A few more questions before moving to Texas.

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Hi guys:

Here in AZ, we have 4-5 patients in tele dept, 5 patients in Med/Surg dept. How about Dallas area?

Which hospitals you guys recommend? I am looking for a good team work environment.

I have 3 yrs experience, how much I will be getting paid working at acute hospital in Texas. Thank you all!

John

Specializes in Critical Care.

I don't know where you got your information on insurance limits, but I currently hold a policy that pays $300K per incident and $1M cap. That is plenty of insurance in Texas.

Texas doesn't have some of the rediculous amounts awarded in lawsuits like other states do. There are limits and those limits are well justified in my opinion.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Texas doesn't have some of the rediculous amounts awarded in lawsuits like other states do.
Texas juries tend to lash out some of the most ridiculous judgments in the nation. A jury in DFW awarded the family of a cerebral palsy patient a whopping $268 million verdict in a wrongful death medical malpractice case. There are many more outrageous verdicts being entered on a daily basis by overly aggressive Texas juries.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb254401.htm

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Who's to say that judgement was rediculous? The URL you supplied told nothing of the case. Until one knows all of the facts it's hard to judge. That's just one judgement and there are many more out there like that in every other state.

I have first hand knowledge of 2 other malpractice cases that settled for much less. Take my dad for instance. His cardiologist "forgot" to tell him he had lung cancer until it was too late. If my dad had been treated then, he'd probably still be with us, but instead he was told almost 8 months later and died in 1999. His award? $585K.

My best friends sister died at the age of 19, she had a virus and her nurses literally killed her. As nursing students we used her case as a case study and on almost every page we (sophomore students) found glaring errors that should have alerted her nurses that something was seriously wrong and the Dr. needed to be called. Gross negligence, the award? $785K.

Both in the state of Texas.

We're not a perfect state, but I have to stand up and say we're a dang good one, but as is true everywhere we have our downfalls and we also have qualities that no other state has. You just have to weigh the pro's and con's and decide if it's the right state for you.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Who's to say that judgement was rediculous? The URL you supplied told nothing of the case. Until one knows all of the facts it's hard to judge.
http://www.lawyersweekly.com/signup/archives.cfm?page=usa/01/108016.htm
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Guys:

I am confused now. From your experience, how many pt you guys get at a tele floor or med/surg. People told me under other topic,10-13 pt per RN in med/surg is the Texas ratio. Can you guys clarify this? Thanks. John

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Who's to say that judgement was rediculous? The URL you supplied told nothing of the case. Until one knows all of the facts it's hard to judge. That's just one judgement and there are many more out there like that in every other state.

I have first hand knowledge of 2 other malpractice cases that settled for much less. Take my dad for instance. His cardiologist "forgot" to tell him he had lung cancer until it was too late. If my dad had been treated then, he'd probably still be with us, but instead he was told almost 8 months later and died in 1999. His award? $585K.

My best friends sister died at the age of 19, she had a virus and her nurses literally killed her. As nursing students we used her case as a case study and on almost every page we (sophomore students) found glaring errors that should have alerted her nurses that something was seriously wrong and the Dr. needed to be called. Gross negligence, the award? $785K.

Both in the state of Texas.

We're not a perfect state, but I have to stand up and say we're a dang good one, but as is true everywhere we have our downfalls and we also have qualities that no other state has. You just have to weigh the pro's and con's and decide if it's the right state for you.

I have a friend who is a legal nurse consultant in south Texas. She's asked for my help/input on several of cases. The cases of medical malpractice I've been privvy to really illustrate to me the absolute lack of integrity of many physicians here.

The poor quality of care in the hospitals, and other facilities, and what is considered acceptable practice has shocked and angered me.

I have lived in a number of states. When I moved here, I expected the level of care, and the opportunities for nurses to be comparable, but from what I've experienced, this is not the case.

The whole "we're Texas proud...everything's bigger....Texas spirit" thing is very annoying. In my eyes, Texas is like a big, swaggering, dumb, braggart- lots of bravado and noise, but nothing of subtance to back it up.

I know that others feel differently, and I respect their right to hold and express their opinions.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Thanks! Great facts on the case. Upon appeal the Martin family won't get a third of that award, but I think they're entitled to every penny they get.

It will be nice when the healthcare industry as a whole learns that owning up to their mistakes, saying they are sorry and telling the families how they are going to prevent future mistakes does a lot. It can even avoid lawsuits all together, though not often.

http://www.josieking.org/ We had to watch a doccumentary on this case in orientation at work. This is how hospital malpractice cases should end up.

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Texas is a big state. What may hold true in the DFW area may not be true of El paso or Houston. I've heard many great things about certain areas of Texas and terrible things about others. This is true of most places. Nothing and no place is perfect. Find what you can be happy wth or at least tolerate and don't sweat everbody else's drama. :lol2:

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Texas is a big state.
Texas is a HUGE state (270,000 square miles, to be precise).
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Texas is a big state. What may hold true in the DFW area may not be true of El paso or Houston. I've heard many great things about certain areas of Texas and terrible things about others. This is true of most places. Nothing and no place is perfect. Find what you can be happy wth or at least tolerate and don't sweat everbody else's drama. :lol2:

I have lived in far west, far south and far north TX. I have found pretty much the same situation in all of those areas.

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Guys:

I am confused now. From your experience, how many pt you guys get at a tele floor or med/surg. People told me under other topic,10-13 pt per RN in med/surg is the Texas ratio. Can you guys clarify this? Thanks. John

I have had 10+ on bad days. "Normal" days are usually 6-8, tending more toward the 7/8 side. Tele is 5-6 on most days. Have worked a variety of hospitals throughout the state as both staff and agency during the last decade. It is highly unlikely you will get the ratios that you are currently accustomed to if you move to TX.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I am in the Denison/Sherman area (yeah I know pretty podunk), but here all our floors have a 4-6:1 ratio. ICU is 1-2:1 and IICU where I work is 3:1. I'm sure on bad days you may get an extra patient or two, but it's rare. Aids usually work 7-10:1, on bad days they may have 15.

I can only speak about new grad pay and that ranges from $ 18.25 base up to $34.00 PRN. As a new grad I typically gross $2100 a pay period.

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