Nurse Salary

Since the time of Florence Nightingale there have been many who would have liked to follow her footsteps and dedicate their lives to this profession of helping others. In today's world, there have been many developments in the medical field and there is a need for expert care givers.

Nurses are the most important part of the healthcare system, as they assist doctors by carrying out physical examinations of the patients, diagnosing the symptoms, administering IVs, and giving medication under the doctor's supervision. A nurse is the first line of contact in the healthcare industry and they gather and partake necessary information before patients meet doctors. The duties include gathering samples like blood, sputum, and urine for laboratory investigations, and giving pre and post checkup guidance and instructions. As there are different types of doctors, the nurses who assist them need to specialize in performing different types of duties. There are nurses who specialize in pediatric care, neonatal care, operating room assistants, anesthetist, etc. There are different levels of nursing like registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs). Requirements to become a nurse include a two-year associate degree after your high school diploma, a 3-year diploma course in a nursing program, and a bachelor of science in nursing degree. There are various nursing schools that provide the required courses to become a nurse. After obtaining the relevant educational qualification, you also have to pass The National Council Licensure Examination and acquire a license to practice. Now that we know the job description and the educational qualification required to become a nurse, let's take a look at the salary information of the different types of nursing professionals.

The average salary for nurses depends a lot upon the nature of care they provide and the orientation of the patients, in addition to the specialty they are practicing in. Nurses working in the neonatal department have a different set of responsibilities and pay structure than the ones working for general physicians.

Registered Nurse
There are more than 200,000 registered nurses in America and 60 percent of them are employed by hospitals across the nation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary of registered nurses was USD 62,000 annually. 50 percent of such nurses earned between USD 51,000 to USD 76,000 while the highest 10 percent earned more than USD 92,000 annually.

Neonatal Nurse
Registered Nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit earn comparatively higher salaries than other nurses. The salary earned by neonatal nurses is, however, dependent on the years of experience they have and the hospital they work for. The salary range can be anywhere between USD 50,000 to USD 72,000, depending on the years of experience they have. Nurses working in cities like New York, Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles can earn an average USD 60,000 annually, while nurses in cities like Tulsa, Miami, and Tampa can earn an average salary of USD 57,000 annually. On the other hand, smaller cities like Birmingham and Nashville pay an average salary of USD 46,000 to neonatal nurses.

Pediatric Nurse
Pediatric nurses are responsible for the care of young children and usually assist pediatricians. These nurses earn an average per hour salary of USD 21 to USD 30, and per year salary of USD 42,000 to USD 66,000. Pediatric nurses also earn bonuses ranging from USD 450 to USD 1,100. A state wise salary survey observed that California paid USD 25 to USD 41 per hour to pediatric nurses, Florida paid between USD 23 to USD 30 per hour, and Texas paid USD 17 to USD 26 per hour.

General Nurse
The average nurse practitioner salary was between USD 67,000 to USD 85,000 annually and the hourly nurse assistant salary was between USD 9 to USD 13. The nurse anesthetist salary was a whopping USD 100,000 to USD 155,000. The health care industry also has traveling nurses and their salary is also lucrative, they earn around USD 30 to USD 40 hourly, they are also known as freelance nurses.

The salary of a nurse can be very remunerative and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nurses (RNs) constitute the largest healthcare occupation, with 2.6 million jobs.