What are you worth as a NICU nurse?

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 20, 2006

$1.00 more than new grads after 5 years is definitely not enough. I would use that information to negotiate with your manager. You should be getting at least $.30 more per year and I would hope for more like $.50 per year of experience.

However ... be careful about getting too upset in those negotiations and be prepared to compromise. Having a job that you love to do is important in life. Don't ruin your chances of working there by throwing a tantrum or saying something that you'll regret later. In time, they may fix their salary structure problem -- and when they do, you don't want to be ineligible to work there because you left on bad terms with them. Also, sometimes it is worth "sticking out" a bad situation for a while to give it a chance to improve.

While you should try to get the pay inequities addressed ... it's not worth an extra dollar or two per hour to be miserable in your job.

Good luck,

llg

fmrnicumom · Feb 20, 2006

I'm in Michigan, and although I'm not a nurse yet, here's a link to job openings at the hospital where my sons were born. http://www.jobscience.com/search.cfm?cmd=search

Gompers, BSN, RN · Feb 20, 2006

Our hospital gives a "cost of living" increase to all nurses in addition to their 2-4% yearly merit raise. This is to make sure that the experience nurses will always be making more than the new grads, since the new grad pay increases every year.

You haven't had a raise in five years?

cathys01 · Feb 20, 2006

My class graduated in December '04 and my friends and I all landed internships in the Houston area (where I live). The starting pay for new grads ranged from $20.50/hr (+shift diffs/weekend diffs) to $22.00/hr (+shift diffs/weekend diffs).

We were also mostly all eligible for sign-on bonuses (pretty much everybody got $2K). I ended up choosing the only hospital that was requiring a signed one year contract. All of the others have a one year contract as well, but nothing signed - basically, the sign on bonus would be paid out at the end of the one year internship, across the board.

I got a merit raise after 6 months (prorated because I hadn't completed one year of service yet). We get an annual review in June and everybody gets the chance at a merit increase - but we don't get cost of living adjustments.

betha005 · Feb 20, 2006

We haven't had a raise in 2 years and then it was like 50 cents. I have heard rumors that we will get an across the board raise in June, but still how does that really distinguish someone with experience. I will believe the raise when I see it- this rumor has gone around before. We didn't get a raise last year because they said it wasn't in the budget but yet the lobby was remodeled.

Our unit has just gone downhill as far as morale. The nurses are at each other- it really feels like high school. We have a lot of nurses with the "I'm better than you and I can do it better than you" attitude. Somebody is always talking about somebody else. I love my job- I just don't like to work in a tense atmosphere with pay I am not happy with. My only problem is that this is the only NICU around- the other ones are close to 2hours away.

We also don't have a nurse manager right now (we have an interim that has never done neonatal) and our clinical educator is leaving in a couple of months. Things just seem crazy right now.

cratty05 · Feb 21, 2006

i am going into the aultman school of nursing soon to become an RN and i want to work in the nursery or the NICU but i dont know much about it. i just know that i absolutely love children!!! i was just wondering if any one could tell me what it is like to work there and tell me what it takes to handle all of the sick children??? i am really curious!! i know you have to become an RN but what else do you have to major in? if any? i have not researched this allot so any advice would be graetly appreciated

LoveTheNICU · Feb 21, 2006

I am a May 06 graduate starting in a midwestern NICU in June. My base pay is $17.85 and I'll get two dollars for nights once orientation is over. There is also a $5K bonus since I stayed on since my internship last summer... I know this is less than what most are posting, but you have to take into account that where I live, I can have a new 2 bedroom condo with all appliances, etc. for about $600/month.

Ginarrnc · Feb 22, 2006

[New grads in Dallas make more than you are getting. Come on out we need help!

NICUrnurse · Feb 26, 2006

I live in the midwest and when I started 2 years ago, we started out at $17.10/hr. New grads are now starting out at $18.30/hr, which is $.50 less and hour that what I make now. Our hospital is unique, they don't base raises on performance, it soley is based on what other hospitals in the area do.

Brit5 · Feb 27, 2006

I am a new grad in the NICU starting this March. I have been hired for days at $35.87. The hospital is in northern California. I do not know what the cost of living raises are at my hospital.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Feb 27, 2006

I'm not in NICU but have 15years experience, and I recently found out that a new grad got $500 more sign on bonus. He said he didn't negotiate with them, they just gave it to him!