Job outlook in Des Moine?

[nurse901]

Hello everyone,

My family and I are thinking about moving to Des Moine next year. I have been an RN mostly in ICu for 5 years. How is the job situation in Des Moine and surrounding areas? Alot of lay offs? What are the patient ratios? All the info you have is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Jillian

[Smeredith1102]

I just graduated nursing school in May from a college in Sioux City. I applied for quite a few jobs in Des Moines back in March and accepted a job by April before even graduating and I know of a few other girls in my class who got jobs in Des Moines as well before graduating and NCLEX. I know Mercy seems to always have a ton of job listings on their career page. I'm not quite sure about Methodist because the only option I would have had there as a new grad was a residency program that I wasn't really interested in. But if I remember they had a decent amount of listings too back at the beginning of the year. Anyways, I hope that helps - it'd probably would be helpful to look at each hospital's career pages. Plus, there is not only Mercy and Methodist, but they have Mercy West in West Des Moines and a bunch of surrounding county hospitals all within a hour too. Oh, also, I interviewed on a med surg floor and the manager on that floor explained that patient-nurse ratio is pretty high , especially at night (obviously). During an interview for the ICU, the manager explained that their ratios on that floor is like 1: 2-3 patients.