California RNs???????

rebelwaclause, ASN, RN · Dec 2, 2002

The commute from Tracy to the Bay Area is about an hour or so. San Ramon Regional is a good Hospital >>>INFO, and your commute would be about 45 minutes. Other hospitals in the area:

Sutter Tracy is the primary hospital - Beware...They are in negotiations and layoffs are in the air >>>>INFO

Tenet is in Modesto, about 15 - 20 minutes from Tracy >>>>INFO

Salaries aren't as competitive in outskirt area's from the Bay Area, due to cost of living. Can you consider commuting? A lot of people do.

>>>>Check out Tracy Stats (Most important = COMMUTE INFO!)

(Hope this was helpful a little!).

rebelwaclause, ASN, RN · Dec 2, 2002

Originally posted by NMAguiar
MichelleRNIL,

That's apparently the beauty of travel nursing -- go where you want, as long as you want.

Yes...Travel nursing may be a good idea, as NMA and others have suggested.

NMAguiar · Dec 3, 2002

Great research Rebel. Experience would dictate extending that commute time through the 680 corridor though. It's a real damnation alley these days as home prices have driven swarms of Bay Area people into the Valley toward Tracy and Manteca.

Regarding travel nursing, hell, I'm considering working through a travel nursing company WHERE I LIVE AND OWN A HOME.

My wife talked to them last week. They are offering $33/hour -- highly competitive at most Sacramento hospitals -- and offer a $930/month living stipend on top of that. Full benefits and retirement too.

We haven't researched it all out yet, but SWEET huh? :D

-jt · Dec 4, 2002

You dont have to actually travel to work thru a travel agency. After youre settled wherever youre going to live, you can sign up with a good one & tell them you want to work in a facility right in your own community or nearby. You can usually sign up to work there for less than 8 weeks, 13 weeks, 26 weeks, or if you like the place, you can keep extending your committment & stay there indefinitely - the best part about it is that since they wont have to find & pay for your living accomodations, they will give you an extra housing allowance monthly - which you can use to help pay your own mortgage or rent. I occasionally work in LA & found that RNs working thru travel agencies & local registries are paid more than hospital staff. But they also have to pay their own health benefits. If you can get those thru your husbands job, youre ahead of the game, especially with the housing allowance ontop of the higher salary. I work in the ICUs & only day shifts thru a local registry & earn $33/hr for the first 8 hrs, with time & a half on that for each of the last 4 hrs of my 12 hr shift. A friend of mine who has 7 yrs RN experience was working on staff in that same hospital on night shift for 3 yrs & was only earning $27/hr.

lunakat · Dec 4, 2002

Right now there is a severe shortage here in CA. The other say was a story on the news about nurses complaining about patient ratios because they are so shorthanded :)

MichelleRNIL · Dec 4, 2002

Keep it coming, this message board is serving as an awesome resource for me and you responses are really welcome!!!!!

deathnurse · Dec 4, 2002

If you have someone else's income to rely upon and you don't need your own insurance:

Take the highest wage you can get from the largest hospital you can work for.

This means you'll be a registry nurse with it's associated nightmares (they make the most money)

You'll be subject to cancellation and loss of income at the hospitals whim.

If YOU have to provide the insurance and steady income:

Take the highest hourly wage you can get at a stinkin' union hospital somewhere. They will have the best benefits (usually).

If you have the luxury of time on your side, talk to the nurses that work there. Lot's of OLD ONES? That might be a welcome clue to stability and workload/stress.

Lots of YOUNG ONES? Look out.

Sign-on bonuses? I learned the hard way. Suckered into leaving LA and moving to Las Vegas by a $10,000 signon.

If they need sign-on bonuses, there are REASONS for them. They have lost their staff/can't retain their staff/can't get staff.

I was stupid. I have learned. A signon of whatever amount is ALWAYS divided up into a couple of years of retention. The math always works out the same and the sign-on bonus is GREAT for the hospital and SCREWS the nurse. Please pass this around.

$10000 (my example) divided by 2 years: $5000 each year

dispersed as $2500 on employment, minus 30% in taxes.

$2500 at the end of the year, butchered by taxes again.

$2500 at 6 months, and then the last part of it after 2 years.

IF YOU LEAVE YOU HAVE TO PAY IT ALL BACK LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WITH NO CONSIDERATION OF THE TAXES!!!

During my "education," at this hospital, I learned the VERY REASON we were enticed by a sign-on bonus.

1.) It locks you in for terrible working conditions.

2.) It's a wonderfully easy, low cost way for a hospital to recruit and RETAIN an employee slave.

3.) The net realized hourly increase that would have been realized by the sign on bonus GOES AWAY after they have paid you. This results in a lower cost worker for a longer term.

Explanation: $1000 signon bonus

minus 30% taxes = $700.00

divided by 52 weeks of pay = $13.46 a week

divided by 36 hours (full time 12h shifts) = .37 cents an hour per $1000 signon bonus.

It's gone after it's paid out.

Hospitals use this as a recruitment expense write-off. It's not salary, it's a one-time fee that can be paid over two years and will reduce their costs.

However, if you are lucky enough to land a job with wonderful people, adequate staffing, and decent pay in proportion to risks, all of this means nothing because you are HAPPY.

But, you must not be a nurse in the real world.

Oh to have a wife with a job that I can fall back on...