Looking to relocate to Indianapolis - Advice/Tips for a West Coast Nurse

[awyman33]

Hi All -

My husband and I have just began looking into relocating to Greenwood, IN from Portland, OR and I was hoping to get some input from any current Indiana RN's. I have my Bachelors of nursing and have been an RN for 4 years, I current work in Medical Oncology but have experience as a Neurovascular/telemetry RN as well.

I have browsed various sites online but I figured I should reach out to my nursing community to get some answers regarding pay and preferred hospitals.

I have spoken with a recruiter at St. Vincent's however she was only able to give very generalized information and I am currently looking to get specifics in terms of salaries and what not in order to determine our financial outlook as I know I will be taking a somewhat significant pay cut.

Questions/Topics

Preferred facilities - Pros/cons

Salary Information - Shift differential, additional certifications (Med/surg; OCN) Does your facility offer additional pay for certifications? Hourly vs. percentage increase for night shift vs. dayshift

Educational/professional opportunities within your facility

Any general information you think I should know...

Thank you kindly,

Ashley

[roser13, ASN, RN]

I will just say this: the Community Healthcare system is the single healthcare system in Indy that did not lay-off or RIF employees in the recent downturn in the economy. You are locating to greenwood, but I can vouch for the northeast Community system begging for RN's.

We continue to absorb St. Vincent & IU nurses who are unhappy with their unstable positions.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I'm a St. Vincent 'refugee' and mother of Community Hospital system WOCN. Agree with roser above. Community treats my daughter very, VERY well.

The four big systems in the Indy market are: St. Vincent, Indiana University (IU Health), Community and Franciscan/ St. Francis. Hendricks Regional is also a great place to work and treats people well- it's in suburban Danville.

Something you also need to look at is the cost of living. I live in the north suburbs. You can buy a nice 1500+ SF home in a decent subdivision in almost any similar suburb around for UNDER $150K.