How Much Money Do Nurse Practitioners Make?
Nurse practitioners are a type of specialty nurse with additional education who can perform some more medically-intensive tasks that used to be performed by doctors. Nurse practitioners came about as a career in the 1960s as a response to a nationwide physician shortage, and they are still in great demand today as less expensive alternatives for primary and preventive care.
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Education
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A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who has additional education and training, so all nurse practitioners have at least a bachelor of science in nursing or another technical field. Many nurse practitioners, as of 2010, have at least a master's degree, as well as additional clinical training.
Average Salaries
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According to a survey conducted by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the average salary for full-time nurse practitioners in all specialties was $86,486 in 2007. According to Payscale.com, median annual salaries for nurse practitioners with five to nine years of experience ranged from $72,183 to $89,001. College Crunch lists the starting salary of a nurse practitioner at $68,500, as of 2010.
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Salaries by State
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The largest states geographically represent a broad spectrum of nurse practitioners' salaries from a median annual of $71,784 to $93,978 in New York; in California the range is from $73,839 to $97,472; and in Texas $68,748 to $85,655.
Work of Nurse Practitioners
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Nurse practitioners have a wide variety of responsibilities depending on the specialty. Family practice nurse practitioners are the most common and they are usually mainly involved in preventive care and primary care, that is, giving vaccinations, seeing patients when sick and with minor injuries, prescribing some drugs and so forth. Some nurse practitioners are involved in acute care -- cardiac nurse practitioners, for example. Critical care nurse practitioners tend to make the most money, and psychiatric and pediatric nurse practitioners average the least.
Future Employment Prospects
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics future employment prospects for nurse practitioners are expected to grow by 23 percent between 2006 and 2016. Our growing and aging society will be needing more preventive and community-based healthcare, and nurse practitioners are expected to be an important part of that healthcare model.
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References
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Comments
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this is something I will actually might do after highschool.
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DAMN why am I working so hard for additional education when I won't make any more salarywise?
