Jacksonville RN opportunities

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I am graduating from RN school next month and live in Boston. I'm going to be heading down to Jacksonville, Florida and am wondering if anyone can help with a list of hospitals or other places I should be applying to. I googled the area and got a list of about 5 hospitals, but since I am not as familiar with the area as residents are, I was wondering if anyone had more information!!! Thanks! ;)

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Florida is on a hiring freeze, not to mention a sue party. Make sure you purchase plenty of .

I have two friends that used to be full time but are now prn...they say it is not good there. If you still want to try, Wolfson children's hospital is a nice hospital.

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Ps...lived in Jacksonville for years...not good. Crime is pretty bad, people won't look you in the eye and things are high.

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Specializes in COS-C, Risk Management.

Jacksonville = murder capital of Florida. Cost of living is high, although not as high as Boston, I think. Jobs are scarce for nurses with experience and I've seen nurses that graduated *last* spring still not employed. IMHO, rethink Jax.

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Specializes in Peds Hem, Onc, Med/Surg.

I live in Jacksonville and where I live its pretty safe. I got a job as a new grad and even though it took a while as soon as I went to see the manager I got in. KateRn1 said that about some new grad waiting months that because all they do is just turn in applications. Plus with hundreds of new grads every semester the people that are hiring want people with experiance! Of course if you are going to be picky about it then yeah jobs are scarce. Home health is looking for nurses left and right. They will hire you on the spot.

Shands is a teaching hospital and it gets the poorer population. It pays the highest, I think, but the workload is immense but I have a friend that works there and loves it.

I am a Baptist person. I work BMC Downtown and I think it is awesome. BMC South, Beaches, and Nassau are all really nice places to work. Baptist has a hiring freeze for non clinical positions, but it is the lowest paying hospital. Oh and its magnet.

St. Vincents is a catholic hospital and its really nice. I enjoyed having clinical there. My other friend works there and she loves it.

I don't know much about St. Lukes or Mayo but I have friends that have worked there and that leaves Memorial. For going there to get treatment it is not such a good idea but working there is decent. I know another nurse that works there and she enjoys it. The charge nurse that I work with does PRN jobs there and she prefers it over Baptist because she says the nurses over there get things done alot quicker than here and you don't hear so much complain. I don't believe that but whatever.

If you have to go as a patient go to Baptist, Mayo, St. Lukes or St. Vincents! (Which the last two merged recently)

the only complaints I hear about all of them are the regular stuff: staffing/managers/ blah blah blah. Those complaints are things that I think are in all positions.

As for Jacksonville itself I live in Arlington and I haven't had any issues at all. Southside/Baymeadows is really nice. Towards the beach is nice too. Don't go to Downtown or the Westside in my opinion.

Its only as good as you want it to be. IMHO. I lived here for 8 years and the first 4 I hated it but now that I know it and know the people and just brush off the bad stuff, its not bad at all.

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Specializes in COS-C, Risk Management.

Where are all these home health positions? I'm beating down their doors, with over ten years of experience, and can't get a foot in.

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Specializes in Peds Hem, Onc, Med/Surg.

try tehc health care. call 722-1112. its on beach and university right near the k-mart. they hired me as a new grad and it was too late because i already had a position with baptist. the nursing homes will hire you if you go personally. i went to one off of spring park rd, two weeks later they called me. too late but they did. also with the hospitals if you go to the floor and talk with the manager you will at least get an interview.

there is also another hh that i am about to go and apply to, its for peds, but i can't find the info right now.

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Specializes in COS-C, Risk Management.

Thanks for the info. I'm in Mandarin and wanting to stay a bit closer to home. With 20 HHC companies in the area, all of them advertising open positions, you wouldn't think it would be so hard. I'm holding off on hospitals and/or SNFs until I'm ridiculously desperate.

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I have lived here ALL my life I did not "relocate" here. Jacksonville has crime just like every other city in the U.S. if you want to move here you CAN move on the westside of town it just depends on where you move. Keep these areas in mind: Argyle, Orange Park, Mandarin, Baymeadows, Southside. The cost of living is Not that bad if you want to live in the suburbs or a GATED community then you are going to pay for it as with any city. I LOVE my city and I would recommend it to anyone. Jacksonville has its bad parts so does all the other cities if anyone knows a city without crime and and "urban" areas please let me know! Shands does get the poor end of patients but they pay the best and they need the RN's.

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I completely agree with RN2Bee84! I live on the westside. In 2003 I bought a house in Argyle and found it very safe. I currently own a house I just bought a year ago in Trails at Bent Creek. This is nestled in an area without too much direct access, so there isn't crime here....plus my neighbor is a JSO and so is the man across the street.

I used to live in NYC (Queens) and went to College in the Bronx. Obviously, the crime rates don't compare. When someone wants to point out that Jacksonville is the murder capital of FL, understand that Jacksonville is the largest city in the US by sq miles. Duval County = Jacksonville. Where most counties have multiple cities, we do not. As an example, while living in Richardson Texas, I noted the crime rate was 35. (Average is 100) Downtown Dallas was 225! (2.25 times the national average. Jacksonville is approx 1.3 times the national average.) Now, Richardson is in Dallas County. Imagine the crime rate reports if Dallas equaled Dallas County! It would give a bad impression of a very safe area.

There are sections of Jacksonville that are safe. You simply have to do your research.

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Florida is on a hiring freeze, not to mention a sue party. Make sure you purchase plenty of malpractice insurance.

I have two friends that used to be full time but are now prn...they say it is not good there. If you still want to try, Wolfson children's hospital is a nice hospital.

I've gone to a few hospitals websites recently and there were hundreds of RN jobs available, why would they advertise positions if they are "on a hiring freeze"?

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Specializes in Cardiac/Med Surg.

My son lives in Jacksonville, Mandarin nice area, went to UNF and lived near the school no problems...moved near a high school and robbed at gunpoint middle of day..so moved to Mandarin..my daughter is at UNF now and I am thinking of trying traveling nursing eventually. Probably Flagler hospital or Jax- Shands, always worked at Memorial Regional in Hollywood FL, think I want to stick with a not for profit hospital..my daughterinlaw had baby at st vincents, nice hospital would love to live near there and walk to work..will eventually move north..going to store travel trailer at pacettis rv and marina park soon so getting closer to getting there..

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