Best hospitals in Sacramento area?

[Nevada_RN]

I am planning on moving to Sacramento soon. I have two years of experience in medical/oncology. I know jobs are hard to come by, so I know I will be looking for a while. (And yes, it's California, so I know taxes, traffic, etc.) My question is, which hospitals are good? Pay? Benefits? Etc? I would love to work for Kaiser, but I'd pretty much have to sell my (nonexistant) first born child and sell a kidney and half my liver to get a job there.

What is Sutter or Dignity (Mercy San Juan) like? Davis?

Any input would be great. Thanks!

[RunBabyRN]

I would just apply and see what happens. All of those are good hospital systems (they all have their good and bad points). Kaiser, of course, pays VERY well, but yes, it's very hard to get in there.

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

Ucdavis pays the least, but good benefits. You can have sick patients there even in med surg tho. I've sent insulin gtts to med surg. I actually called the charge to verify they could accept them and was told they could. I was surprised but someone told me it was typical to be 1:4 there.

sutter is going through some growing pains. Kaiser is hard to get into. I applied probably 80 times over the years and just got in. I had the right experience and they had a lot of openings for my specialty. There are negatives such as the set schedule. If you like doing self scheduling and are used to having 6 days off at a time, that won't happen.

Mercy is probably my least favorite, they are owned by dignity health who is very cheap.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Within the "Greater Sacramento" area, UC Davis, Kaiser, Sutter, and Dignity pretty much run all the acute care hospitals. Once you start looking outside the local area, then you start seeing other systems, small groups, and stand-alone facilities as well. The only major deal with UC Davis is that since you're not already an employee there, you will find it very difficult to get a job there unless you have a BSN, even though you have experience.

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

Within the "Greater Sacramento" area, UC Davis, Kaiser, Sutter, and Dignity pretty much run all the acute care hospitals. Once you start looking outside the local area, then you start seeing other systems, small groups, and stand-alone facilities as well. The only major deal with UC Davis is that since you're not already an employee there, you will find it very difficult to get a job there unless you have a BSN, even though you have experience.

HR throws away your application if you don't have a BSN. The one time I saw an exception was a traveler who worked there for two years and they hired him as staff after getting a special waiver which was like a 6 month process. He had 20+ years of amazing ER/ICU experience.

[Happy85]

Any advice for areas in sacramento that have decent priced apartments? Also any interview tips for Sutter/Kaiser?

[Happy85]

@NickiLaughs Just want to thank you for always being so open and kind to share information.Ive read many of your posts over the years (before I joined as a allnurses member),,, I appreciate your perspective and insight:). I would like to PM you however I haven't had 15 post yet.

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

La riviera has some cute little neighborhoods. If you have a family Roseville or folsom is ideal. It really depends on what your looking for