HELP...Need info on Tampa/St. Pete Hospitals

U.S.A. Florida

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I currently live in Laurel, MD and work as an OB RN with a BSN. I also have experience working long-term care Per Diem. My husband and I are trying to move to Tampa/St. Pete this August and are in dire need on info.

We moved here from Philladelphia last year for his job. In that process, I took a pay cut from $26/hr base to $22 and had to give back a huge sign-on bonus ($15,000). I figured that was ok since we were moving to this supposedly fabulous area and was told by everyone I would get a pay increase. Not! What I got was a pay CUT, NO sign-on bonus, an increased weekend-committment (from 1 a month to every other), higher and less pleasing childcare, RIDICULOUS HOUSING COST (avg 3 br/2ba home is upwards of $400,000), less to do with my daughter, no family nearby, etc... :crying2: Needless to say, I am pretty unhappy here. To top it all off, my husband's job has announced they are moving his whole division into Rural, Virginia in a town where there is 1 K-mart and 1 gas station. That's it for me. :crying2: I can't take anymore. With our 2nd child due in June, we've decided to relocate to St. Pete where we have family and life is more enjoyable. :) I know I will take another paycut but my quality of life will be much better.

Now, I have spoken to Bayfront and Children's in St. Pete. I am interested in both. Does anyone know about these 2 hospitals? Reputation among nurses? Pay? Staffing? Bonuses? :uhoh3:

Any other hospitals in the area with better pay and benefits? I am interested in a Baylor program if I can find any in a hospital or nursing home. I'm open to night shift too. :rolleyes:

Any places in Tampa? I would like to find somewhere that i can stay for a while as I will most likely be the breadwinner while my hubby looks for a new job (in case he doesn't get one while we are still here). I know this was a long one but I really could use some help. I scan the papers my sister sends me but I need more info than that. ANY help would be appreciated! :)

Thanks,

Nancy

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Hi. All Children's Hospital has great ratios from what I've heard.

Bayfront just recently lost it's magnet status. But still is an o.k. place to work, as far as variety goes. It's the major trauma center for the area, and is big on L&D as well. Pay is o.k. about the same as other hospitals in there area. Tampa pays a bit more from what I hear. The staffing ratios are a bit high in med-surg but other areas like cardiac and neuro have good ratios. Don't think there are many bonuses.

Take care and good luck!

Another St. Pete Hospital worth looking into is St. Antony's. They seem to have a good reputation for being a more friendly hospital to work for than Bayfront.

I live in St. Pete, and you can ask me any questions if you're interested.

Specializes in Utilization Management.
Another St. Pete Hospital worth looking into is St. Antony's.

Agreed. You won't make a ton of money being a nurse here, so go for the best staffing and workplace culture.

Specializes in Utilization Management.

PS Are you choosing the job first or the home first? Because travel time and distance would definitely factor in.

hi,

thanks so much for the info. knowing that they have great ratios has just moved all children's to the top of my list. :-) i've done my share of working way understaffed. the only thing is i wasn't sure if i should leave l&d completely and start over in pediatrics. i guess i can always get a per diem gig working l&d as to not forget my skills.

you wouldn't know why bayfront lost its magnet status would you? just curious.

i'm surprised you said tampa pays more. when i called, with a bsn and 1+yr experience, tampa was offerring a base of $17-19/hr. bayfront offerred ~$23. i forgot what all children offerred. i just remember that i liked their relocation package alot ($4,000).

also, about housing, i see the avg price in st. pete has risen a lot over the past 2 yrs. we really would like a new house. it seems that if we don't want to spend more than $300,000, we can't find one. is that correct to you? my agent tells me no but she kees sending me these e-mails with houses over $500,000. i have only looked at the ne as my sister lives there (60th ave ne). would you know of any other areas that are nice and have nice, affordable housing available? if not, should i look into working in st. pete and living in tampa? i was told the prices may be better there. i'm coming out there next week and would like to have a better idea where to look.

