Some nurses paid more than family doctors - CNN

Primary care doctors were offered an average base salary of $173,000 in 2009 compared to an average base salary of $189,000 offered to certified nurse anesthetists, or CRNAs.

It's the fourth year in a row that CRNAs were recruited at a higher pay than a family doctor.

Comments from Google Buzz:

Jeffrey Benabio, MD - And soon doctor of nursing programs will graduate nurses who call themselves "doctor" in clinic. Physicians have been asleep at the wheel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorate_in_Nursing

Francesco Diana - without words

Anne Marie Cunningham - Both of these are very high salaries. As @scanman points out, they are unobtainable for most people working in health in India and countries. Can we tolerate such global inequality?

How should salaries in any part of the world be determined? Are both these groups paid too much?

At the moment there is a great deal of uncertainty on how the role of a doctor differs to the role of a nurse. Professor Alan Maynard suggests that professions are bad for healthcare. http://www.healthpolicyinsight.com/?q=node/458 What do you think?

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

5 comments:

  1. AnMarie Kennedy, RN, BSN, BA5/01/2010 2:01 PM

    I think there is a lot to consider regarding appropriate pay scale, education, job performance, and commitment to name a few. There are certainly employees/professionals in all fields that deserve to be paid more or less based on the work they do.

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  2. From Twitter:

    @Gracetx: CRNA's! Excellent!

    scanman most US nurses are paid more than Indian radiologists! :-)

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  3. AnMarie Kennedy, RN,BSN,BA5/01/2010 2:38 PM

    I guess it's all relative.

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  4. As a (24 year-old baby faced) sales rep, I had a doctor remark that I was probably making as much as her. To be honest, she probably wasn't that far off

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  5. Sometimes nurses can do more for patients than doctors.

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