Health Career Salaries
Health career salaries vary by region, specialty and service environment. Allied Physicians Inc., an organization that educates and supports health care professionals, conducts ongoing salary surveys of its members. These surveys burst the bubble of critics who feel that doctors, nurses and pharmacists make more than their fair shares each year. The constant demand for medical care by an aging population means that skilled doctors and nurses will be able to command higher salaries in the future. A review of the Allied Physicians salary surveys will illuminate the financial benefits of working in health care.
Physicians
The annual salary for a physician can fluctuate wildly depending on the doctor's area of specialty. Pediatricians surveyed by Allied Physicians were found to make a maximum of $271,000 between 2003 and 2008. In contrast, spinal surgeons were able to make a maximum of $1.35 million during the same period. Spinal surgeons are paid higher salaries than pediatricians due to the delicacy of their work as well as the limited number of surgeons with that specialty in the United States.
Registered Nurses and Dietitians
Nursing schools around the country have experienced higher matriculation rates to fill the 2.2 million jobs available in this health care field. The base pay for a registered nurse was $39,000 between 2003 and 2008. Dietitians made average annual salaries of $37,000 while nurse managers made $65,000 during the study period. The average pay for nurses with at least three years of experience was $45,000 with the potential to reach nurse management salaries with additional education and experience.
Physician Assistants
Physician assistants work in urgent care units and doctors' offices in under-served areas throughout the United States. These assistants work on physicals, simple tests and patient histories delegated by their supervising physicians. While physician assistants act as the primary care giver in small towns and urban areas, their annual salaries are not comparable to physicians. Assistants are paid an average annual salary of $65,000 but can make as much as $105,000 in major metropolitan areas. These assistants make less than their supervisors because they have not gone through comparable education and certification processes.
Pharmacists
Entry-level pharmacists earn an average starting salary of $62,000 and established pharmacists earn up to $87,000 per year. This health care career can be difficult to pin down due to the diversity of clinical and retail settings where pharmacists work. Pharmacists working in chains like CVS and Walgreen's pharmacies make more than their colleagues in locally-owned pharmacies. The advent of supermarket pharmacies has opened up a more lucrative path for pharmacists who are frustrated by low-paying hospital jobs.
Pharmacy Technicians
The lowest of the health career salaries in this list are given to pharmacy technicians. These technicians assist pharmacists in doling out prescription medicines, creating bottle labels and taking prescriptions over the phone from physicians. Pay rates for pharmacy assistants vary based on location with hospital technicians making $7.75 per hour to start and retail technicians earning at least $8.95 from day one.
Tags: health care, Allied Physicians, than their, 2003 2008, annual salaries
