I am a nursing student currently living in Minnesota. after graduation....about a year and a half....my husband and I would like to move to Florida. My heart has always been set on Tampa....big, but not too big....low cost of living....right by the water...and of course....hot as he** (which is sooo much better than freezing my buns off for six months of the year)
This spring, he and I will be visiting his grandmother in Sarasota to check out the area, and look into things.
Can anyone tell me about some of the cities...Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Pensacola, etc......the good, the bad....good hospitals, etc. Any information and bragging would be greatly appreciated.:kiss
I would also be interested in making pen pals, and maybe meet some of you when I come out in the spring.
Specializes in CARDIO, FAMILY PRACTICE, GERIATRICS,URO.
hello everyone, i live in miami,fl for 20+ years. i can say that i have lived in miami-dade county, broward county (both down south florida) and lake county in central florida. my personal opinion lake county florida which is located to the west of central florida...that is west of orange county where florida theme parks are...it is nice but there are alot of retirement, it has alot to grow poplation and enviroment. if you like some country feeling, hills slow pace then this is great. but when it comes to health care jobs you can find alotbut average jobs are lacking. i relocated back to south florida because myself is used to the fast paced enviroment, it is crowded...but because of this they need more help...there for paying better salary. cna's can make easily 13-15hr , lpn's 19-29hr and rn's 25hr. now everything depends what city, and hospitals. miami-dade couty pays the highest. staffing only with 6month-1year experience starts at 40hr. medical assistants can make 14hr. so it is not bad but it is similar as new york in that it is crowded, houses run at $200k and up. you can check the websites for jobs careerbuilder.com for apartments rent.com,forrent.com and apartments.com and for houses realtor.com hope this help a bit.
hey ladybelle! i had to laugh because the hospital i was singing the praises of was sold! it hasn't been open for 2 years! it might have been the only one! i guess our area was nice, because we had pretty few major complaints. the biggest uproar was when they moved the butt hut off the campus. ahhh those were the days! i am curious to know of all those places you worked, which was the best for staff? which had the best patient care? that was quite a spectrum! johns hopkins-wow! i tried to start a patient ratio thread to see if the numbers came down...we had 7, or worst case scenario, 9 patients on our med-surg floor....that was nuts!!! i hope you don't turn in your scrubs, though, but i understand your frustration!
have a happy,
southernurse
p.s. now that i am in tennessee, it is night and day! i only have 6 at the most, but usually 4 or 5 on a regular night!
hi southernurse
just reading your thread again,you obviously took my comments way too personal.if i hated florida that much why would i enquire about working there ? i wasnt putting florida nurses down,my problem was the way the hospital was run.and yes i did take my complaint to management but who wants to listen to a lone travel nurse.by the way the med/surg ratio was up to 10 and icu 3.is that why your in tennessee?
ps dont shoot the messenger
if i can help 1 nurse with my 30 years experience i will,nurses need to help each other the job is hard enough as it is.thats where we are falling down team work can make or break a nurse,ive seen it happen many times.
I am a nursing student currently living in Minnesota. after graduation....about a year and a half....my husband and I would like to move to Florida. My heart has always been set on Tampa....big, but not too big....low cost of living....right by the water...and of course....hot as he** (which is sooo much better than freezing my buns off for six months of the year)
This spring, he and I will be visiting his grandmother in Sarasota to check out the area, and look into things.
Can anyone tell me about some of the cities...Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Pensacola, etc......the good, the bad....good hospitals, etc. Any information and bragging would be greatly appreciated.:kiss
I would also be interested in making pen pals, and maybe meet some of you when I come out in the spring.
Thank you lots and lots!!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Well I live in Homestead, Fl. About 20 miles south of Miami. I am familiar with St. Pete, Tampa, Sarasota and the surrounding cities. They are all nice, like you said not too big but not too remote. I love Tampa and St. Pete. The pay in these cities is a little lower than in Miami so you might want to consider that as well. RN's in Miami typically earn $55K or over (that's without Overtime) Anyways feel free to ask me anything about sunny Florida. I've lived here all my life, it's wonderful!
I went to Florida State University in Tallahassee and first worked at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital -Pediatrics right out of school. It was a great environment, heavy load, but paid like 16.36/h for day shift. The city is a great place for families!
I also lived in Jacksonville. I worked at Baptist Medical Center downtown. I would work in the ICU if I had to do all over again. The pay was like 22.50/h with 2 yrs exp. and a 3.50/h shift diff. Do not work on the 7th floor. This hospital does not hire good techs. Our floors techs would hide and sleep. I would never want to be a patient there b/c the DR's were pretty bad.
