From time to time, the National Nursing Staff Development Organization (NNSDO) National Office as well as the members of the board of directors receives telephone calls about salary ranges for nurses in professional development. NNSDO has published several reports on data collected from members on salaries in professional development. The most recent survey, collected by Survey Monkey, was open on the NNSDO Web site in the last quarter of 2008. A total of 1040 responses were recorded on the electronic survey. This number of responses is much higher than the number of surveys returned in hard copy in 2004 (184).

OVERALL RESULTS

There was representation from respondents with 5 years or less in the field (41.1%), from those with 6-10 years in staff development (20.0%), from those with 11-15 years in staff development (12.6%), and from those with more than 16 years in the field (26.3%).

Of the respondents, most (51.3%) worked between 31 and 45 hours/week. Only 3.5% of the respondents worked fewer than 20 hours per week, whereas 7.7% worked 20-30 hours per week; 37.6% of the respondents worked more than 45 hours per week.

Of the respondents, 89.7% work in a hospital setting. The setting represented next is the long-term care facility with 4.2% of respondents reporting that they work in such a setting.

There was a good representation throughout the country, with a range between 4.7% and 21.4% from each of nine different regions. The region with 21.4% representation was the East North Central region that includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Fourteen respondents reported that they worked out of the United States or in multiple regions.

Of the respondents, 67.3% were members of a nursing professional development department whereas 31.3% were head of the department (31.3%). One hundred thirteen respondents described their role as other. Examples of other roles include single-person department, unit-based educator, patient education coordinator, Magnet coordinator, and system education specialist.

There was a wide range of annual gross salaries, from less than $30,000 to over $90,000, with the highest percentages-23% and 20.3%-in the $70,001-$80,000 range and in the $60,001-$70,000 range, respectively.

EDUCATORS WITH 5 YEARS OR LESS EXPERIENCE

Of the educators with 5 years or less experience, 74.3% were department members whereas 25.4% were department heads. By a slim margin, most (25.2%) of respondents in this category make between $60,001 and $70,000/year; however, 23% make between $70,001 and $80,000/year.

EDUCATORS WITH 6-10 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

In the 6- to 10-year group, 68.2% of the respondents were department members whereas 30.8% were department heads. Of these educators, 22.2% make between $60,001 and $70,000; 23.6% of respondents with 6-10 years of experience make between $70,001 and $80,000 and 21.8% make between $80,001 and $90,000.

EDUCATORS WITH 11-15 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

For the respondents who had been working in staff development for 11-15 years, 57.1% are members of the department whereas 41.3% are department heads. Of the respondents in this group, 25.9% make between $70,001 and $80,000 annually. Another 23.7% make between $80,001 and $90,000.

EDUCATORS WITH MORE THAN 16 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

For those respondents who have been educators for more than 15 years, 60.3% were members of the department whereas 36.5% were head of the department. Of all the groups, this one had the highest number of respondents whose salaries were greater than $100,000 (16.3%); 23.8% have a salary range between $70,001 and $80,000; 18.1% have a salary range between $80,001 and $90,000; and 14.2% have a salary range between $90,000 and $100,000.

We would like to continue to survey our members about salaries and work setting and report the results to you on an annual basis. The previous year's survey results and the updated survey will be sent to NNSDO members every April. Please complete the survey every year.

When completed, you may mail or fax the survey back to the National Office as follows:

NNSDO National Office

7794 Grow Drive

Pensacola, FL 32514

Fax to (850)484-8762

If you have any questions or comments about this survey, please contact the NNSDO National Office.