The survey, printed in our April and May issues and posted on our Web site, gives us valuable insight into how factors like education, location, and experience impact your salaries. An average profile shows that the biggest earners are administrators or vice-presidents with master's or doctorate degrees. You're over 40 years old, work in a hospital with more than 300 beds, and practice in the Pacific and New England regions. But more than half of nurse directors and a third of nurse managers fit the same salary profile. Titles for nurse leader positions can be ambiguous, and your responses range from vice-president, director, or nurse manager to clinical manager, consultation liaison nurse, director of operations, business manager, and unit coordinator.
Different titles have different meanings in different settings and geographic locations.
For nursing leaders, the most important financial news the survey shows is that advanced education does make a difference in salary and opportunity. In many cases, you reported that your organization requires an advanced degree for the job. Although advanced degrees influence nurse leaders' salaries, this isn't the case with those in staff nurse positions. This base staff nurse rate usually isn't determined by education level. Twenty percent of you believe that specialty certification impacts your salaries and job opportunities.