current hawaii nurses

[surfnurse311]

looking to meet any current hawaii nurses. what island are you on and where do you work? How long did it take you to get a job if you weren't a local. how long if you are local? Do you guys mostly see travel nurses coming to work with you? what is your thought on them? I have been applying for jobs for the past 6 months and have been in a large cardiothoracic surgical icu outside of hawaii for 18months and have yet to find a critical care job. applying for travel/ contract jobs i'm continously told that i need 2-3 years experience. Hoping to get into maui at their CCU... maybe once i hit that 2 year mark i'll get lucky. until then i'll just keep visiting my friend over in kauai. Just been saving up and when I do hit that 2 year mark I will make the move and have enough to pay bills for few months and not worry about getting the job ASAP. Seems to me everybody who makes the move eventually gets a job.

[freeskier88]

Hey there- in a similar boat as you... Just finishing up my first year in ICU, would like to relocate to Hawaii in ED/ICU but have found mixed reviews of the job market. Have you had any success? Cheers.

[oahufish]

We had one of our larger Medical Centers, St Francis go bankrupt several years ago, so right now there are many nurses looking for work here and many others not fully employed. Many of our aides and ward clerks have their BSN degrees and have been waiting several years for jobs to open up. Most hospitals are using very few travelers the past few years. Hopefully things will open up a little this spring with the reopening of Queen's West out on the Ewa Plain, which was formally part of St Francis. You'll have much better luck coming here from the Mainland if you have at least 3 or 4 years experience in a specialty area such as ICU, OR, Cath Lab etc...a lot of it is timing though, and right now is not a great time!!!