If you are considering earning a BSN, one of the factors in your decision might be the BSN Salary. Does the extra effort and time, not to mention expense of the degree program pay off in increased earnings? Many things affect nurses’ salaries including whether you work in a clinic, hospital or other facility, the kinds of specializations you have and where you work geographically.
BSN Job Description
Nurses with a BSN degree are usually registered nurses. They can work in hands-on patient care or in administration. Those who work in private and public hospitals assess and treat the patients who are admitted there. They often act as the first contact with patients, taking and recording their vital signs and history before the doctor sees them. In long-term care facilities, they are often the patient’s primary care professional and act as a liaison between the facility, the patient and the patient’s family and the doctor. They administer medications and dress wounds, but they also often serve as a facility administrator. The average wage for a generalist registered nurse in a clinical care position is $67,014. Nurses that work as administrators make about $10,000 more a year.
How Certifications Affect Salaries
Many specializations or certifications are available to nurses. A BSN with a certification in anesthesiology can earn more than $100,000 a year. Psychiatric nurses average $95,000. Nurses with certification in gerontology generally make around $75,000 a year. Some specializations are worked into the degree program but most are courses added after the degree and credentialed through qualifications set by credentialing boards.
Geographical Locations and Facilities
Unfortunately, the BSN Salary is not uniform. The highest-paying state is California, according to “Chron.com.” California nurses earn a median salary of $80,094. The highest-paying area is along the northern Atlantic coast. The lowest-paid area is through the central states. In Oklahoma City a nurse might expect to make less than $50,000 a year. Nurses who work in outpatient centers and psychiatric clinics are among the highest-paid, at $72,000. Those who work in specialty hospitals like cancer treatment centers or rehabilitation hospitals earn about $74,000 a year. Nurses who work at nursing homes earn a median salary of just over $60,000.
Other Factors Affecting Wages
Shift Differential for late-night shifts can raise a wage by five dollars an hour. Another factor that influences wages is experience. Nurses with less than a year of work experience average $50,733 an hour. That figure grows to $66,415 with five to nine years of experience and with more than twenty years on the job the median wage is $77,034. While the difference in earnings varies widely by years of experience, there is not a great salary gap between nurses with a BSN as opposed to those RNs with an associate degree. The latter make a dollar less an hour on the average. BSN nurses are more apt to continue to their master’s degrees, and there is a significant difference in those salaries.
Of course, salary is not the only thing that affects your decision to enter the nursing profession, but it is a consideration. As in most jobs, management positions are obtained through education and for most management nursing jobs the hold standard is the masters’ degree. The BSN degree, though, will open many professional doors for you and the BSN Salary will vary according to which of those doorways you enter.
