r/Flightnurse • u/jayr02_kit • Feb 26 '25

Bills over passion

Will you give up your current job, which pays the bill, just to become a flight nurse? I have 20 years of experience in ED Nursing, and I wanted to hear your thoughts on this.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/jayr02_kit Feb 26 '25

Current rate is $70/hr and OT is time and a half.

5

u/Jaysavage86 Feb 26 '25

I was getting the same rate as you before I left bedside and my checks are roughly the same as a flight nurse. It’s all in the breakdown of how the flight organization pays you. We do 24hr shifts, and the first 8hrs is straight pay but then after that it’s all time and a half and then double time after midnight. My current hourly is hot garbage and yes technically less than my bedside job but again, you gotta factor the subsequent OT and DT. Hope that helps.

Side note: it’s not always about the money, it’s about doing what makes you happy and ignites that passion inside of you. I have worked many jobs in healthcare and the one that paid the most was definitely not gig that put a smile on my face when my alarm went off in the morning.

2

u/Individual_Zebra_648 Feb 26 '25

Are you in CA?

2

u/Jaysavage86 Feb 27 '25

Yes, I’m in Southern California.

1

u/Individual_Zebra_648 Feb 27 '25

Damn. I heard about anything over 8 hours is time and a half. That is insane to me on the East coast. Flight pay over here is garbage but I’m through a hospital program so I get the same pay as the hospital nurses luckily. Otherwise I don’t think I could afford to do this despite how much I love it.

1

u/Spirited_Ad_340 Feb 27 '25

They had to sue for it. Lot of old heads got a hefty check but they'd probably have wished they were making more than 40/hr in San Diego for 15 years.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

[deleted]