Good Operating Rooms, West and Southeast!

summerbp · Mar 15, 2017

I can't speak as a traveller or an OR nurse, but I worked for 2 years on a surgical trauma unit at Northeast Georgia Health System. It's a great employer, excellent physicians, and I really miss it!

Windyhill, BSN · Mar 15, 2017

Thank you!

Windyhill, BSN · Mar 16, 2017

anyone else????

NedRN · Mar 16, 2017

As an over twenty year OR traveler, I can tell you it is almost impossible to get a read on any given surgery before you have worked there. And your experience may not be that of others even if you find an opinion that is current enough to matter. For example, I did an assignment at UCSF and didn't care for it much. They were insulted that I didn't extend or go staff as that was their usual experience with travelers. Mind you, I did hearts and so even my anecdote may be completely irrelevant to you, except most travelers appear to like it there (of course, SF is very appealing no matter the working conditions).

There are a couple of hospitals that feel free to bounce travelers for small reasons. The high risk hospitals that I know of are Stanford (but man I liked it there - avoid neuro though - an ass of a surgeon whose behavior rubs off on staff), and Santa Rosa Memorial (a bit north of San Francisco - I'd guess their retention rate of travelers is 75% at best).

Unless your recruiters have placed enough travelers at the same OR to get good feedback, you are pretty much on your own. I don't even ask many questions anymore, just deal with it when I get there. The relevant questions to ask during the manager interview would be how many travelers do they use, how many are there currently, what kind of luck do they have with travelers (less rude than asking them if they have had to terminate some). If you have only one service you are comfortable with, ask about floating to other services (only really applies at larger hospitals). If you think swinging a mop is below you, that is also a good question to ask. Asking about support staff will tell you almost nothing (unless it is Stanford which was incredible). It is my experience that hospitals are surprisingly different in just about everything, and if you have less tasks in one area, increased workload in another area means you still work hard.

Windyhill, BSN · Mar 16, 2017

Thanks!!