Any San Diego RNs out there??

I am moving to San Diego also. I sent you a private message . No one seems to respond here.

I will be graduating in May. I live in Escondido and have taken a job at Tri-City medical center in L&D. I have done clinical rotations at Palomar, Pomerado, VA, and Scripps La Jolla. All have been good experiences.

We have students taking jobs all over the county. As far as I have heard, most of the hospitals are fine.

Hi
I have lived here in San Diego for the past 16 years. I like everything about it except the cost of living. Afforadable housing is UNHEARD OF out here. I am considering moving to Florida in the future, but I plan on taking a Traveling Nurse assignment first. All of the Hospitals here are Ok, but if you work in acute care, you will work your buns off. Some facilities are closing, due to lack of money, ETC. Paradise Valley Hospital is on the brink of closing in a few years, And The facility where I have been working for 12 years will be closing in January 2008. Most people out here work 2 jobs in order to survive. There are many RN opportunities out here. Kaiser Permanente, UCSD, Sharp Healthcare, & Rady Childrens Hospital are always hiring. I hope you find this info helpful.

Me, I'm here too! I work for Scripps and I like all their hospitals, esp La Jolla, Encinitas (but they are union) and Mercy. Not sure about Chula Vista and Green.

Palomar/Pomerado are ok but I was disappointed in the pay/benefits given they are union.

Sharp is good too, I hear Mary Birch, Memorial and Grossmont are nice hospitals, not sure about the others. Pay and benefits seem to be not too far apart at all three of these hospitals

Children's is good, of course and last I checked they had a weekend differential which is nice. UCSD and Kaiser are supposed to be two of the highest paying and UCSD is supposed to have awesome benefits but they make you pay for parking ($90/month or something?). VA is good but they only hire BSNs and LVNs, no ADNs but of course being government they have good benefits.

Don't know much about Tri-City, heard mixed info. Don't know about Alvarado, Paradise Valley or any others I've missed. Scripps & Sharp are probably the biggest around and will offer the most choices, consistent benefits and pay.

Cost of living: I'm used to it since I was born here and luckily I bought my house ten years ago. Moving here I wouldn't be able to afford it though.

Thought I'd chime in here....
I came to San Diego on a travel contract, and ended up staying....will be 3yrs now!
I do like San Diego, it is like being in vacationland all of the time
....and I think, very geared for the college age group and 20-something's....young and single in San Diego is sweet! :hatparty: not to say that 30's-40's aren't "young", just that, it's a big military town, lots of colleges, beaches, night life....etc.
If you are into raising a family, buying a home w/in good schools/communities, etc....well, I don't think so; for long term, anyway.
That's where we are....would like to buy a home in a nice community, actually in SD (as opposed to buying in a community in the desert 1-2hrs from here), and that is just not going to happen. It is way too expensive to buy here, especially if you look at home prices elsewhere and, for the money, it is just not worth it....
Anyway, you will love it here....so much to do and see, and summer is great here!
Good luck!
PS: Hated Kaiser; NMCSD is OK; love Sharp!

Oh my goodness...why is it so bad at Kaiser? I'm about to start there soon, and now after reading all these comments about Kaiser....I'm starting to get nervous.

You all need to keep in mind that there is good and bad in all hospitals. If you want to know how their care rates you can go to the Dept of Health Services and ask if there have been any complaints, look through the file and get an idea. Although JCAHO gets complaints also, DHS mostly does SNFs and other providers like dialysis.

I love San Diego... That's why I moved. When I lived(err.. subsisted) there, I worked ALL THE TIME. And still never got ahead. Now I live Near Sacramento... make nearly twice as much, and spend more time enjoying San Diego, as a visitor. I spend more time enjoying San Diego than my friends who still live there. My advice: Enjoy San Diego, live somewhere else.

How far is San Diego from Sacramento?