Feedback on Bay Area hospitals?

[nursecass]

My husband and I are looking at relocating to the east bay area (from out of state) and I am starting to do some research on local hospitals and was wondering what experiences you all have had with the different hospitals. Anything you can tell me would be appreciated-where you work, why you work there, what you like, what you dislike, etc. If you have done clinicals in any of the East Bay hospitals I'd like to hear your experience as well-were the staff helpful? Did they seem annoyed at having students around? How did general moral seem? Did people seem to be busy a lot, or was there a lot of sitting around happening?

If it helps I have experience in ICU/CCU/ER and would be looking for similar work there.

I have applied at El Camino hospital in Mountain View; Alta Bates Summit Campus; Valley Care in Pleasanton and am just looking for any other places I should check out. Based on some comments on here I looked at the John Muir hospitals, but they only have 5 openings right now, none of which I am interested in. TIA!

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

Find a job before you move there. It's the hardest market to obtain employment in the entire US (and yes that includes experienced nurses).

Hospitals I had experiences at during clinicals:

St. Rose - it was so/so, the nurses seemed busy, overwhelmed a lot.

Kaiser Fremont - it seemed more laid back, nurses well staffed

San Ramon Regional Medical Center: probably my favorite, the nursing staff were awesome, it was just a great place, very tiny hospital though.

Santa Clara Regional Medical Center: Great hospital, huge newer looking, busy!!!

[NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN]

Your base is very broad!!!!! You need to shorten that base because the traffic is horrible in the Bay Area. What part of the Bay Area are you looking at. The East Bay is pretty big. For example if you live in Castro Valley and are working in San Jose it will take you about 2 hours to drive 25 miles south during traffic hours. 680 isn't that bad, but 880 is a different story. Good Luck

[Mike A. Fungin RN]

Where in the east bay are you relocating to? As the previous poster mentioned, it's a very large area. We might be able to give you better answers if we know the general area.

[bonesrn]

In the process of getting CA license. Currently in NC. Would like to be in area of the city that would allow me to walk/ride bike and/or use public transit to get almost anywhere I'd need to go for day to day living/entertainment/work. I know it's uber expensive, but I 've always wanted to live in California. Other areas of interest are Santa Monica, San Diego. Any other suggestions welcome. Thanks!

[nursecass]

My husband has interviewed in Livermore, we are thinking of living somewhere around Pleasanton. Where we live will sort of depend on where I get a job, but ideally we would like to split the commute if possible. Livermore to Pleasanton is about a 25-30 minute commute from what we have been told from people in the area which seemed about right when we drove it on the weekend without traffic (it took us about 20 minutes). So somewhere about 30-40 minutes from either Pleasanton area or Livermore area would be ideal for us.

[NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN]

So you would be coming off 680 as the traffic isn't as bad as you're more inland than in the bay area. But it's in the outskirts of the Bay Area. You may want to stay in that area and probably the furthest in you would really want to go is probably Castro Valley off of 580. If you want to get to Hayward or inward more towards 880 you would have to take 580 and then 236 WHICH IS BRUTAL most of the time. Eden Medical Center is in Castro Valley and St. Rose is in Hayward. Eden Medical would probably be the furthest you would want to go. St. Rose in Hayward would really be pushing it. Although it's pretty close within 20-30 minutes, the traffic will set you back. Commuting to Dublin/San Ramon isn't bad as it's closer. If you go inland more towards Tracy it's a bit father but you're going against traffic which is better. Hope this helps. good Luck

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

In the process of getting CA license. Currently in NC. Would like to be in area of the city that would allow me to walk/ride bike and/or use public transit to get almost anywhere I'd need to go for day to day living/entertainment/work. I know it's uber expensive, but I 've always wanted to live in California. Other areas of interest are Santa Monica, San Diego. Any other suggestions welcome. Thanks!

Just wanted to say that I moved here from the midwest with the same mindset as you...wanted to use public transport to go to work and even get to different places by bus in a thriving urban area. Ended up finding a job right in San Francisco which I thought was awesome. Didn't move until I had a firm job offer with an actual offer letter in hand including salary as well as making sure I met credentialing requirements as I'm an NP. I would say San Francisco pretty much met my expectations though there are definitely a few things that I didn't prepare for. One, the severe culture shock of having to pay an arm and a leg each month for housing in a reasonably decent area of the city. I mean I knew it's expensive here but it didn't sink in as well as it did when I was writing the checks! There are cheap places around -- but you get what you pay for. Parking sucks and that includes hospital parking! Hospitals also charge an arm and a leg to park even as an employee. Other option is to live within walking distance of the hospital which I did not opt for because the hospital I work for is in a colder, dreary, foggy side of town. Thought I'd love pulbic transport but ended up hating having to deal with the inefficiencies of the city's Muni system. Now, I'm driving to work just like how I did in the midwest but in the end I love it and I am happy I don't have to deal with snow in the winter.