Moving to Ft. Myers Area, Curious about RN jobs

[Danarn0218]

I was wondering if anyone in the Ft. Myers area or Florida in general could help me out with some questions.

I currently reside in Iowa and plan to move to the Ft. Myers area within the next year. I would prefer to work in a hospital type of setting. Preferably ER, Crit Care, CCU, Cath Lab, etc.

I have worked 6 months on a Med Surg Unit with Diaylsis and Urology patients and 1 1/2 years on a general medical unit. I am currently working nights in the Emergency Department at my hospital and have been there for about 5 months. I will also be finishing my BSN in August.

Here are my questions:

Do nurses with BSN make more money in the state of Florida?

How are Ft. Myers area hospitals in general to work at?

How are the benefits?

What are nurse to patient ratios like?

Where would the best place to work at be?

Are any of the hospitals in the area Magnet status?

I currently work at a Magnet hospital with okay benefits. I feel that I am spoiled as a nurse here, I know that other hospitals do not treat their nurses as well as the one I work at does!

Any information would be great!

Thank You!!

[SouthernPoint]

Here are my questions:

Do nurses with BSN make more money in the state of Florida?

How are Ft. Myers area hospitals in general to work at?

How are the benefits?

What are nurse to patient ratios like?

Where would the best place to work at be?

Are any of the hospitals in the area Magnet status?

Any information would be great!

Thank You!!

Let me see what I can answer.

I have not seen a major pay difference between AS or BSN degrees in the Ft. Myers area.

There are only 2 systems in the Ft. Myers area. Lee Memorial Health Systems which has a monopoly in the Lee County area and then there is Lehigh Regional Medical Center which is part of the HMA system. Both of these hospitals can be Googled.

When you ask about benefits are you asking about vacation/holiday or health?

It's hard to answer the nurse to patient ratios question as it is different in each unit. But it is some what basically the same.

Med/Surg = Days 5/6 Nights 6/7

Cardiac = Days 3/5 Nights 4/5 (this is mostly for the Lee System)

ICU = Days 2/3 Nights 3/4 (this is mostly for the Lee System)

Can't answer about Ped's or Mom Babys

I have worked in both systems. As with every employer there are your plus and minus.

The Lee System can be very toxic depending on the area you work. The are very uptight and are more for the paperwork and less about the patients. They are very up to date with technology and do offer just about everything one could need done medically..

Lehigh Regional is more of a family unit. They only have 88 beds and everyone almost knows everyone. It's a very homely environment. They are working on getting up to date with technology and they are limited on their level of care.

Lee Memorial Health System is the only Magnet in the Lee County area.

Please take the time and look both of them up on the net. They both have good web-sites.

Please PM me if you have any more questions

SP