i appreciate all of the info so much.

thanks,

nancy

hi. all children's hospital has great ratios from what i've heard.

bayfront just recently lost it's magnet status. but still is an o.k. place to work, as far as variety goes. it's the major trauma center for the area, and is big on l&d as well. pay is o.k. about the same as other hospitals in there area. tampa pays a bit more from what i hear. the staffing ratios are a bit high in med-surg but other areas like cardiac and neuro have good ratios. don't think there are many bonuses.

take care and good luck!

another st. pete hospital worth looking into is st. antony's. they seem to have a good reputation for being a more friendly hospital to work for than bayfront.

i live in st. pete, and you can ask me any questions if you're interested.

ps are you choosing the job first or the home first? because travel time and distance would definitely factor in.

hi,

so far the home, i guess. since the hospitals in st. pete were offerring a little more, i decided to work there instead. you're right. i'm not going to make a ton working out there. i just thought i'd minimize the pay cut as much as i can.

i like the ne and figured i'd find a house there. it seems to be but a 15-20 min drive to downtown. i'm more than fine with that. anything within 30 min is fine. as for tampa, it's livelier and my husband would like living there more than st. pete (he is a new yorker) so i am interested in living out there. the ride from tampa into downtown st pete doesn't seem bad. but then again, i only did it once. i'll do it again when i get there next week. what do you think?

thanks a mil,

nancy

hi,

thanks so much for the info. knowing that they have great ratios has just moved all children's to the top of my list. :-) i've done my share of working way understaffed. the only thing is i wasn't sure if i should leave l&d completely and start over in pediatrics. i guess i can always get a per diem gig working l&d as to not forget my skills.

you wouldn't know why bayfront lost its magnet status would you? just curious.

i'm surprised you said tampa pays more. when i called, with a bsn and 1+yr experience, tampa was offerring a base of $17-19/hr. bayfront offerred ~$23. i forgot what all children offerred. i just remember that i liked their relocation package alot ($4,000).

also, about housing, i see the avg price in st. pete has risen a lot over the past 2 yrs. we really would like a new house. it seems that if we don't want to spend more than $300,000, we can't find one. is that correct to you? my agent tells me no but she kees sending me these e-mails with houses over $500,000. i have only looked at the ne as my sister lives there (60th ave ne). would you know of any other areas that are nice and have nice, affordable housing available? if not, should i look into working in st. pete and living in tampa? i was told the prices may be better there. i'm coming out there next week and would like to have a better idea where to look.

i appreciate all of the info so much.

thanks,

nancy

hi:

here is one more option. you could work in st. pete and live in east manatee county. you would be 45 minutes from tampa international, 30 minutes to downtown st pete and you can get more house for your $$. the quality of living is much better than in tampa. real estate prices have gone up all over florida. what you could build for 300k last year will now cost you 400k. this is not a joke. anyway some of my suggestions are lakewood ranch, greyhawk landing, heritage harbour, greenfield plantation, mills creek. these communities are off university pkwy, state rt. 70 and st.rt.64.

Hi,

I worked at All childrens for 3 years. I didn't work as a nurse, but I had many friends that were nurses. The ratios at ACH are better than most. The pay is lower than elsewhere, because the CEO believes it is a privledge to work with children. A great many of our nurses are unhappy. They are like everybody else understaffed. There is no OB in the hospital, we only have the neonate nursery. ACH is Going into a new building in a few years and staff and services are being cut all over the hospital to save money. They fire higher paid nurses and hire in new grads or nurses they can pay less. They try to maintain a warm and fuzzy public image but they do not treat their employees very well. ACH is going into a partnership of sorts with bayfront hospital with Bayfront still handling L & D. I worked at Bayfront and was treated very well as a employee. But both of these hospitals are in a less than desirable area. I have heard the nurses say good things about St. Petersburg general (better part of town) and Northside hospital (north St Pete). I hope this helps you and welcome to Florida

