With their high level of knowledge, advanced practice nurses are increasingly being used in Louisiana to help alleviate the shortage of primary care physicians. This is particularly critical in rural areas of the state.
These professionals are highly compensated for their advanced skill sets with salaries ranging from 1.52 to 2.37 times as much as staff nurses according to the Louisiana Department of Labor and Industry.
Many students are choosing to enroll in programs that produce APRNs. There were 1,506 MSN students in Louisiana in 2013 according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Louisiana has seen explosive growth in the number of newly licensed APRNs according to the state’s Center for Nursing. It reported that the number of newly licensed APRNs increased by 10.8% each year between 2000 and 2012.
Since APRNs are in extremely high demand, the Louisiana Center for Nursing predicts a statewide shortage through 2020. It expects this need to be particularly acute in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Shreveport.
Salary Comparison for Louisiana’s APRN and Staff Nurses
The high wages paid to MSN-educated nurses such as APRNs are apparent from the Louisiana Department of Labor and Industry’s analysis for APRN specialists and staff nurses such as RNs who generally have ADN or BSN degrees. The results of a salary survey from 2013 are shown below:
Additional evidence for the substantial difference in salaries between MSN-educated nurses and those with BSNs is found in the 2013 salary survey of nurses in the south as conducted by the Advance Healthcare Network for Nurses. Those with MSNs earned 22.3% more than nurses with BSNs:
- MSN – $74,539
- BSN – $60,969
Salaries of Nurse Practitioners in Key Regions of Louisiana
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides the salaries of nurse practitioners throughout Louisiana (2013). These professionals earned substantially higher wages when they were located in the New Iberia nonmetropolitan region of Louisiana:
Nurse Anesthetists Salaries in Louisiana
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides an analysis of nurse anesthetist salaries in various metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions of Louisiana for 2013. The median salary for these professionals was much higher in the Hammond nonmetropolitan area of the state: