ER RN new in Pittsburg

[poplitealgirlRN]

I am moving to Pittsburg and have many questions regarding the nursing world in Pittsburgh. I have been an RN for 7 years in the ER. The past 4 years I have been traveling on the West coast. I am being relocated to Pittsburg with my fiance. What is the average hourly wage in Pittsburgh?? What is the nurse to pt ratio in ER?? How bad is the shortage in Pittsburg? How are nurses treated over all?? Any sugggestion of which hospital to apply or not apply? I am looking for a flexible per diem day/evening position. Any help would be great thanks!

[kaycee]

I don't really know salary levels but if you are used to west coast salaries, you won't be making as much, but cost of living is cheaper in the Burg.

The shortage here is not as great as other places because there are a lot of nursing schools. There are however a lot of jobs available especially in the ER.

There are a lot of hopsitals to pick from. The two major health systems are UPMC and West Penn Allegheny. Within those two systems are large teaching hospitals and smaller community hospitals. Mercy is another smaller health system and is a teaching facility.

I work in one of the community hospitals in the West Penn Allegheny system and they treat nurses pretty well. At Allegheny General which is a large trauma center, their nurses are unionized. I don't know about UPMC. I do know in both systems there are ER jobs available.

Just Google West Penn Allegheny Health System and UPMS Health System and go to their web sites. They have job postings there.

Good luck.