Which Chicago hospitals use travel nurses?

U.S.A. Illinois

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DH and I are thinking of relocating to Chicago this fall from California. We were thinking of going through a travel agency so that we could have sometime to make sure we like it there before actually hiring on full-time somewhere (plus we love the idea that they will help pay for us to move!!) :D. I have heard that Chicago isn't the best place for travel nursing because most hospitals would rather use agency nurses so:

What hospitals use travel nurses?

Does there seem to be plenty of openings (DH is an SICU/ER nurse and I am a NICU nurse....would love to both do travel but at least one of us would work!).

Anyone have any ideas?

I did my last rotation at Northwestern (L&D, NICU, postpartum) and met a very nice travel nurse... so I suppose you could try there.

You are right. Most of the Chicago area hospitals do not use travel nurses. I tried to find a travel nursing job in Chicago for 2 years in a row and none of the travel nursing agencies could find me an ICU or ER travel nursing job here. Chicago is NOT a good city for travel nursing. The local nursing agencies are the ones that fill most of the local contract nursing jobs here in Chicago.

Instead of waiting and waiting I contacted a local nursing agency here in Chicago. They got me up and working within about a week. Make sure that you choose a local nursing agency that works with most of the chicago area hospitals. i did local per diem work for a few months and never really had a problem getting hours. Keep in mind that you wont always get the exact shifts you want. You need to be flexible about where you will work and what shifts you want as well. If you go into it saying that you want days and can only work on tuesday, wednesdays and fridays... it wont work out.

There is a lot of per diem agency nursing in chicago. Ive been with a local agency called HPI http://www.hcperonnel.com . They are really good at what they do. They also have contracts with hospitals all over the city and all over the suburbs of Chicago.

After I did per diem work for a few months my agency found me a contract at one of the hospitals Ive been going to regularly. The local agencies wont pay for you to move but if you really want to get to Chicago and the travel nursing agencies cant find you a contract here call a local agency and do some per diem work or see if the local nursing agency can find you a contract.

Good luck.

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