your mind, but overall, it kind of seems like a poor idea to me. That salary seems too low for your area and of course, you must be aware that salaried home health nurses are typically working far more than eight hours a day. Perhaps some local hh nurses can chime in about the prevailing wages.

Since it seems a good company I would consider it for a year to become comfortable in the new role and regulations/documentation. If raises are not a possibility then I would look for a new employer.

But learning at a reputable company is currency in itself.

Specializes in Pedi.

I'd be surprised if mileage reimbursement wasn't part of the equation. It's considered a benefit, so I wouldn't necessarily expect it to appear in an offer letter, just like health insurance and PTO wouldn't necessarily be included in an offer letter. Call and ask.

Specializes in ICU/CCU, Home Health, Case Management.

Get the money you feel you need up front, IMO. With MCR cuts who knows where the salaries are going to be in a year!

I took a 20% paycut moving from a hospital job to home health. But, I get paid milage, and because the hours are so flexible I no longer have to pay for child care. Those two things bring things closer to equal on the money front for me.

Can you negotiate at all? Are there any other agencies you can look into in your area? Im never a big fan of salaried positions, I think it gives the agency the greenlight to overuse you by assigning more work than you can realistically finish in a 40 hour week. The agency I work for pays hourly, and encourages you strongly to make sure you account for all your time. They are fine with overtime if it needs to happen. Its an interesting dynamic after having come from a hospital where if you had 5 minutes of overtime you were called into your supervisor to explain.

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