Northern Calif Roll Call

kbstudent · Aug 25, 2003

I am a RN student in the San Francisco Bay Area. Am looking forward to May 2004 whe I graduate and sit for the NCLEX.

:angle2:

sanakruz, ADN · Aug 28, 2003

I live in the Monterey Bay area but no not really Santa Cruz!

I live and work in Hollister-You know thE WILD ONES with Marlon Brando? Yeah this is the town. We also have award winning wine,The Doc Bar Ranch, Thomas Kinkade (YUK),gorgeous weather,walnut orchards, a 200 year old mission (SJB) and absolutely fascinating local politics.

Cmyst · Aug 29, 2003

Hello from Sacramento!

The State Fair is winding down to its last weekend, and I can see the fireworks on nights I'm not working from the deck of my condo. Sacto is a great home base for exploring the Sierra, the Wine Country and the Bay.

It is really bad for allergies, though.....and mine are so bad that I am probably leaving Sacto after January.

I've done Home Health (loved it, until OASIS made it impossible), Telephone Triage, Family Practice Clinic and *finally* took that Med/Surg job that I managed to avoid for 10 years because the bonus and pay was just what I needed to afford my own home and to get out of debt. Now, I'm continuing on Med/Surg and related (Ortho, Neuro, Onco and Tele) floors as a per diem.

I *almost* took a travel assignment in Monterrey for Home Health, and right now (sneeze, cough, hack) I really wish I had.

Been considering the far north coast, too. So any info anyone can share on agencies, wages, etc. would be most welcome.

Genista, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2003

Hey everyone- I'm in northern California too. :)

Great to see our neighbors out & about.

nursemelanie · Sep 1, 2003

Hello everyone, I am a student still and can't wait too get into the nursing program. I lived in Sacto for 8 yrs and live just south of there now. Didn't get a chance to go to the state fair this year , But the family and I just got back from Monterey this last weekend. We had a great time. Going through Pacheco Pass saw the signs for Hollister and smelled the Garlic. WOW it was sure potent. LOL

Cmyst - I was just wondering, if you don't mind me asking, who do you work for and you mentioned Bonus. We want to move back to Sac after school. My friends tell me to try and get hired at Kaiser or Sutter downtown. Whats your take. Any info would be great, also when I apply to the nursing program I am going to apply to Sac city and ARC. Which do you think is better? Thanks again, its good to see fellow Californians.

Cmyst · Sep 1, 2003

I work for Sutter General -- "Sutter downtown". It's actually all part of Sutter Medical Center, including Sutter Memorial in East Sac. They are gonna build a Women/Children's Center downtown, too. And they also own Sutter Oaks Midtown SNF. Several of the nurses on the Med/Surg floor at Sutter General also work per diem for Kaiser; Kaiser went through a big promo bit last fall/winter where they emphasized that their goal was a 1:4 ratio on Med/Surg. According to my co-workers, that may be their goal, but it isn't happening! Plus, they laid off a lot of NAs.

I have worked for Kaiser, Mercy, and Sutter and as far as pay goes, Sutter is the best. They try very hard to stay "competitive".

UCD prefers hiring BSNs, and because of their all-RN staffing I've heard that RNs are drawing labs and doing bed baths as well as their primary nursing duties; after I heard that from several nurses I scratched UCD off my list. I've heard that Mercy is not coming anywhere close to what will be the mandated ratios; I worked for them in a family practice clinic 2 years ago and made a little over half of what I make now at Sutter (truthfully). Mercy has the best cardiac program at Mercy General, downtown, though. Sutter is having an awful time hiring Tele nurses, and from what I've heard via the grapevine the Interventional Cardiac floor at Sutter Memorial has horrible RN/patient ratios. The non-interventional Tele floor at Sutter General (4 South) has really good ratios (about 1:4) and very supportive management, but is staffed by mainly travelers. When I got my sign on bonus ($5000) in early 2002, it had been advertised for Tele nurses when Sutter was opening up the Cardiac units to compete with Mercy General. I had ACLS and BCM, but very little experience working per diem at Mercy General. They hired me for a med/surg floor, but gave me the bonus anyway -- cause I told them that was the only reason I would switch to Sutter from Mercy. Having worked for both systems, I truly do prefer Sutter and feel they **usually** try very hard to attract nurses and listen to nurses.

Sutter will pay you to go to nursing school, and I believe their program is at Sac City. They just donated a shyteload of money to hire instructors and get more students in the classrooms. They are heavily promoting this program, and offering informational seminars on it. It used to be just for Sutter employees, but last I heard it is now for *anyone* who will sign up and agree to work for Sutter.

Me, I graduated over a decade ago in Illinois, so I have no idea whether ARC or Sac City is the best!

nursemelanie · Sep 1, 2003

WOW thanks for all the info. I am really interested in the informational seminar. Who should I contact to get more info? Thanks for the info on UCD, i was wondering about that. When I lived in Sacto. I know alot of people complained about Mercy not having enough nurses. They loved the hospital but said they seemed understaffed and not enough rooms. And that was about 4 yrs ago. If you want PM me or email me at [email protected] Thanks again

orca1 · Sep 3, 2003

Hi Everyone,

I am a new grad working in the ER in Santa Clara. Not much to report from San Jose except that the SJ Sharks had a really bad season last year and are hoping to have a better one this year.

Lisa

beepers40 · Sep 9, 2003

I live in the East Bay and work L&D. Nice to have a local forum.

mramelbass · Sep 10, 2003

Cmyst,

I'm currently in TN, but have worked for Mercy Folsom...Night shift charge and House Supp....I left them due to too many empty promises to move me to the ER. They did pay for me to go to the ICU program there in Sacramento, then I went back home to NORTHERN CA...Crescent City. There I worked for Sutter Coast Hospital in the ICU. Great Hospital, Great staff. I have been in the medical field for 29 years and the only place I miss is Sutter Coast. The Nurses are the Highest quality nurses I have ever worked with!!! Most of the ICU nurses also Fly as flight nurses for the local air ambulance services...I hear there are Two now. We got paid $200.00 per flight and anything over 4 hours of patient care time was extra. I believe I was making $20.00/hr at the Hospital. We were very progressive in ICU. Anyway if you need more info...PM me and we'll exchange more .

nursemelanie · Sep 11, 2003

Just checking in again to say Hi, its great to see fellow CA nurses (I'm still in school LOL)