Finding job in Houston

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Dear Fellow nurses,

Need your kind advice as i am clueless about about working as a nurse in US except they are highly regarded.

I am from Singapore,completed BSN. Has been working as RN for about 10 years including in Hem/oncology unit in the last 2 years. Just passed Nclex & keen to work in MD Anderson Cancer center or maybe The Methodist hospital.

My husband has drove me to the Main Medical Center but commuting is a challenge so Regional centers around Katy, Sugarland & Memorial City area would be a more viable option for me.

Currently there are no suitable openings, so i am considering taking ChemoBio Course offered by ONS in the meantime.

Would like to hear from anyone anything Eg..regarding working environment, pay scale & the Chemobio course itself.

Lastly, may i know is the Residency program is for new graduates?

Any advice is deeply appreciated.:)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

There are a lot of commuting options for people who work in the Texas Medical Center (TMC), including ride-sharing & van pools. But the commute can be daunting - especially for newcomers to Houston, so I completely understand your reluctance to go in that direction.

What residency program are you referring to? The TMC residencies are for new grads. I believe that the (Memorial-Hermann) Memorial City programs are the same. If you are only interested in oncology, this does limit your options. Have you taken a look at the MD Anderson-Katy facility? It is for outpatient services, but I believe it has recently expanded. As far as "working environment" and "pay scale", you will need to be more specific. What facilities are you asking about?

Forgive me if I am making the wrong assumption, but as you state you are from Singapore, I am assuming that you are multi-lingual. There is a very large Asian population in Houston so you may want to emphasize your language skills when you apply for jobs. If you obtain certification as a medical interpreter, (The National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI)) it would be even more advantageous for you.

Welcome to Houston & best of luck on your job search.

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Hi Houtx,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, currently I'm limiting my options only to oncology.

Yap, that's the spring/ summer residency for new graduate i am referring to. I thought of joining the program because the thought of working in a whole different culture & setting can be daunting but i have since aborted the idea.

I have only briefly pass by the MD Anderson-Katy & Sugar land facilities from outside. Both seems to have nice outpatient setting which might be what i am looking for but i am not sure how is the pay-scale & environment diff from a similar setting in their Main facility at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Eg. Do the nurses at regional care center prepare & mix their own chemotherapy drugs in the isolation chamber since it is a small facility? Or is it the same across both facilities?

There's also a mention of a new building for MD-Anderson which i came across on a newsletter couple of months back. It is located at Park row under construction. This would be an ideal working location but it would be an endless waiting game without any pay check.

You are right, majority of the Singaporeans are multilingual resulting in the birth of Singlish (the vocabulary of words from different ethnic groups into a sentence).

It didn't cross my mind about being a certified interpreter. Thank you for the link, after reading through. I decided not to as it will be of little use when i return back to Singapore.

Thank you for your suggestions though ;)

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