moving to texas

The valley is always looking for nurses but there is a reason. Search around in the TX thread and you'll see why.

West Texas has plenty of work at decent sized hospitals (200+ beds). I'd take a look in the following locations:

Midland/Odessa

Abilene

Lubbock

Amarillo

I don't doubt you'd be able to find work in one of those towns.

After rereading your post I'm wondering if you specifically want to work a rural area. If that's the case post here and we'll try and narrow down a search for you. There's a whole lotta rural to Texas.

And as the above poster mentioned... while never having worked the Valley I have heard many bad stories about the place. I'd avoid it too.

I am tired of city living and I want to live somewhere warm. I miss the stars and smelling fresh air when I go outside. I want to hear nothing but crickets when I am going to sleep at night.

I want to know my neighbors and see people I know when I go to town. That's pretty much what I'm looking for.

I am a little concerned about working in Texas now though after searching the forums. The state that I live in now doesn't allow employers to slander you and put you on a blacklist so that you cannot get hired anywhere.

What the patient to nurse ratios like in Texas for a regular medical surgical floor?

IsisC,

I completely understand your desire to escape wintry weather - Here in Houston, we had a few days of freezing weather in February; very rare, for us. I can't imagine having to cope with that sort of thing for months on end... BRR.

Texas is too big and diverse to be considered as a whole. There are distinct regions and each one has it's own flavor. Our cities are just as 'city' as any other part of the nation - complete with traffic, population congestion, etc. What type of 'countryside' are you imagining? Do you crave trees and hills with short distances between towns? Desert landscape? Wide open spaces with plenty of elbow room? How do you feel about diversity? I would advise you to do some further exploration and figure out what area of the state most appeals to you. We also have a politico-economic culture is very Darwinian -- " If you're poor it's your own dang fault" that can be very uncomfortable for people coming from states with better social welfare support systems.

I was a bit puzzled about your reference to "slander" and blacklisting. but I guess this must be about the personnel system used in the D-FW area. To my knowledge, it is not used in any other area of the Texas. I know that there have been quite a few posts about it here on AN, but if any of the information was slanderous (untrue allegations), we have the same rights to take legal action as the citizens of any other state.

Ratios - hmm - again, you would have to investigate specific hospitals to determine that.. there is no statewide norm. There are some definite differences in nursing care in Texas. Our LVNs have a much wider scope of practice than many other states. Our BON is very 'action oriented' when it comes to professional discipline and our nurse practice act is much more specific than other states. For instance, we have a legally defined "nurse patient" duty that is not secondary to that of the physician.

Good luck on your goal of moving to a warmer climate... hope it's Texas, but I would certainly understand if you found somewhere else that was a better fit.

Texas is too big and diverse to be considered as a whole. There are distinct regions and each one has it's own flavor. Our cities are just as 'city' as any other part of the nation - complete with traffic, population congestion, etc. What type of 'countryside' are you imagining? Do you crave trees and hills with short distances between towns? Desert landscape? Wide open spaces with plenty of elbow room?

I have often thought that this Texas Forum needs to be divided up into regions: Hill Country, Valley, Panhandle, etc...