Reno - Renown Emergency Department?

[ItsTime]

I have been a travel nurse for five years and I am ready to settle down. I have whittled my list down to four places - Flagstaff, Reno, Fort Collins/Loveland, or Tampa. I eventually want to get back into flight nursing - but I need to sharpen my trauma skills again (I have traveled to a lot of small community hospitals during the last five years). I was hoping someone could give me the inside scoop on Reno. I'm looking for an ED that is well run, good relationship between staff - docs, nurses, management; has lots of support staff, offers lots of educational opportunities, max of four patients to a nurse.... And I don't want a facility that deals with just drunks and drug addicts with the occasional trauma. As far as the city - I'm looking for an enviromentally friendly city (recycles, public transport), lots of outdoor activities (natural beauty), and lots of indoor activities when it gets cold (movies, mall, plays, restaurants). Must be dog friendly. I am a single, thirty something female - so I need a place where I can make friends my age. I'll be renting a place - but I would like the payrate to match the cost of living. With that in mind - how much does a nurse with ten years make? I am also planning to go back to school - so I was wondering if there is a master's program in the area.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for all who reply.

[Reno1978, BSN, RN]

Hopefully FERN-tastic will chime in about the working conditions in the ED at Renown. She works there.

Renown is a Level II trauma center and we get a lot of trauma in this area from so much of the outdoor recreational activities around us and traumas are flown in from the rural areas of NV, UT, CA, ID that are nearby. I think it'd be an okay place to sharpen your trauma skills. Someone else can better speak to this, but I believe we handle pretty much everything besides burns on the trauma side of things...those are always sent out.

Reno has a bus system - not excellent public transport. You can set up recycling with the local waste management company who will come collect your stuff in bins that they provide. There are lots of outdoor activities (hiking, boating, skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, etc) and plenty of places to eat, shop, and see shows (from casino shows to small theater and college productions).

UNR has a master's program. Depending on what your goals are, so does UNLV and they offer much of certain programs online. Once you establish residency, you'll find tuition in NV is very cheap, with graduate credits at UNR being only $202 at this time for residents.

I couldn't tell you how much someone with 10 years of experience is making at Renown, but I can tell you that the new graduate rate of pay is $27.21 and the typical annual increase is 4%. I can say that I can comfortably pay my mortgage/utilities with one paycheck, as a RN with under 1 year experience.

Good luck with your decision!

[Medwynn]

For someone with 10 years. You will probably make at least 35.00 base pay ( i am just making a guess computing the 4% per year raise on top of the RN start pay ). RN pay at the top is around 39 an hour.

Yeah i would agree, maybe FERN-tastic can private message you about the ED. 4 patients max at the ER? we don't have mandated nurse / pt ratios in nevada.