I am from Clearwater and this area has been the best. The dr.'s are great and the pay is good too. LArgo Medical Center and Morton Plant/Mease Countryside I enjoyed........Beware of the Miserable LADIEs anywhere you go! They are everywhere!
I Live In Port Charlotte South Of Sarasota Work At Hca Hospital Its A Smaller Town But Close To Everything
I live in Port Charlotte too!! I am currently working in Assisted Living but just put my 2 weeks notice in. There is no $$ in AL. I am going to be working at Life Care Center in Punta Gorda as the head of the restorative department. I am going to be making double what I make now!!
Port Charlotte is a great town. I just moved here from NJ in January and I love it. It is a small town but very close to everything. There is alot to do in the surrounding towns.
I am inviting any opinions/advice. I am trying to decide between Jacksonville and Tampa/St Pete area. What is the most important thing to me is the quality of education. I have a 6 year old and a nine month old. I am a single mother and I know it will not be easy as I will be away from my support system...but they live in a very small town and I am more of a big city girl..plus I am single and dating here is next to impossible. BUT like I said...education is my primary focus. I have lived in Jax previously and liked it, but I do not know much about the schools there. Any advice would be much appreciated!! :yelclap:
I'm in the same boat - minnesota to florida - you guys may think I'm crazy but I'm not thrilled with the idea of no seasons - and I don't particularly like humidity - what can ya do when the hubby is a pilot and is going to fly for spirit out of ft. lauderdale. I am an ED RN with 16 yrs exp, been in a level one trauma center for the last 6 years, have a 5 yr old and 1 1/2 yr old little boy - looking for decent hospitals in ft laud or north, good places to live with kids, how bad are schools, ect. Any info?
I found myself living in Nebraska with a 6 yr old and divorced. I moved to Tampa Bay not knowing a soul after doing lots of research on communities. Northeast Tampa area has some great A+ schools. The neighborhoods are great and if you dig -- affordable. I was able to meet a lot of new friends and the dating scene was great. Most people aren't originally from Tampa so they welcome you with open arms as they were once newcomers themselves. We lived in Tampa Palms which was only 20 minutes from Ybor (party area) but about 45-60 mins to downtown in morning rush hour.
Good luck! And I say, go for it!! I grew so much as a person.
I am inviting any opinions/advice. I am trying to decide between Jacksonville and Tampa/St Pete area. What is the most important thing to me is the quality of education. I have a 6 year old and a nine month old. I am a single mother and I know it will not be easy as I will be away from my support system...but they live in a very small town and I am more of a big city girl..plus I am single and dating here is next to impossible. BUT like I said...education is my primary focus. I have lived in Jax previously and liked it, but I do not know much about the schools there. Any advice would be much appreciated!! :yelclap:
Thanks for the feedback Angie! That is comforting to know about the schools in Tampa. I actually have an aunt there so I would have some help, although she is an extremly busy woman. I will keep that option open(-:
Hi Lisa!! I did it! We, did it. We moved to FL a year and a half ago. We live in North Port now. There are some small docs offices here but the big hospital in Sarasota is going to build an emergency care hospital here in North Port very soon. I think the plans were this year or next they will start. I have been by the area and it looks like they have already cleared the land for it. yay! I had to leave school as my husband was not working and needed me to be home with the kids. I was 2.5 semesters from graduating! Grr. Anyway, he said I could go back now so I am checking out MCC in venice and their program. I hope to not have to retake too many of my classes as it was back in Spring 2005 that I left school.
Are you in FL yet??
WOW!!!
Thank you everyone for the information. It is really helpful.
My hubby and I are coming in March, and I have set up a visit with a hospital in Brandon.
If anyone has any additional info, please pass it along : )
(which is sooo much better than freezing my buns off for six months of the year)
NARCAN
71 Posts
hello everyone, i live in miami,fl for 20+ years. i can say that i have lived in miami-dade county, broward county (both down south florida) and lake county in central florida. my personal opinion lake county florida which is located to the west of central florida...that is west of orange county where florida theme parks are...it is nice but there are alot of retirement, it has alot to grow poplation and enviroment. if you like some country feeling, hills slow pace then this is great. but when it comes to health care jobs you can find alotbut average jobs are lacking. i relocated back to south florida because myself is used to the fast paced enviroment, it is crowded...but because of this they need more help...there for paying better salary. cna's can make easily 13-15hr , lpn's 19-29hr and rn's 25hr. now everything depends what city, and hospitals. miami-dade couty pays the highest. staffing only with 6month-1year experience starts at 40hr. medical assistants can make 14hr. so it is not bad but it is similar as new york in that it is crowded, houses run at $200k and up. you can check the websites for jobs careerbuilder.com for apartments rent.com,forrent.com and apartments.com and for houses realtor.com hope this help a bit.