RN Salary?? (Miami, Tampa, Orlando: unemployment, living, cost of living)

[nycgirl1616]

These salaries make me want to throw up when I see what they are paying nurses in the Tampa area. Sure, I will save a lot of money on taxes, but still, with the cut in pay its still going to hurt. I have heard that south Florida pays the most and if travel nursing is an option for anyone, that is much better pay as well.

[StreetSmarts]

But we dont really know what the pay is until a few posters who work in Tampa post back.

My wife makes close to $28 an hr as an RN in Asheville NC, and I'd be surprised if an RN with similar experience (about 8 yrs) doesn't make just as much in Tampa.

[nycgirl1616]

I have been seeing rates on glassdoor and all nurses around $22 an hour. Now its possible that the base is $22 and then night/weekend diff is added in addition to years of experience and certification? Now that I think it of, I'm pretty sure on Sarasota Memorials website on the job postings it literally is 22 and change.

These pay rates make me nauseous. My friend in california who is a new grad gets $51 an hour and she says she has friends who are experienced ICU nurses who make in the 70's per hour! Great pay on top of mandated nurse to patient ratios!!! Why this can't work anywhere else is beyond me.

[StreetSmarts]

... only 2 RN's in Asheville gave their salary info on glassdoor.com, the avg of the 2 was $55,875.

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by nycgirl1616

I have been seeing rates on glassdoor and all nurses around $22 an hour. Now its possible that the base is $22 and then night/weekend diff is added in addition to years of experience and certification? Now that I think it of, I'm pretty sure on Sarasota Memorials website on the job postings it literally is 22 and change.

These pay rates make me nauseous. My friend in california who is a new grad gets $51 an hour and she says she has friends who are experienced ICU nurses who make in the 70's per hour! Great pay on top of mandated nurse to patient ratios!!! Why this can't work anywhere else is beyond me.

Isn't a little bit excessive to expect to start with $51/hour for a 2-year degree?
I mean I guess if you can get it, laws of labor supply and demand I guess, but i imagine this is partly why we have a health care crisis.

[nycgirl1616]

Originally Posted by DUNNDFRNT

Isn't a little bit excessive to expect to start with $51/hour for a 2-year degree?
I mean I guess if you can get it, laws of labor supply and demand I guess, but i imagine this is partly why we have a health care crisis.

She doesn't have a 2 year degree she has 2 bachelors degrees as nursing is a second career. New grads are going for 4 year degrees for the most part as hospitals are reluctant to hire without a bachelors nowadays.

Paying nurses a fair share of what hospitals are getting paid for is not causing the health care crisis. In the 90's they tried to replace RN's with various types of techs who were "trained" to complete some of the tasks that we do. Know what happened? Patients were dying or having bad outcomes left and right. Nursing is not about passing pills, there is a lot of critical thinking involved and decision making that is done independant of the doctor.

How about people that call 911 and use the ER at least once a week for that runny nose their kid has or the homeless drunk who calls 911 and comes into the ER 2x a day fEor lunch and dinner taking up a bed and the doctors time? Guess what he isn't the only one, his homeless friends want in to so they do the same thing. BTW these stories are 100% true and are happening all over the US. All factors in healthcare crisis, not nurses.

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by nycgirl1616

Paying nurses a fair share of what hospitals are getting paid for is not causing the health care crisis. .

This is my point when hospital can afford to pay entry level employees 100k+,something is out of whack. Teachers are starting at 36k with an advanced degree, that requires "critical thinking". I certainly dont want to get in a dynamic where am arguing against nurses, I am not, My point is 100k+ to start with a 4 year degree can't be good for the system. I dont know what a fair salary would be, but I would think you would start in middle and increase the salary of the nurses who excelled. When you start people with that high of salary you are just going to get people with no vocation flocking to that field for the pay. BTW you are just recycling FOXNEWS-style talking points, people without means, who wont be seen or cant afford to be seen by a regular doctor go to the ER for treatment, they are the cause of the crisis, homeless people, sure, in my 30+ years of life I been in the ER a couple of times, for what i understand there is a triage factor at admissions, so if a homeless guy shows up without need for care they wont get a bed. I agree that there are several factors to the health crisis, to me they boil down to the fact that is a "for profit" industry which is poorly regulated. I am not blaming nurses for that, but wanting 100k as a starting salary is definitively not part of the solution.

[StreetSmarts]

$100k for an RN is NOT the norm. Maybe in Southern California or NYC where they have to pay that much, but I can tell you it's far from the norm anywhere else. In the south, you're looking at $40k'ish to start.

[City Guy997S]

www.paycheckcity.com is a good site for comparing cost of living in two diffrent cities.....

The other considerations are the hosital chains in Florida, they dictate the pay scale for the whole chain and the amount of transient patients. If 2-3 hospital chains dictate the pay scale for the whole area then the smaller hospitals certainly aren't going to pay more than the competions. Florida also has a very transient patient base, lots of old people come to Flariduh in the winter causing the hospital staffing needs to rise, but come July when those snowbirds are long gone then the staff needs are also lower (and lower demand = lower pay).

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by ComSense

$100k for an RN is NOT the norm. Maybe in Southern California or NYC where they have to pay that much, but I can tell you it's far from the norm anywhere else. In the south, you're looking at $40k'ish to start.

+1......100K/52 weeks is $1923 a week/ over $48 an hour...... I suspect there are small town Dr's out there that don't net that after school loan repayments/malpractice insurance premiums/office staff etc.!