moving to NY next May...

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

Hello everyone!

I am currently in nursing school working on my BSN in Ohio - I will graduate this December. My SO is in the army and will be moving to Fort Drum next May (and of course I will be following him there!). I currently work in a hospital as a nurse tech on a renal, plastic & reconstructive surgery (med-surg) floor and now I'm trying to transfer to the SICU to get some more critical care experience. I LOVED my critical care rotation in nursing school and I would love to work in the ICU.

At my hospital, you can keep your NT job after you pass the NCLEX if you are hired as an RN there. I know my hospital will not hire me for a few months knowing that I will be moving, so I'm basically going to lose my NT job once I pass the NCLEX (how crappy, I should be getting a new job not losing one!)

Fort Drum seems pretty remote from hospitals aside from a troop medical clinic which is on base. There are other urgent care clinics in the Watertown area (10-12mi distance) and for hospitals, the closet seems to be Carthage Area Hospital (15mi). River Hospital is 32mi from Fort Drum and I don't know if I want to commute that distance. There are also hospitals in Syracuse but Syracuse is 80mi from Fort Drum

Can anyone tell me about those hospitals? Or what is it like working as an RN in an urgent care clinic? Has anyone here worked on base at a troop clinic and if so what was it like? Even though I still have about a year before I move to NY, I have been searching for jobs online in NY and so far all I see are positions for "experienced" RNs - how can I get my experience if I will only be a new grad?

What is the pay like for RN's in NY? In Ohio the average is $25-$26/hr.

Finally, is there a critical care nurse residency program located somewhere in NY (since I have such a fascination with critical care)?

Thanks everyone!