As far as housing goes, I have to agree with the east manatee idea, a great many people I know are leaving the area of st. Pete. My husband is a police officer in the zone you want to live in. It is a nice area, but St Pete in general is going through some growing pains for the last few years. Most houses in old northeast are restoration projects, they are beautiful but time consuming. The pinellas county area is rapidly reaching the built out point, which is why prices have skyrocketed. Manatee county is a very easy and pleasurable commute. Tampa to st. pete or vice versa is very time consuming. I would wholeheartedly agree with the previous poster. Really look into manatee county, better qaulity of life, less expensive and easy to get to events. safer and cleaner. I hope this helps

hi:

here is one more option. you could work in st. pete and live in east manatee county. you would be 45 minutes from tampa international, 30 minutes to downtown st pete and you can get more house for your $$. the quality of living is much better than in tampa. real estate prices have gone up all over florida. what you could build for 300k last year will now cost you 400k. this is not a joke. anyway some of my suggestions are lakewood ranch, greyhawk landing, heritage harbour, greenfield plantation, mills creek. these communities are off university pkwy, state rt. 70 and st.rt.64.

hi,

thanks for telling me about this option! it's so helpful. i just called my agent and told her to look there. info from you guys that live there is sooooo much better than my wild goose chases on the web! :-)

i'm going to do a quick online search just to send to my husband while he is at work. i appreciate any idea you have. feel free to keep them coming.

thanks so much,

nancy :-)

hi,

i worked at all childrens for 3 years. i didn't work as a nurse, but i had many friends that were nurses. the ratios at ach are better than most. the pay is lower than elsewhere, because the ceo believes it is a privledge to work with children. a great many of our nurses are unhappy. they are like everybody else understaffed. there is no ob in the hospital, we only have the neonate nursery. ach is going into a new building in a few years and staff and services are being cut all over the hospital to save money. they fire higher paid nurses and hire in new grads or nurses they can pay less. they try to maintain a warm and fuzzy public image but they do not treat their employees very well. ach is going into a partnership of sorts with bayfront hospital with bayfront still handling l & d. i worked at bayfront and was treated very well as a employee. but both of these hospitals are in a less than desirable area. i have heard the nurses say good things about st. petersburg general (better part of town) and northside hospital (north st pete). i hope this helps you and welcome to florida

hi,

that's some great info! i can't get that kind of truth from the pretty postcards of bubbly staff they keep sending me. :-)

i never called st. pete general. i'll call them today. is it closer to the east manatee area you suggested? what do you think the travel time is?

is east manatee near any beaches? are there a lot to do with kids?

thanks a mil for this great info,

nancy :-)

hi,

that's some great info! i can't get that kind of truth from the pretty postcards of bubbly staff they keep sending me. :-)

i never called st. pete general. i'll call them today. is it closer to the east manatee area you suggested? what do you think the travel time is?

is east manatee near any beaches? are there a lot to do with kids?

thanks a mil for this great info,

nancy :-)

hi, this is copswife cop,

in east manatee you have easy access to i-75 (tampa bound) and i-275 (st.pete bound), check your florida map and you'll see what i mean. in manatee you are close to several malls and lots of basic support retailers. the area has canoeing and some nice beaches (20 min or so, depending on the homes location). there are state parks in the area (like little manatee river state park). beaching is something that usually tapers off as your time in florida lengthens, unless you have teens that just go to hang out and be seen.

one thing to consider in the great real estate quest...... flood insurance and hurricane evacuation zones. frequently, nurses are stuck at the hospital during hurricane warnings. it can be nerve racking when you're at work and the family is home. evacuation should be a choice, not mandatory.

manatee memorial hospital is close at hand. tampa has tampa general (which includes a children's hospital) and st. joseph's hospital. a few more options for you to check out.

feel free to ask anything else........

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