Nursing Salaries in Florida
The current national shortage of nurses in the United States has opened up new and wonderful opportunities for Florida nurses. Florida nurses are in high demand, and the field is continually growing. Certain areas of nursing are in higher demand than others. These areas include: advanced LPNs, home health specialists, and more.
Of course Florida hospitals continue to be a wonderful place for nurses to work and gain valuable experience. There is a present shortage in critical care nursing, pediatric nursing, operating room, medical and surgical nursing, emergency room, perinatal nursing, psychiatric nursing, and oncology nurses. Students studying nursing in Florida need not worry about finding a nursing job in Florida. The above-mentioned examples are of the jobs needed at Florida Hospital, a leading hospital ranked among the 50 top hospitals in the United States.
Naturally, any college or university student wishing to enter the field of nursing will want to have an idea of how much salary they will be able to make as a nurse, and if the monetary return will be worth the hard work getting their certification or degree. Furthermore, the graduate will be projecting into the future to see if the hard work that they will be doing on the job will reflect the remuneration offered as well.
Caution: Nurses from other states or countries such as Canada can work in Florida as a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse providing they meet the Florida State educational and licensing requirements that was in effect at the time the out of state nurse received his or her licensing from their state, or country of origin. The other condition of course would be that this out of state nurse is still practicing.
Salaries for different nursing credentials or job specifications will differ from city to city with larger cities paying out higher salaries. It is always good to know how your education is valued in terms of remuneration in your area of expertise.
For example in Tampa, Florida, a Certified Nurse Anesthetist's basic by-weekly salary before deductions, on average, would come out to $5,256.26. This figure does not include bonuses or benefits. Depending upon years of experience, the yearly salary of a Tampa, Florida Certified Nurse Anesthetist will range from $118,983 to $155,004. This highly-coveted nursing position has a very lucrative pay incentive.
On the other hand, if you are a nurse who enjoys administrative duties, and a rewarding one on one contact with patients and their families, a staff nurse may be the type of job that would interest you. If we continue with the Tampa, Florida example, we will see that an RN staff nurse does not make nearly as much as the certified nurse anesthetist, but of course the job requirements are different. Nursing students should not judge their career solely upon remuneration. A nurse must love his or her job and be good at it. Many lives are placed in a nurse's hands, and nurses are valuable team members and support staff for doctors and/or hospital administration.
Currently a staff nurse RN will average between $47,000 and $68,521 dollars per year. That would make the base bi-weekly pay check $2,243.02 before deductions.
Now, when we average out the nursing salaries across the state of Florida, the figures will be lower. Using the example of the Tampa Florida Certified RN Anesthetist who could make up to $155.004 per year, the state average is closer to $112,000. If the student is looking primarily on the basis of salary, the next biggest salary would be the home health RN. The lowest-paying nursing jobs in the state of Florida include, reserve medical surgical nurse, reserve perioperative nurse, and reserve critical care nurse, which average around $15,000 per year. In terms of non-reserve nursing, the lowest paying area of nursing in Florida is the obgyn nurse at $15,000, and the emergency room nurse at $16,000. The psychiatric mental health nurse and the medical surgical nurse will make about $30,000 a year. The critical care nurse, the flu immunization nurse, and the perioperative nurse will make approximately $38,000 per year. The nurse anesthetist (not certified RN) will make about $46,000. A travel nurse RN will make about $66,000 and finally a family nurse practitioner will make approximately $76,000 a year in the state of Florida.
Published: 2009-09-17
