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Published on: September 30, 2020
A comparison of salary-wage and hourly-wage acute care nursing units: a pilot study
Rosa G Hickey1, Barbara L Buchko, Paula F Coe
1Author Affiliations: Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Patient Care (Ms Hickey), WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital, York; Director of EBP and Nursing Research (Dr Buchko), WellSpan Health, York; Director of Nursing Excellence and Innovation (Ms Coe), WellSpan Health/York Hospital, York; Professor and Chair of Department of Nursing (Dr Woods), Messiah College, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
Objective:
This pilot study examined differences in RN perception of the professional practice environment and financial indicators between salary-wage and hourly-wage compensation models.
Background:
There is a dearth of current information regarding use of salary-wage models for compensation for direct care nurses.
Methods:
A descriptive, comparative design was used to examine the Revised Professional Practice Environment Scale (RPPE) and financial indicators of nurses in a nonprofit healthcare system over a 6-month period.
Results:
Mean scores on the RPPE were significantly lower for hourly-wage RNs, and the hourly-wage model resulted in a 1.2% additional cost for overtime hours compared with the fixed cost of the salary-wage model.
Conclusions:
Nurses in an hourly-wage unit reported a significantly lower perception of the clinical practice environment than did their peers in a salary-wage unit, indicating that professional practice perceptions in a salary-wage unit may provide a more effective professional practice environment. Financial analysis resulted in a budget-neutral impact.
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