Question: Full-time night shift salary differential

[PAboy300]

Hello all, this is my first post here on the forum. I'm a sophomore in undergrad right now and plan on attending PA school following my undergrad degree. I am very excited to work towards becoming a PA and there are many things about the career that excite me outside of the money aspect but this thread is a question centered around the money so hopefully no one comes on here and says its not about the money because that is something that I'm aware of already. Anyways my question is what could I expect to earn when I begin working if I plan on working in the ER as a PA when I graduate PA school about 5 years from now if I chose to work full time night shift, say 3x12 hour shifts a week. I believe that a regular dayshift if I landed a good deal could put me in the 90k range if I negotiated well and was in a good market, but my question is would it be possible that I could come out of PA school working the ER three nights a week and expect to earn in the 120k range. I know there has to be some sort of premium for night shifts especially if I signed into a contract that had me working strictly nights I'd imagine that'd be of somewhat value to an ER for someone to come on and willingly work nights full time. The reason I want nights is not for the premium pay but it is because I plan on pursuing other career ventures so having my days free would be ideal for that.

[EMEDPA]

 Anyways my question is what could I expect to earn when I begin working if I plan on working in the ER as a PA when I graduate PA school about 5 years from now if I chose to work full time night shift, say 3x12 hour shifts a week. I believe that a regular dayshift if I landed a good deal could put me in the 90k range if I negotiated well and was in a good market, but my question is would it be possible that I could come out of PA school working the ER three nights a week and expect to earn in the 120k range. I know there has to be some sort of premium for night shifts especially if I signed into a contract that had me working strictly nights I'd imagine that'd be of somewhat value to an ER for someone to come on and willingly work nights full time. The reason I want nights is not for the premium pay but it is because I plan on pursuing other career ventures so having my days free would be ideal for that.

it varies by location. At some places, everyone rotates through all shifts with no differentials. at some places everyone does them with a differential. some places only allow experienced(not new grad) folks to work nights as the acuity tends to be higher and there is less support around. I am a full time EMPA working all nights. I get 10/hr extra for the night shift at one place and no extra at another place I work nights. If you work full time nights you will likely spend a lot of your days sleeping. don't count on lots of free time during the days following night shifts as that is often "recovery time".  My primary job does not put new folks on nights for the first 2 years they work as our night shift is a solo position with no doc around. The only exception we have ever made to this is for someone who did an empa residency, something I would highly recommend if you are serious about em. there is a list with links to all 22 programs at the top of the em forum here.

[Guest Paula]

You've got a ways to go yet.  Don't worry about the money now.  You might be counting your chicks before they hatch.

 

Concentrate on your undergrad and get health care experience first..