• Interesting question as both of us are RNs (male and female) in Ohio. When we first started work after graduation I went to the VA medical center and started out at $12.50/hour in 1992. In 2005 I was working in the cardio-pulmonary unit and occasionally doing agency nursing on the side and was making anywhere from $20.00-$45.00 per hour. depending on the type of nursing (home care, nursing home or hospital). My better half has stayed in a Dayton, Ohio Hospital in the ICU for 20 years now and makes a steady$38.25/hour. Nursing is undergoing ALOT of changes today. If you want to work in a hospital you HAVE to have an RN degree. Most hospitals like to hire RNs with at least a bachelors degree (4 years of college called a BSN degree) Ten years ago you could go a lot further with just an RN Associate Degree in nursing, not true anymore. As the practice of medicine becomes more specialized so to are the doctors and nurses.LPNs (a step lower than the Associate RN) are basically confined