FL to TX move

[TonyaM73, ASN, RN]

My family and I am considering moving to Houston, TX from Jacksonville, FL within the next year due to decreased commercial construction jobs in FL and the fact that my hubby's employer looks like they will disolve the company by June.

Does anyone have any information concerning best hospitals to work for, reasonable starting wage for an RN with 3 years experience including charge nurse, best/safest communities to live for families with children that is a doable commute to a hospital, and most nurse friendly facilities to work. If you have any info about commercial plumbing jobs too that would be a bonus. :)

I would appreciate all info since we are still in the deciding phase at this point.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

If you're looking for locations with more construction going on - Houston or DFW would both be great locations in terms of your hubby's opportunities. Skilled trades are in great demand. However, I think Houston has a better nursing employment situation at the moment.

I would recommend that you FIRST get your TX license. Employers have so many applicants that they basically aren't interested in dealing with anyone who isn't "good to go" already. Since you're an RN with experience, you should be a very attractive candidate for most hospitals. However, if you don't have a BSN, that may be a limiting factor because so many of the larger facilities are either Magnet or moving toward Magnet - so they have very limited opportunities for AD nurses. FYI, all of the Texas Medical Center (TMC) facilities are Magnet. If you want to stay close to a 'beachy' area, you may want to look at the NASA-Clear Lake or other areas (south of Houston) or a community between Houston & Galveston.

Houston is pretty huge - with a wide variety of attractive housing alternatives in most areas. I would suggest that you find a job first, then decide where you want to live after looking at all of the possible commuting issues - LOL. Some areas that may 'seem' to be far away from your work site may actually have a shorter commute. If you have kids, you may want to focus on areas that are NOT located in HISD - it is an enormous school district, with all the usual problems that this entails. Houston is extremely diverse (#1 in the nation, according to the latest census) so if this is has an impact on your housing preferences, please be sure to ask your Realtor about it. When you are ready to purchase, be sure that you thoroughly understand the issues that are uniquely Houston (Flood Control zones, Municipal Utility Districts, Home Owner Associations, etc.) Houston has no zoning... it comes up on the ballot every once in a while, but always gets overwhelmingly voted down - so everything is pretty much rules by the HOAs. On the upside, this means you will probably never be very far from a mini-mart or Starbucks!

Climate in Houston will be very similar to what you are already used to - still no need for a winter coat! - and you already know the Hurricane drill.

[TonyaM73, ASN, RN]

Thank you so much for the input. We have basically zeroed in on the Houston area due to the positive construction environment and the proxemity to the beaches. We don't want to be too close to the shore though because we know what that entailes We are in the process of sprusing up our house here to put it on the market, but feeling everything else out at this point. We are looking at a possible move around June, when the kids get out of school, so I have some time at this point before I start applying for jobs. Just wanted to get a general feel for where I should focus my application process. I am already with HCA and have been for the last 2 years, so a transfer is not out of the question especially since, like you said, many hospitals in the area are magnet. I don't believe there are any HCA facilities that qualify for that in this particular area, but could be wrong. Thanks again for the tips.

[scb7620]

What type of unit are you looking to work on? That may factor in which hospitals are the "best" to work for. I agree with the previous poster about finding out where you want to work first and basing your home search on that- there are lots of great suburbs outside of Houston that are a good commute.

[TonyaM73, ASN, RN]

I have currently been working on a Med/Surg Tele unit that specializes in stroke to which I have been floor nurse and relief charge nurse, but am thinking of trying for ICU. Either one would be fine to start off with.

[scb7620]

The Medical Center itself is great for ICUs, but there are plenty of outlying branches of their hospitals that also have great units- just depends on how far you want to commute and where you end up deciding you want to live. UTMB in Galveston is good too.