Hi all! I'm trying to get some up to date guidance and input.
I'm currently a ED RN in Washington State. I'm an ADN, have been a nurse for 22 years this May. I've worked ICU/CCU/Cardiac Cath Lab/Interventional radiology, PICC/IV Therapy and some management (never again on the management). Licensed in Texas originally, some work in Mississippi while my parents were still alive then to the Great Pacific North West. I LOVE being an ED nurse but am open to going back to other areas I've been in before.
I work in a Seattle area Level 2 Trauma Center that sees roughly 96000 visits a year. I have a 3:1 patient ratio, less if in the Trauma role and I make 46 dollars/hr. Cost of living here isn't the best/isn't the worse. Area is getting worse (crime/traffic/homeless/drugs) but what metro area isn't.
Having said that... I am SICK of the weather here. I want a real beach, with lots of cancer causing sun and clear water for my wife and I to snorkel in. My wife is an ED RN as well, 20 years, and we have 2 kids 13 and 11.
I'm considering a move to Naples/Homestead/Key Largo (just thinking)... smaller town, south Florida. I'm a southern boy at heart so living in a small town again would suit me fine.
The question is... how much pay am I giving up? And job satisfaction. Most travelers to our brand new ED say how awesome it is. I honestly don't think I would find much better job than I have now. It is just the location we are sick of. At any rate, guess I'm fishing for peoples salaries, job satisfaction and life satisfaction in South Florida. Thanks in advance for your input.
In Florida if you are a travel nurse you will tske
home about that after everything. Maybe a little more like 34-37 a hour after taxes. But yes you should be ok. We have lots of HCA hospitals so they are big on understaffing on purpose sot
heu can do
more with less. I know I kind of got use to it. But if your coming from a hospital with ratios it could bother you some. But we do have good hospitals too. I would google the hospital you are considering with the end attached words "reviews" or "hospital rating travel nurses "
I left Florida to pursue nursing up north. Smart move on my part. Sunshine money means nothing in my world. Now I do travel nursing, and I wont even consider an assignment in Florida.
How funny, I just read this old post of mine in passing and wouldn't you know I DID in fact take an assignment in FL from Jan to Apr 2016. It was simply to avoid the winter up north and also be closer to family. Well, guess what? It was as HORRIBLE as everyone said! 7:1 on a tele floor. Worst travel check ever. 13 weeks was enough for me, I left like a bat out of hell and never again will I ever work in FL as a nurse. Thank God for gorgeous beaches to lazy around on between shifts, I would have never survived.
I INTEND on keeping my promise to avoid FL this time, LOL!
How funny, I just read this old post of mine in passing and wouldn't you know I DID in fact take an assignment in FL from Jan to Apr 2016. It was simply to avoid the winter up north and also be closer to family. Well, guess what? It was as HORRIBLE as everyone said! 7:1 on a tele floor. Worst travel check ever. 13 weeks was enough for me, I left like a bat out of hell and never again will I ever work in FL as a nurse. Thank God for gorgeous beaches to lazy around on between shifts, I would have never survived.
I INTEND on keeping my promise to avoid FL this time, LOL!
As someone who started out at a HCA in Florida I can say yes this is all so true. I'm in Pennsylvania now and thinking about coming back or just heading out to California, Oregon or Washington state. Florida doesn't have to many good ICU openings at all for January (which is the earliest I can start) so it's looking like for now I might have to look elsewhere
nocturnallife, ASN, RN
70 Posts
What state do you live in now?