By Rachel Popa

Nursing professionals are in high demand, according to a 2019 review of physician and advanced practitioner recruiting incentives.

A national healthcare consulting and recruiting firm, included a sample of 3,131 permanent physician and advanced practitioner search assignments the company conducted for its clients from April 2018 to the end of March 2019.

Four things to know about nursing salary and demand:

1. Average nurse practitioner salary for 2019/18 was $124,000, a 3.8 percent decrease from the 2018/17 salary of $129,000.

2. Certified registered nurse anesthetists earned $197,000 on average for 2019/18, an increase of 1.5 percent from the 2018/17 salary of $194,000.

3. Nurse practitioners were the third most requested medical specialty behind family medicine physicians and psychiatrists.

4. Certified registered nurse anesthetists were among the top 20 most requested medical specialties, ranking No. 20.