In LOVE!!! & Moving to NM in next couple of months! Help???

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Texas nurse here - and timing has worked out where I am looking at a move to either Albuquerque or Santa Fe by year's end

or at least in January. Great time of year, huh?

Odds are it will be Albuquerque - as I am following love/heart all that 'stuff' and he is in Albq now but with a possible transfer to Santa Fe by year's end - but timing is unknown. Making it hard for me to explore all options until the last minute.

So questions? I'm a Certified Hospice & Palliative Licensed nurse - How difficult do you think it will be for me to find quick employment? I have lots of experience in all other areas - as in TX I've done acute med surg/telemetry/rehab/agency in ER/acute/med surg - but hospitals it seems are not utilizing LVN/LPNs much here now nor it seems in NM. Is this correct?

Is LTC, home health, home hospice my only avenues? Are agencies using LPN's like they are in TX? Are clinics, drs offices using LPN's or Med Techs?

And weather???? Am I going to have a problem with snow, driving? More in Santa Fe?

I want this change in my life to work. I want to do user-friendly nursing if at all possible - not the killer 36 hr shifts somewhere that I've always had. Do I have options?

All ideas, suggestions, go-for-it's greatly appreciated!!!

Realize this thread has been rather quiet - but someone please respond??? Need lots of help or just where to start my search -

Thanks so much!

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Hi Ashera :)

I don't know how much help I will be but I'll try... I am from SE New Mexico and I know that here it seems there are more positions available in Home Health and Hospice than there are in the hospitals locally. I would assume it would be fairly easy/quick to get a job in those areas. I am not sure about agency, but I know that clinics & doctors offices around here do hire LPNs. I would recommend just looking around a little before settling on anything, because although I'm not sure about Alb/Santa Fe, I know that here they don't advertise openings very well, so you may have to call around instead of just going by ads/websites/etc...

As for the weather, I know snow can be a problem in the winter but in town they tend to take pretty good care of the roads... I would assume Santa Fe would be a little worse just because it's further in the mountains, but I dunno for sure. Otherwise, the weather is pretty nice (here further south, it gets HOT and didn't snow once last year, but the weather is drastically different from here to there).

I am sorry I couldn't be more help but I wish you all the luck with your move :D

Take care!

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Specializes in Psychiatric Nurse.

a good website that provides information about all 50 states and most metro areas is city-data.com forum. there website is located at http://www.city-data.com/forum/. new mexico just happens to have a secondary link for albuquerque and sante fe. when you get a chance, access the site and you can read the many threads about the cities/state. also, you can do a search about nursing...employment...weather...etc. the members that respond to the thread are locals. they are very helpful and will probably be able to provide an answer to any questions you may have. there are many links about housing, neighborhoods (safe, unsafe, etc.), trave to/from various cities; but you can always ask your own questions if you do not see the answers you need. it's free to join (...like allnurses.com...)

...not sure about lpns/lvns; but mcbx3 is right about poor advertisement of available nursing positions in new mexico. take the time to make phone calls, get names and then send out letters to follow-up.

since you have nursing experience, you should not have the job search problems that many new grads are having right now.

good luck...with love....new surroundings...new job...! :up:

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Santa Fe tends to run about 10 degrees colder than Albuquerque, and gets a bit more snow. Most of our storms don't last all that long. The SF ski basin is a nice little one, some of our hard core skiers head up to Wolf Creek fairly often.

Christus St.Vincent does have LPNs, but I don't know if they are hiring more. HR is sometimes verrryy slow about responding to applications, but there is an online application available. It is a union hospital. There is also the Indian Hospital, Public Health Services. They have limited services, but its worth looking into. There is a little 20 bed private surgical hospital in SF as well.

Several LTCs in town as well, some pretty high end. Ponce de Leon, El Castillo, Rosemont.

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Not sure if you're settled in NM already, since I'm new to the forums. In Albuquerque, the Maxim agency takes LPNs, and I too have found it difficult to find LPN listings on internet searches. I know St. Catherine is looking for LPN staff, their patient load is way too high for someone with very little experience like me, but they might be an option for you. They're long-term care. They also seem to be running 8-hour shifts, which I've not seen a lot of other places.

Hope this helps even a little. O! and welcome to the land of enchantment if you're already settled in!

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Not sure if you're settled in NM already, since I'm new to the forums. In Albuquerque, the Maxim agency takes LPNs, and I too have found it difficult to find LPN listings on internet searches. I know St. Catherine is looking for LPN staff, their patient load is way too high for someone with very little experience like me, but they might be an option for you. They're long-term care. They also seem to be running 8-hour shifts, which I've not seen a lot of other places.

Hope this helps even a little. O! and welcome to the land of enchantment if you're already settled in!

Imbri - thanks ever so for the kind reply. No...not in NM yet - love sometimes comes with challenges :) - not bad but logistically speaking.

Read your other posts - my reply to your ? about nurse/pt ratios - that being 45 pts...RUN.....VERY FAST AWAY - NO...amount of experience makes that a safe situation. And the overwhelming, panic feeling you had was right-on - whether you are a newbie or 10 years down your road. Something terribly broken in that atmosphere and alas - that is more normal than you think. I call it assembly-line med toss - with hopes it lands in the right mouth. Bad deal all around - mostly for the pts.

I'm still looking at all options but might be waiting til it warms just a bit. Moves are not easy at any time of year - but this winter has been difficult everywhere -

Best of luck to you on your further study - if you go that way - and on what you do in the meantime. Keep me/us posted!

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