Is the salary range of a forensic nurse too low?

Before trying to judge a forensic nurse’s salary one should be aware of about everything about the field of forensic nursing. Forensic nursing is not at all limited to nursing patients and working with dead bodies. There are many other aspects of forensic nursing. A forensic nurse has to act as a sexual assault examiner, investigator of death, clinical specialist, investigator, researcher and a legal consultant. Maybe this is the reason why people are confused over the unusually higher wage rates of forensic nurses as compared to the ordinary nurse’s salary rates. But one needs to properly know about each and every single aspect of the field, forensic nursing. Then it will be easier to ease out all the confusion regarding the ever-hiking rates of the salary rates of forensic nurses.

The salary rates offered in the job or forensic nurses is enough to drag majority of career seeking individuals towards the field. But one should never forget that if the forensic nurses are loaded with impressible amounts of salaries then they have to pay for it in return too. After all, if the hospitals and other departments offer such a huge pay rate then they will also extract the work load which will compensate their salary amount. Yes, the forensic nurses have to work a lot be it any profession they choose. Their job requires them to stay awake the whole night, be available anytime the hospital asks for, work with the horrifying and stinky dead bodies, stay out for days together and all that king of stuff which requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Keeping this in mind, the high rates of their salaries are justified.

A forensic nurse’s salary scale varies from country to country and institution to institution. Also, the amount of experience a forensic nurse holds is also considered while deciding upon the salary. There are two types of methods for providing salary. One is on ‘per hour’ basis and the other is on ‘per case’ basis. Every second hospital has its own method of paying their forensic nurses. Some hospitals offer their forensic nurses who are on call-duty as low as $1 to $4. But there are some hospitals which can even offer their forensic nurses with a salary as high as $150 to $400. But this happens in the case of per case method. This also is not the standard salary; it differs too according to the case in operation. As critical is the case, the higher will be the salary. The wage rate also differs according to the skills of the forensic nurse. The higher the experience, the higher will you be paid.

By now it would have been clear to people that why a forensic nurse earns so much? It is because of the huge work-load. And when asked about a forensic nurse’s salary people will get the same answer again and again, depends, and this is what they do not want to hear.


Find out more in depth information can be found at the forensic nursing website. There are also great insider information on salary of forensic nursing