I am doing an anonymous study on what nurses are making these days.
From entry level diploma, associates, baccleaureate.
DNSc, FAAN, ANCeF
And any other specialty and surname of nurses that are out there today including nurses that have their MBA's
Please respond briefly with your pay, which state you live in and what type of hospital, doctor's office, nursing home or other area you live in and your specialty.
I am an RN CCM and do workers comp case management Atlanta GA. A piece of cake job. All telephonic, M-F 8:00am -4:30 pm, all holidays off, and lots of perks like free lunches from vendors or attorneys. Very light case load. $64,000 per yr plus year end bonus (3k or so).
I work private duty through an agency. I make $18-23/hour, depending on shift.
I'm underpaid, and do I ever know it. I thought my second-job days were over, but I'm looking for a second job. The only real plus is that I have weekends off.
thats it??? wow, i thought would be more, heard it was comparable to bay area????think of relocating...currently central coast make 50hr base c 11 yrs acute care exp....where is this place, could remove from list???
And nurses say they don't get paid well. Hmm....for a job that only requires a two-year degree, I must say, Nurses are making bank!
Also keep in mind the insanely strenuous workload of nursing classes vs. ANY other type of class...you pretty much have to give up being able to work and make any kind of income while you're in nursing school, unlike other "2 year degrees." I obtained a BA and a Master's degree in other fields while working full-time jobs and maintaining a 4.0 in my classes...not with nursing school...it is WAY heavier and harder of a workload than those degrees were. I have not been able to work at all and spend about 60 hrs./week on school.
Sure it's worth it and pays more than the other degrees but those "2 years" (which as others have said is realistically more like 4 years in reality) are gone from your life in exchange for the nursing degree
Indiana, recent RN grad working as charge nurse in psych hospital making $24/h there is shift diff but it isn't much.......maybe .25 for evening, .50 for nights
"And nurses say they don't get paid well. Hmm....for a job that only requires a two-year degree, I must say, Nurses are making bank!"
For one thing, at least at my school, my 2 year degree cost me four years due to pre-requisites.
For another, your average hospital nurse has to do more critical thinking in one day that your average doctor has to do in a week - *average* being the key word, there are exceptions in both directions of course! And that isn't dissing doctors, even average ones. It's just that we nurses are their eyes and ears. It is just a factor of the job.
Example: Today, we had to intubate a patient. Even though I work in the ED, with all the ICU beds tied up, I had this person from nearly the start of my shift to past the end of it. When the doc was with the pt, he was all critical thinking. But after intubation and original orders, it was up to me to keep him up-to-date on the patient's needs.
So it wasn't up to the doc to decide, 'Maybe I should order some more sedation for this pt who we have paralyzed for quite some time now.' It was me who had to recognize when the pt was not only coming out of the paralysis, but also the sedation.
Further yet, the education doesn't even really start until "school" ends. During my residency I have spent a tremendous number of hours in the classroom, with much more to come post-residency.
Believe me, while nurses do make decent-to-good money (depending on how long one has been working - and as a recent graduate even I can recognize the *tremendous* difference experience makes as a nurse), the education is ongoing, the critical thinking skills are...well...CRITICAL, and we work our asses off for that money.
In my opinion, very, very few people, with all the skills required to even be able to do the job, would be willing to work this hard, for this many hours, doing some of the dirtiest, ickiest work imaginable, without being appropriately compensated.
And you don't want a Real nursing shortage, based on under-payment. The qualities of a good nurse are not something you want to be missing in whichever underpaid person would otherwise be taking care of you or your family member or friend!
I hope that isn't too rambling. I am *exhausted*, lol. In the ED I am not used to having only 1, critically ill patient at a time all day long! It is more tiring than any three other ED patients at a time. My hat's off to you ICU and other CCRNs!
Agreed. Not enough for the knowledge, education, experience, level of responsibility. They are patients, not widgets. I will never work as a nurse for less than $40.00 per hour ever again. That rules out hospitals, SNF's, offices. I am doing psych home care now. Don't love it, my 8 hr day is really 12 hours counting documentation, but at least I can pay the rent and put food on the table without working 2 jobs.
Experience: 8+ years in Psych, 2 years LTC, 2 years TCU, 1 year Corrections, 1 year Pediatrics
Pay: Started at $16.00/hour plus shift diff of maybe $1.00 Now, I make $21.67/hour
Side note: I think that I am worth more than that with my experience, so I am taking it on the road to do some travel nursing where I can make MORE money!
I thought my second-job days were over, but I'm looking for a second job. The only real plus is that I have weekends off.
APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP
995 Posts
Rural Bay Area Hospital.
ADN-RN and nearing completion of RN-MSN....but not yet *sigh*.
$ 60.77 per hour (couple of dollars more per hour on weekends)