ER Nursing in Miami-Advice Needed

Specialties Emergency

Published

I am an ER nurse in Manhattan..my fiance may have to relocate to Miami for his job and I was wondering what the ERs are like down there? I have had some friends work down there as travelers and they didn't like it. But they also didn't like NYC so I dont know if that means anything. Which is the best, which is the worst, etc? Living in working in NYC, I am very used to working in an urban emergency room and dealing with the homeless and pts who do not speak English. My spanish is so-so but I can get by. What is the average nurse to pt ratio? Here in NYC it is about 1:8-sometimes more, sometimes less. I am just curious....any help would be greatly appreciated!:D

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Specializes in Legal, Ortho, Rehab.

Honey, I hope you have a job lined up before you get here. Job market is bad even with veteran nurses. Kiss that high New York rate good bye too. Cost of living is high. There is no balance. The hospitals are so-so. I'm not an ER nurse, so I can't gauge that for ya. It will still be a culture shock...I grew up in Providence (I'm Puerto Rican) and had a difficult time adjusting down here. Miami is now one the worst places to start a family too as I "just" found out today. http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Dont-Raise-Your-Children-in-Miami-Magazine-59273797.html. Good luck!

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I don't know about jobs, but I lived in Miami for several years. As the other poster said, it's a horrible place to raise a family. It's great to visit, but when you live in paradise, bad things happen. It's crazy expensive and the pay is not good. The public schools are not great either, if you have children. When I found out I was pregnant, we moved back to Michigan. There was no way in hell I was raising my kid there! If you do have to move down there, move to Ft. Lauderdale. It's a little better than Miami, in my opinion. And when you experience your first hurricane, you're really going to wish you were in NY! Good luck!

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Honey, I hope you have a job lined up before you get here. Job market is bad even with veteran nurses. Kiss that high New York rate good bye too. Cost of living is high. There is no balance. The hospitals are so-so. I'm not an ER nurse, so I can't gauge that for ya. It will still be a culture shock...I grew up in Providence (I'm Puerto Rican) and had a difficult time adjusting down here. Miami is now one the worst places to start a family too as I "just" found out today. http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Dont-Raise-Your-Children-in-Miami-Magazine-59273797.html. Good luck!

Honey? Um, OK. First of all, I never said I wanted to raise a family in Miami. My fiance's job will be Miami based. Just like I would never want to raise a family in NYC. I would probably just temporarily try to find a travel contract until I find a place that I like permanently. Secondly, have you ever worked in a NYC hospital, let alone emergency room? It's far from glamorous, very rough and you are dealing with people from ALL walks of life, from all over the world. I am just looking for some friendly advice. Your reply seemed rather snide and condescending actually:crying2:

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I have been a nurse since 2001, 3 years Telemetry and 5 years. 2 years ago I started traveling in NYC and have worked in several of the emergency departments in the city. I lived my whole life in Miami and have nothing but good memories. Work there is good, just different. We generally do not function with unions, except for Jackson Memorial Hospital. I know several nurses who have worked in many of the emergency departments. With regards to the best place to work, it really depends on what is important in your practice. If your seeking a busy, teaching ED then I would suggest Jackson Memorial. If you are interested in a more corporate type of atmosphere then I would suggest Baptist Health. Baptist has several hospitals in the area, including Kendall, Homstead, Mariners, South Miami, and many outpatient Urgent Care centers, if that interests you. If you in the Beach area, I would recommend Mt. Sinai, I know many ED nurses and physicians that are happy there. Hope this information helps, I think you will happy there. They sent all my ED Residents down there for there trauma rotation and there have been absolutely no complaints. Good luck, enjoy Miami, I miss it.

Julie RN

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Thanks for the info....I am originally from NJ and have only worked in NJ and Manhattan until now. I have been in Miami for a week now and I love it. I wanted to do a few travel assignments first before I committed to any one hospital permanently but truth be told, there are not a lot of assignments available here, which really shocked me. So if in the next week, I don't get a travel contract I'm gonna start looking at the places you mentioned. Thanks a lot!:D

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