Allied Professionals Community of Practice

  • 1.  pay for device nurses

    Posted 06-05-2023 16:35

    We have had issues the the pay scale for our device nurses. Our hospital system pays device nurses at the same pay scale as an outpatient nurse, which is low. Because of this, we have difficulty recruiting qualified candidates. In addition, we have a device tech job position, one who is not a nurse but is qualified to managed cardiac devices. That position is also a lower-paid position. Have any of you had success in increasing the pay and helping admin understand the knowledge base, training, and value of these positions? Also, do you have an updated job description that helped with these efforts?



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    Janet Powell MSN, FNP
    Nurse Practitioner
    Ballad Health CVA Heart Institute
    Kingsport TN
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  • 2.  RE: pay for device nurses

    Posted 06-05-2023 16:47
    We've had such a difficult time recruiting and retaining device clinic staff that we've had openings for over a year. We've had to contract an outside company to come in and take over our remote system and puts one of their contracted employees physically in our clinic as well. I'm hoping this brings some much-needed relief and ensures improved care of our patients. It's been very hard working understaffed. 
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  • 3.  RE: pay for device nurses

    Posted 06-06-2023 09:11

    Hi Everyone,  This is certainly a point of pain for many institutions.  We ended up creating different positions within our device clinic:  Cardiac Device Technician is an entry level position for staff who have been to a pacemaker "school" or who have less than 2 years experience with programming devices.  OutPatient RN position is for any nurse that is interested in learning how to program devices.  Cardiac Device Specialist is for anyone who has more than 2 years of experience and is proficient with device programming, or anyone who is CCDS certified.  All of the entry level and RN positions have the potential to progress to the Cardiac Device Specialist role, which has the highest salary (and is a non-nursing role, even for our RNs). 

    We were able to get the higher salary for the CDS role (and the device tech role) by stressing the technical complexity and the high risk involved in programming the devices as well as reviewing the remote transmissions, and we put this into the job description.  It is actually a patient safety issue, which should resonate with your clinical leaders.  We also used data to document the revenue that is generated by the device staff, which spoke to our finance team.  Be sure to include any revenue that you are missing currently due to low staffing.  The recent consensus statement on remote monitoring speaks to some of these issues as well, and could be helpful.

     

    I hope this helps, and good luck.

     

     

    Sallie Gustafson, RN, CCDS

    Sr Manager, Emory Cardiac Device Clinics

    404.778.4942

     






  • 4.  RE: pay for device nurses

    Posted 06-12-2023 16:38

    Hello,

    Thank you for posting this, very helpful! Is your clinic run with an APP or MD at all times then? Or do the CDS personnel handle the clinic on their own and have the MD or APP sign off on the appointment remotely/later? 

    Thanks,

    Aimee, RN



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    Aimee Hartle BSN, CCRN, RN
    Registered Nurse
    VCU Health
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: pay for device nurses

    Posted 06-13-2023 08:22
    Our device clinic is an RN run clinic. (We do have 2 techs who check devices, but mostly RNs.) We require that an MD or APP be present in the office, and then our MDs sign the reports later.

    Sent from my iPhone



    Original Message


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