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Registered Nurse Salary
By an XYZ Media contributing writer
Published: February 1st, 2010
What is the salary of a registered nurse?
One of the rewards of a registered nursing career is a comfortable salary. According to a January 2009 report on www.salary.com, registered nurses in the Unites States earn a median salary of $55,624 to $67,003. Incomes vary widely and depend on a number of factors such as
level of education, years of experience, availability of area nurses, nature of work performed, employer type, and cost of living in a given area. For example, New York City’s median salary is over $66,000 per year; while registered nurses in Davenport,
Iowa average $59,000 per year. On the other hand, city nursing careers require longer hours and produce greater stress. Smaller communities may have less payout, but generally offer more comfortable hours and manageable ratios of nurses to patients. Learn more about the registered nurse degree.
What are the insurance and vacation benefits of a registered nurse?
Insurance benefits are determined by individual employers that hire staff in a variety of fields, so the level of benefits provided cannot be generalized for one specific role.Vacation benefits are also dependent upon a specific employer. A survey report on www.payscale.com provides an estimated average of 1.68 vacation weeks per year for entry level registered nurses, and 2.32 weeks a year for those with 20 or more years of experience. Again, these figures are approximations, and can vary greatly by individual employer.
What is the current job market for a registered nurse?
Nursing is one of today’s largest growing fields. The United States is in the midst of a major nursing shortage that’s shielding the nursing profession from a volatile job market. A result of the aging baby boom generation, the shortage is expected to continue growing until the year 2025. Health care needs increase as the oldest baby boomers reach their 60s. At the same time nurses from this generation are retiring at alarming levels and new nurses are urgently needed to fill their positions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports above-average employment and the creation of 587,000 new registered nursing jobs through 2016.What are some of the major challenges that a registered nurse may face?
Registered nurses are subjected to great physical and emotional demands. The standard daily responsibilities and demanding schedules place a great deal of stress on the body. Most nurses are required to be on their feet for up to 12 hours. At the same time they are often lifting heavy patients and moving medical equipment throughout the hospital.Learn more about the registered nurse job specifics.
Nurses often experience a great deal of frustration on the job. This is especially common in entry level nurses. It can be difficult to understand why a doctor may not agree with a nurse’s concerns, or with the fact that not every patient can be healed or saved. Some nurses in critical areas of practice such as the intensive care unit or oncology ward- but especially pediatrics- experience burn-out from watching patients suffer and lose their lives on a daily basis. For this reason many veteran nurses have developed thick skins, allowing them to more easily endure difficult situations.
