Why does Sonography pay more than nursing?

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Nurses have a way heftier workload and funnier hours. Why do you suppose sonographers make more money than nurses?

Supply vs. demand.

The sonographers had to be on call a couple times per week-weekends and nights-more workload since there are less to do the work.

otessa

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I seriously doubt their hourly is any more than an RN's with comparable experience and education, however, I do know they are hard to come by and our demand for inpatient ultrasound diagnostics alone greatly exceeds what any one person can do within a typical twelve-hour shift. I mean, even with a scheduled tech, there's another on-call tech here virtually every night to help cover the vast amount of procedures ordered stat in the ER/ICU, and it's usually the same one or two people. They work a lot of hours.

RNs easily make $70-80K+ in this area (Texas) if we work a day or two of overtime each pay period.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

Because they can see a gazillion shadows of grey and tell you what each things is LOL

I really have no idea but I give kudos to them. I can see a baby from yolk sac to the end and identify all of what I am seeing, but I watched a sonographer do an abdominal U/S and was telling me all the different things and I was like DO WHAT, HOW THE HECK CAN YOU TELL THAT!! :p

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Pediatric Home Health.
I seriously doubt their hourly is any more than an RN's with comparable experience and education, however, I do know they are hard to come by and our demand for inpatient ultrasound diagnostics alone greatly exceeds what any one person can do within a typical twelve-hour shift. I mean, even with a scheduled tech, there's another on-call tech here virtually every night to help cover the vast amount of procedures ordered stat in the ER/ICU, and it's usually the same one or two people. They work a lot of hours.

RNs easily make $70-80K+ in this area (Texas) if we work a day or two of overtime each pay period.

My first year out of nursing school I pulled in almost $70K that year and I only worked an overtime here and there.

I despise working overtime now and thus do not pull in much more than my base wage -- I however do work a very easy home health per-diem job that doesn't pay great money but it is EASY work and pulls in some extra cash.

And you are right that I think some of these other careers don't have the opportunity to work OT like nurses do. However, I have seen many paychecks of my resp. therapist friends where I work, and many of them are pulling in $100K+ because of the OT available to them.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"But if a nurse is walking in with an ADN degree, there is no reason why they should be making more money than another healthcare professional who has an associate technical degree."

Ummmm, unless you consider the fact that the ADN has passed the NCLEX for Registered Nursing. In that case, they might just be making as much or more than the sonographer or the BSN or the RT, depending upon their level of experience and their particular career path.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.
I work at a hospital that pays nurses the least out of most healthcare jobs. The RT's make more money, as do sonographers and the CT & MRI technologists. All of those positions also top out at more than nurses do at my hospital.

Nursing opens more doors though.. for the most part. But if a nurse is walking in with an ADN degree, there is no reason why they should be making more money than another healthcare professional who has an associate technical degree.

Nurses will have a hard time demanding a higher salary until the profession as a whole becomes more "professional" and demands that nurses have a bachelors degree for entry-level positions.

All I can say is WOW.

I won't say much else, because it will take away from this thread, but a two year degree IS a profession. Sorry.

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Running, Running, Running, RunningRNBSN... what to do with you!

I got a bachelor degree already honey, and seriously, having one does not make a person God's gift to the working world. REALLY, it does not. I think if you are looking for some sort of elevation, you'd better look elsewhere. Nope, no crown. Just say'in. HOWEVER, lets revisit the whole elevation thing should you discover the cure for cancer. Now wouldn't that be something!!!!!!

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My first year out of nursing school I pulled in almost $70K that year and I only worked an overtime here and there.

I despise working overtime now and thus do not pull in much more than my base wage -- I however do work a very easy home health per-diem job that doesn't pay great money but it is EASY work and pulls in some extra cash.

And you are right that I think some of these other careers don't have the opportunity to work OT like nurses do. However, I have seen many paychecks of my resp. therapist friends where I work, and many of them are pulling in $100K+ because of the OT available to them.

Uhm, I'm an LPN who last year made over $44K working less than half time (with no OT shifts).

And yes, I'm a professional.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
All I can say is WOW.

I won't say much else, because it will take away from this thread, but a two year degree IS a profession. Sorry.

2 year degree doesn't even add in all the pre reqs, it really is even more then the 2 years but for some but some people don't get that (not you). I had a person say once how them getting a BSN in their 4 year degree but them way above the game because they had 2 extra years of nursing school. I was like really, so you had to also do all your pre reqs prior to starting your 4 year program. They were like, what do you mean? I started college and was done in the 4 years. So they thought the 1 year they spent taking the same classes we have to take prior was some special extra year of nursing training. I spent more then a year doing pre reqs and I was taking quarters (so more classes per year) because my old school required a lot more. I moved here and I had all these extra credits that will at least come in handy for my BSN.

Anyway, sorry to get off track.

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Pediatric Home Health.

Whoa... hold up.

I am not comparing ADN to BSN, nor do I think either is better than the other -- both are equally as competent.

However, I was making a point regarding nurses who feel they should be making more money than a sonographer. I am making the point that for nurses to begin to demand more pay (I agree, nurses should be making more money than other technical fields -- we carry far more responsibility and nurses are required to do a lot of critical thinking... among other things) that the nursing profession needs to recognized as a PROFESSIONAL profession.

The problem with the nursing profession is that many nurses consider their ADN as their terminal degree, when it should really be the beginning.

As someone who is very heavy into research and into advancing the nursing profession to be more respected by other healthcare professionals, I can attest that there are many in our profession who trying to make it that the BSN is the entry level degree by in the next 20 years.

Again, I am not making this an ADN vs. BSN debate but rather am responding to why you will find that many other healthcare technical careers make similar or more money than nurses -- because nurses are often viewed as similar to other technical healthcare professions.

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2 year degree doesn't even add in all the pre reqs, it really is even more then the 2 years but for some but some people don't get that (not you). I had a person say once how them getting a BSN in their 4 year degree but them way above the game because they had 2 extra years of nursing school. I was like really, so you had to also do all your pre reqs prior to starting your 4 year program. They were like, what do you mean? I started college and was done in the 4 years. So they thought the 1 year they spent taking the same classes we have to take prior was some special extra year of nursing training. I spent more then a year doing pre reqs and I was taking quarters (so more classes per year) because my old school required a lot more. I moved here and I had all these extra credits that will at least come in handy for my BSN.

Anyway, sorry to get off track.

I have yet to see an Associate nursing program catalog book that doesnt include prequisites within their 2-year time frame. Post it please!

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I have yet to see an Associate nursing program catalog book that doesnt include prequisites within their 2-year time frame. Post it please!

I am a little confused, are you trying to imply that a 2 year ADN program is INCLUDING pre reqs in those 2 years, so if one is a just entering college with NO credits, from start to finish of getting an ADN it doesn't take more then 2 years?

My program is 2 years, 4 semesters, those 4 semesters are ONLY nursing courses. They do not include all the Pre Requisite classes that you need to be considered for the nursing program. (hence why they are called PRE Requisites) Some of those pre reqs have their own pre reqs, For example, my current college only required Psych Life Span development. But that class required Psych 101 as a pre req for that class.

My college I transferred from where I was going to get an ADN as well had the same requirements my current college required and THEN SOME. So it took even more time then the college here because you also needed Unorganic Chem and Organic Chem, a Sociology Class a Statistics Class a Speech Communications Class and Psych 101 was a requirement there. This is in ADDITION to the 5 standard pre reqs my current college had and ALL of these classes were required BEFORE even starting the 2 yeas.

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