How to Make More Money as a Nurse

We all want to make more money, and as nurses we have a solid foundation of education and critical thinking skills that help set us apart as leaders in the healthcare community and enable us to demand adequate compensation for the work we do.

This specialized education allows us to function in a wide array of roles and nursing specialties. Essentially, as a nurse, you have skills and education that can earn you good money.

If you want to learn how to leverage your role as a nurse to help you earn more money, then keep reading!

8 Smart Ways to Make More Money as a Nurse

Work in a High Need Area to Increase Your Earnings

One way to earn more money as a nurse is to think about the areas of nursing with the highest clinical need. In other words, what nursing areas truly need more nurses?  

These areas, such as the ER, Med-Surg, ICU, and Psychiatry tend to pay more per hour than other areas of nursing, such as an outpatient clinic setting. You could increase your salary simply by working in these nursing specialties. 

Also consider which hospitals in your area are the largest. These facilities tend to care for the highest number of patients and therefore need more staff to care for them. Thus, they have a higher need for nurses and tend to pay more than smaller facilities.

Larger hospitals also tend to have more “opportunities” to make money. For example, they often offer extra opportunities to make additional money, such as shift differential, weekend differential, and time and a half for working certain shifts. These opportunities are not always offered at smaller facilities.

Thus, working for a large healthcare company can often offer you a lot more income potential in more ways than one. 

Choose an Area of Higher Acuity to Increase Salary

Another way to earn more for yourself is to work in a higher acuity area. This may include the ICU or NICU. These areas of nursing require a specialized skill set, a high level of critical thinking, and the ability to adapt to rapid changes in patient condition with confidence. 

Nurses who work in these areas are more likely to be involved in Code Blues or Rapid Responses and need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to adequately manage these changes. Therefore, these areas of nursing typically pay more than lower patient acuity areas.

Landing a position in an ICU or NICU could earn you at least a couple of dollars per hour more, so consider these if this type of nursing intrigues you.

Become a Travel Nurse to Make Significantly More Money

Travel nurses tend to make BIG money compared to their staff nurse counterparts, for doing the same job! 

The reason for this is that these nurses are willing to travel longer distances to fill the immediate needs of healthcare facilities. 

They also tend to be quite flexible and must quickly learn how to use different charting and medication dispensing systems, hospital protocols, and various equipment that hospitals utilize, which all tend to vary from one hospital to the next.

Think about the last time your facility changed the type of IV catheter that you used. 

Remember how it felt funny in your hand, how it didn’t slide into the vein the same way, and how different the safety device felt when you deployed it? It took a lot of time to get used to those new needles due to how different they felt to you versus the brand you used before. You had to adjust to the change, which isn’t always a pleasant process.

That’s travel nursing in a nutshell. These nurses really do “roll with the punches”, as they say, and they get compensated nicely for their flexibility.

If you really want to increase your salary as a nurse, consider this area of nursing.


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Obtain a Certification in a Nursing Specialty to Make More Money

Have you been working in a particular area of nursing for a while? If you have, you should consider obtaining a certificate in that area of nursing.

A certification in a particular area of nursing is essentially a formal (and great) way to demonstrate your expertise in the area of nursing that you have experience in. 

Obtaining a certification typically requires that you meet certain standards, such as a particular amount of time spent in that specific field of nursing, and passing an exam that pertains to that field (such as medical-surgical, ER, or ICU nursing).

Certifications give you a leg up on the competition, making you stand out to employers as someone who is an expert in that field. 

Nurses who are certified in their area of expertise are typically paid a bit more than those who are not, so if you’re looking to earn more money in an area of nursing that you already know and love, consider becoming certified in that area. 

Obtain an Advanced Degree and Increase Your Salary Significantly

Obtaining a higher level of education is a great way to increase your earning potential as a nurse. 

For LPN/LVNs:

Have you ever considered going for your RN? It is certainly worth looking into, as there tends to be a big pay increase from LPN to RN.

Also, some RN programs allow you the option to test out of the first year of RN school if you already hold your LPN/LVN. 

Testing out demonstrates that you are competent in terms of the material that is taught that first year and can also save you a ton of time and money. 

When searching for an RN program in your area, ask if they offer this test out option. It may be more common in ADN than BSN programs, so keep that in mind during your research. 

For Associate Prepared RNs:

If you are looking to increase your salary, consider obtaining your BSN.

Healthcare companies tend to pay bachelor prepared nurses more per hour than those who have their ADN. 

One reason for this is that BSN programs take nursing education a bit farther in terms of leadership, management, and research skills. 

BSN prepared nurses are typically seen as better prepared for management and leadership roles because of this additional education. So not only can it increase your base-pay, but it can also give you the one-up you need to land that nurse manager role that you’ve been striving for.

For Bachelor Prepared RNs:

Have you ever thought about obtaining your master’s degree? 

Perhaps you would like to continue in direct patient care and become a nurse practitioner or perhaps you would enjoy stepping into a healthcare management role in your hospital. 

Both of these can be attained with a master’s degree and could also mean a large pay raise. Certainly, worth the looking into if you’re wanting to bring in more money. 

Become a Healthcare Content Writer to Make Money on the Side

Did you know that you can get paid to write healthcare related content as a nurse? It’s true! 

As a nurse, you have an educational and professional background that is perfect for writing healthcare and nursing content. 

You understand medical jargon, pathophysiology of the human body and its various diseased states, medication and how it acts on the body, and various treatment modalities employed by practitioners to treat patients. 

And what you don’t know, you are trained to critically think upon and how to research to find the correct answer or solution to your problem. 

Nurses are perfect candidates for writing patient education material, blog posts for healthcare companies, continuing education material for healthcare professionals, and so much more! 

It can be somewhat challenging to get your foot in the door in this arena, but it can be a great way to earn some extra money and can be done either as a side gig or full time, depending on your goals. 

Become a Health Coach and Make Money from Home

 

Next up on our list is becoming a health coach.

Health coaching is all the rage right now. It’s something that you can do from anywhere in the world with nothing but a cell phone. It’s perfect for someone who would like to work from home.

Health coaching is essentially just guiding and cheerleading your clients in regard to general health and wellness, and as a nurse you have the perfect knowledge base to really help people with their health. 

You know what it means to eat healthfully, how to exercise within safe limits depending on the presence of disease, how to manage medication and vitamins for optimal health…there are so many benefits that you can offer to clients! 

It’s a great option to earn cash on the side and even make it a full-time gig if that’s what you chose. 

Start a Blog to Make More Money

Blogging is a great option for those who enjoy writing and looking for something that they can do from home.

It consists of research, writing, and publishing information online for the consumption of others. Some nurses chose to blog on nursing related topics while others chose to blog on something entirely different.

It does take much time and effort to really get a blog up and going. It takes even longer to start making money from one. But it is a viable option for those who are in it for the long haul. So if this is something that interests you, do your research to determine if it is the right choice for you.

If you found this post helpful, please feel free to share it, comment below, or join my email list for additional nursing-related content so you never miss a thing from me here at the Noteworthy Nurse!

Resources:

All Nursing Schools. Nursing Certifications.  

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