Best ED's?

I'm an ED RN in Indiana currently working in a level II trauma center. My husband and I want to travel west sometime in the next year or two so I'm looking for recommendations of hospitals and emergency departments in the western states. Any tips on which states are better to work in would be great.

Which states are you considering? What kind of climate would you like? Big city or smaller city?

I love Washington and Oregon but hate California with a blazing passion. Is Idaho considered "western"? What about Wyoming or Nebraska? Missouri is west of you -- is that far enough?

Your questions is pretty vague.

Honestly we don't have a specific state in mind. I'm thinking of getting into travel nursing and we want to pick 2 or 3 western states (west as in out of the midwest, geographically from Colorado to the west coast) to float around in.

My post was intentionally vague so as to a gather broad spectrum of information.

I would look at what kind of hospital you are interested in. I would say that most of the hospitals out west are smaller, but also more specialized. The 1000+ bed academic hospitals don't exist and hospitals are smaller in general. Systems may have more than that in a city, my system has over 2000 beds in our city, just across multiple hospitals. That also means that if you like oncology that you can work in an ED that focuses on that program, same for peds, stroke, cardiac, trauma, transplant medicine, and rural/community medicine.

I would also look at the boards of nursing and how you want to practice. California has probably the best working conditions but also some of the lowest scope of practice out west. Cali certainly pays more than most of the western region, but also has the highest cost of living. States like Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Colorado have okay pay compared to cost of living but they are also the places that people want to be.

Once you figure out where you want to be then I would look at the hospitals. Beware when the kool aid is a little too thick, programs that have the best PR frequently are not the best hospitals out here.

PeakRN, if you work where I think you do, I interviewed in an ED there in 2010 when I thought I might move there - it was nice! But then I joined the Army and they sent me elsewhere. Oh well, maybe someday! Love it there.

Unfortunately real estate prices have skyrocketed since then, especially with certain legislative changes (although as said legislation passes in other states I hope the prices will become more reasonable again). The rest of the cost of living is reasonable but the cost of rent/mortgages have kept away a lot of talent.

The education system is great, there is so much to do on your time off, and while I certainly prefer my system all of the big players offer great care for the public. Every time I get the urge to move I have a hard time finding somewhere I'd rather be.