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Hospitals Bump Salaries and Bonuses
The Commercial Appeal
June 17, 2008
How eager are Memphis-area hospitals to find nurses?
A $5,000 signing bonus awaits people who qualify for some specialized nursing jobs at Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said Marilyn Kerkhoff, the hospital’s interim chief nurse.
And to keep up with local competitors, the government bumped up pay earlier this year for all Memphis VA nurses.
Now, a nurse with a two-year degree and no experience can earn just under $47,000.
A nurse with a master’s degree and significant experience can earn nearly $85,000 and high-ranking nurse administrators can earn even more, Kerkhoff said.
Especially valuable nurses can also earn bonuses just for staying with the VA.
The details of the VA’s compensation packages offer a glimpse of the increasingly sweet deals Memphis hospitals are making to recruit and hold onto nurses.
Many local hospitals won’t say how much they pay nurses, but the VA’s pay scale is public because the care system for former members of the military is part of the federal government.
The VA data offers a rough mirror of what other Memphis hospitals are paying nurses, since the federal government does a survey of the local market and tries to set its scale between institutions that pay the least and those that pay the most, Kerkhoff said.
Many other hospitals offer signing bonuses for nurses, she said, and some offer other perks such as paid time off to attend conferences and support for educational expenses.
Memphis registered nurses earn a median of nearly $58,000 a year, double the $29,000 median for all local workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Kerkhoff said there are many reasons for the nursing shortage, but points out one that’s sometimes overlooked. Nursing was once one of very few careers open to women, but they now have more options.
“So a lot of your good minds and bright people choose other professions now,” she said.
Patients are older and sicker and the VA is trying to help veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq deal with traumatic brain injuries and other problems, she said, so there’s tremendous demand for good nurses.
The VA is trying to fill roughly 30 nursing vacancies, including the home-based primary care jobs for which it’s offering the signing bonuses. The pay raise earlier this year seems to be helping, Kerkhoff said.
“What we’ve noticed since this salary increase came into effect is we actually have an increase in people calling us.”
(c) YellowBrix 2008 
Francisquita
2 months ago
2 comments
I USED TO WORK IN AN OP RM AND PACU, I HAVE ALOT OF EXP BUT I DARE NOT START AN IV OR GIVE ANYONE AN IM, YOU SEE I HAD A BRAIN HEMORRHAGE ONE YR AGO. BUT THERE HAS TO BE A POSITION THAT I CAN PERFORM SAFELY. I HAVE 20 Y EXP.
dfwrecruit4u
2 months ago
8 comments
If anyone lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas area, I am a recruiter with Quality Care. We are a nurse staffing agency that works with over 50 local hospitals and facilities with their short term staffing needs (prn and contracts). Our nurses receive top pay and also overtime. We are also offering gas cards to help our nurses with the pinch at the pump. If you are local, or are considering moving to North Texas, then check us out at www.qualitycarenurses.com or call us at (214) 418-7888.
AbusyRN2go
2 months ago
2120 comments
Nurses NEED a pay raise considering gas prices we are way behind
LizardRN
2 months ago
2 comments
The VA posts jobs and salary info at www.usajobs.gov
You can search for all positions in your area of the country or all over. This is a big deal the VA has in the past had a hard time keeping nurses due to working conditions and pay. They are now trying to compete with private hospitals.
mwhitehouse
2 months ago
2 comments
I am considering taking a job as a nurse practitioner at a VA clinic and I am curious if anyone can enlighyen me about how the government works. Is there any negotiating salary or writing up a contract to request CEU allowances, ect...
kelsi
3 months ago
6 comments
That is great....I do also hope this applies when I finish school.
nyanbenmommy1
3 months ago
62 comments
i think that is wonderful.. great incentive. I hope by the time I finish school this still applies.
DaMomb
3 months ago
1174 comments
I think that it's a good incentive for hospitals to offer bonuses, and higher pay, but it doesn't make up for all of the stress. There are so many other issues to consider. Nurses who can work in the inner cities with the high crime rates, and exceptionally sensitive cases - I truely salute you. Thank God for our diversity!
qwp22
3 months ago
6 comments
Nationally, there is a nursing shortage, and this will likely continue because of the overall aging population. Considering that one can enter the field of nursing with a 2-year degree, the wages offered to a starting RN are quite good. In most areas of the country, a new RN grad is earning much more than the median income. I have a relative who is a diploma RN, now with 10 years of experience, who with overtime earns in excess of $85,000, last year. This relative constantly complains of being underpaid, but he is actually doing very well. If he were to quit nursing, tell me another field that he can earn greater money. Unless he were a doctor, lawyer, or sales executive, ordinary Americans don't make that much year. (I've leaving sports and entertainment folks out of the equation.)
nbb
3 months ago
6 comments
I bet she spent her bonus on those nails! Nails like that are not even allowed.
Jewelstar
3 months ago
2 comments
It's about time someone considered giving us nurses a decent raise. when i think how much basketball,baseball players make to play a game it make me cring when i consider that even if i work a hundred years i wil never make the kind of money they make. True I didn't go into nursing thinking about the money and after 30 years i'm still in it,but it would be nice to make a just a fraction of what they do especial when you realise that when they get injured or sick were the one's taking care of them. Times are hard and we deserve so much more
msjacalyn
3 months ago
18 comments
gosh, its hard to say..... it seems that like any other job, the pay varies in accordance to where you live. So I had to check it out myself.... to verify this I went to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which states that for the mean pay for an RN is 60k annually, although this does not account for the amount of experience.....it would seem appropriate then, for a Grad to be making about the 25th percentile, which says about 49k. >>ANYHOW, you can check it out by going to : http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm >>select your state and then (for Nurses etc) choose 29-0000, then 29-1111 (for RN). It gives this national average and profiles in accordance to where you live and what type of facility.....
bconcepcion
3 months ago
2 comments
Hi there,
I am from Jacksonville, FL, but I am born and raised in Puerto Rico. I have no education on nursing but I am looking forward to get a degree on LPN or RN. I was wondering if VA has internship for nursing. I would like to be part of it!!!!!
nubiannurse
3 months ago
2 comments
Where is it that the salary can be found for VA nurses publicly?
kattie45341
3 months ago
2 comments
I am an LPN at the Dayton, OH VA. I started there as a brand new LPN with only 2 weeks of experience at a nursing home that started me on day shift then tried to move me to midnights. My starting SALARY was $27,776 a year. After a year and a half my salary has increased almost another $10,000. The salary was not comparable to the $17 an hour that I made at the nursing home, however, the benifits of 12 hours of anual leave and 8 hours of sick leave per month that can be accumulated and used from day 1. I have never worked a job that you can take vacation in the first year of working there.Also their retirement plan is just that, A true retirement plan not some gambling stock market scheme of a 401k.I am like anyone else I want to make good money to provide for my family. However, thru the VA I know that I will not be depending on social security for retirement. In a year and a half my retirement plan has more money accumulated that the 401k that I have from a previous job that I worked at for six years. The VA also counted my time served in the military towards my time in their federal service. With this they started me at 12 hours of vacation per month instead of 8 hours. The VA's benifits far out weigh any greater wage that civilian jobs offer.