New travel nurse - Los Angeles

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Specializes in Coronary Care Unit/Tele.

Well, I decided to take the plunge and become a travel nurse!! I have been nursing for 3 years. The first 2 years were on a cardiothoracic surgery stepdown/telemetry floor and this past year I have been working on a coronary care unit. My husband and our dogs will be travelling with me. We currently live in Florida and plan on starting off in California hopefully in Feb or March. I prefer to work at teaching facilities - Iknow that Cedars and UCLA are both teaching facilities - are there any others in the LA area? Which hospitals should I avoid and which neighborhoods should I avoid?

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Specializes in ICU, School Nurse, Med/Surg, Psych.

A good travel company will help you with these decisions. I have been an RN for 16 years and have been a traveler a few times (great way to move as you already have a job and a place to stay). Maybe not so much help if you've already signed a contract but talk with your rep at the agency.

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I used to work for the largest travel nursing staffing firm (as a corporate employee) and I am excited for you! I used to help nurses with all of the logistics on their assignments. I am now a nursing student, go figure. I currently live in LA and UCLA and Cedars are both exceptional facilities. Any neighborhoods near West LA, Westwood, Brentwood, Santa Monica..etc are the best places to live. Also, the valley isn't a bad idea either for more affordable housing, like Sherman Oaks and Studio City. Both cities are not far from either hospital.

I know a lot about Travel Nursing, so ask any questions you may have.

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Numbers of travel assignments are considerably decreased from what they were a year ago. The economy has been hit quite hard here, actually number 3 in the country in terms of unemployment. So more nurses are picking up extra shifts where they currently are.

Please make sure that you sign with an agency that has an excellent history first of all and stands by all that they promise and that it is in writing.

Check out the travel nurse forum that can be found here as well.

Best of luck to you.

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