Registered Nurse Income: Maximizing Your Earning Potential

The Registered Nurse income is very competitive in the current job market. The income, together with the fact that because of an increase in the aging society, RNs are going to be in demand even more than they are now. As reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, RNs get paid around $62,000 and a few top earning nurses can earn up to $70,000. Many different factors will determine the Registered Nurse income. Factors like the amount of experience the individual has, if they decide to specialize as well as their amount of education.

It will come as no real surprise that the Registered Nurse that's right out of college isn't going to be making the same amount as someone who has been in the industry for years. With that said, the exact amount and kind of training the individual receives can play a big part on the starting Registered Nurse income. RNs that just have an Associate degree should expect to gain about 5 dollars per hour less than one that has earned a Bachelor’s degree. A nurse with a BSN can not only earn more from the start, but these nurses usually have many more opportunities to progress to careers with higher pay. Individuals that first only get an ADN, normally wind up back in school to obtain their BSN. The advantage for these Associate degree nurses is they can often receive tuition reimbursement through employers while continuing to work, which cuts down on costs.

Whether or not you have received certification for a specialty may also determine a Registered Nurse income. Registered Nurse specialists range from oncology to neonatology. Nurse anesthetists, whom give anesthesia along with anesthesiologists and surgeons, can earn over $130,000 a year. Nurse researchers, who look at health data and submit research papers, earn around $95,000. Pediatric endocrinology nurses, caring for kids with endocrine system conditions, make just over $80,000. Specializing requires many hours of continuing education and exams to get certified, but the effort can greatly maximize your earning potential.

The salary of an RN could also depend on the industry you choose to work in. Not all nurses work directly in the healthcare industry. Quite a few work in government, manufacturing or publishing. The federal executive division of the government pays Registered Nurses about $77,000 a year. A lot of nurses work in areas like medical equipment and supplies manufacturing and will often make a lot more.

You might be amazed to learn that your geographical area might actually benefit or hurt your earnings potential. The median salary for Registered Nurses in California and Massachusetts is over $80,000 a year, while in Iowa, and North Dakota, it’s less than $53,000. Working in a metropolitan area could mean you will be making more. Many Registered Nurses who live in California’s Bay area make more than $100,000. However, remember that nurses living in these high paying regions are often also dealing with a very high cost of living.

Even though your salary might not be the highest Registered Nurse income level, an occupation in nursing will provide you with a competitive income as well as plenty of job opportunity for the future.

Think You've Got What it Takes for Accelerated RN Programs?

If you are a working professional making plans for a career change to nursing, you may want to check out accelerated RN programs, rather than an entry level Registered Nurse program. Many people move to nursing from other careers or training programs. An accelerated RN program is one means for anyone that have working experience and education in other fields to make the move to nursing and start working quickly.

Accelerated RN programs aren’t a means to cut corners, either - simply because they require the exact same number of clinical hours to be accomplished as any other Registered Nurse program, though usually in longer shifts and more extreme schedules.

Given the growing shortage or nursing professionals, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing strongly supports these speedier training programs, and for numerous reasons. Although an accelerated RN program will get you out of your current career path and working as an RN in record time, usually between 11 and 18 months, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who considers accelerated RN programs easier than entry level training programs. Accelerated RN programs are challenging, geared toward people having a demonstrated ability to learn quickly, process new information and keep drive through all the challenges.

An accelerated nursing program normally goes full time. While most individuals participating in these kinds of programs tend to be older than non-traditional students, accelerated RN programs are different from other non-traditional nursing programs in that they're actually more rigorous, not less. Where lots of nontraditional nursing students go to night classes, or complete their training online at their own speed, permitting them to still work full time or raise their children while in school, accelerated RN program students usually are full time nursing students,.

A final concern that many people have when thinking about accelerated RN programs is if these types of programs are seen as somewhat less valuable than conventional programs by potential employers. It seems that it's actually the opposite, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. As a result of experience, many supervisors have come to value nurses that have gone through these programs a lot. Since these nurses came from careers and educations in different career fields, they often have skill-sets and outlooks rare within entry level nurses. Whether they make the jump to nursing from business, a hard science, or even a completely unrelated field, nurses from accelerated RN programs typically have much to offer to a functioning team.

So, if your career field has been damaged by economic decline, or you just believe you might have missed your calling, an accelerated RN program could be just the stepping stone you'll need to start a fulfilling and successful new occupation.