ICU or cath lab travel nurse - which is better to be?

[connie12]

I am moving back to my home state after 5 years away. I am only doing so to reconnect with family for a couple years and then plan to return to travel nursing. My current job is in a cardiac ICU in which I have worked for 1.5 years and have gotten crap experience because one must "pay their dues" so I yet to take a heart right out of surgery nor learn CRRT. So I am not that confident in my ICU skills to do traveling in that area yet. (I was a previous traveler on med-surg and tele floors).

I have two offers on my plate and don't know what to do. Which will make it easier to travel again in a couple years:

1. Well-known university hospital in a big city. Cath lab position. Pay is pretty decent for the area. This hospital's ICUs usually only hires internally so I could try for an ICU job in about a year or later.

2. Another well-know university hospital, this time in the middle of the state. So pay is approximately $7-8/hr LESS than the city hospital. Yes, cost of living is cheaper, but not THAT much cheaper. This position interests me so much more b/c it's in the cardiac ICU, and I'll get to learn LVADs, Ecmo and heart transplant patients which the manager said I'll be trained on from the get-go. Just the money and location stink.... which causes me some anxiety.

So... I know where I'm leaning, you probably know where I'm leaning. What are your thoughts.

If I was to learn the cath lab, are there cath lab travel nurse opportunities out there?

Thanks so much!

Connie

[missnurse01, MSN, RN]

I am moving back to my home state after 5 years away. I am only doing so to reconnect with family for a couple years and then plan to return to travel nursing. My current job is in a cardiac ICU in which I have worked for 1.5 years and have gotten crap experience because one must "pay their dues" so I yet to take a heart right out of surgery nor learn CRRT. So I am not that confident in my ICU skills to do traveling in that area yet. (I was a previous traveler on med-surg and tele floors).

I have two offers on my plate and don't know what to do. Which will make it easier to travel again in a couple years:

1. Well-known university hospital in a big city. Cath lab position. Pay is pretty decent for the area. This hospital's ICUs usually only hires internally so I could try for an ICU job in about a year or later.

2. Another well-know university hospital, this time in the middle of the state. So pay is approximately $7-8/hr LESS than the city hospital. Yes, cost of living is cheaper, but not THAT much cheaper. This position interests me so much more b/c it's in the cardiac ICU, and I'll get to learn LVADs, Ecmo and heart transplant patients which the manager said I'll be trained on from the get-go. Just the money and location stink.... which causes me some anxiety.

So... I know where I'm leaning, you probably know where I'm leaning. What are your thoughts.

If I was to learn the cath lab, are there cath lab travel nurse opportunities out there?

Thanks so much!

Connie

altho it's great to have all the experience in CVICU, most places don't give travelers those types of pts. Depending on the place, even first day hearts can be hard to come by. Also, depending where you want to go, cvicu positions can be hard to come by. what does your recent trav company say about positions? I did a search on my old co website and there wasn't many cvicu or cath lab travel jobs avail nation wide. the cv jobs mostly only required 1 year experience, while the cath lab jobs required either 2 plus years or 3-5 years. some required ep lab experience. you might not get enough experience for cath lab..

all things to think about!

good luck!

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I'd go for the ICU job in the middle of the State. There is a reason there is "battle pay" for the city facility. I always got more money for the inner city jobs. That's usually because there is some risk at working there. There aren't many cath lab positions available travel wise as many facility/cardiologists prefer the use of their own staff.A highly trained critical care nurse is more marketable and higher paid in my experience.