Nurses in Iowa

Where in Iowa would you be moving to? That makes a big difference in job availability and cost of living. Huge parts of the state are rural, but we've got several urban and small-city/big-town areas.

I think it is in Central Iowa near Ames.

Is he going to go to college there, like at Iowa State or Drake University? Or is he moving for a job? And what are your credentials? LPN? RN? BSN?

He's moving back to be close to his family. I'm still in nursing school working on my associate degree in nursing. I don't graduate until next year.

So, if you want to work in the hospital setting, Ames has Mary Greeley Medical Center. Des Moines is within commuting distance of the Ames area, and there are several hospitals there. And of course there are going to be plenty of nursing homes and home health care services and other places you could work.

You might want to get in touch with a few HR departments and ask them about possible future job prospects, and whether they prefer hiring BSN or ADN nurses. I'm from Iowa City, and because we've got a lot of nursing programs in the area, the hospitals here are able to be a little more picky and it's hard to find a job if you're an ADN nurse.

I plan on starting my RN to BSN as soon as I can. I already have a bachelor's and master's degree in something else. I just couldn't afford to pay for a BSN right now. I couldn't justify paying more than twice the cost to get paid the same.

That makes sense! I'm in an RN-BSN program right now, and it's pretty cheap with a state school in Wisconsin (they charge discounted rates for online students).

Just for reference, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City is the place paying the highest salary for new nurses in the state of Iowa, and they started at about $51k a year. Iowa City's cost of living is quite a bit higher than most of the rest of the state, as well, though.

Thanks for the info! I'm really worried about getting my first job with an associate's degree, but I'm almost done with my first year and have to stay the course.

Having an existing bachelor's and master's degree should make it easier! And if you're interested in getting a master's in nursing eventually, you might want to check into ADN-MSN bridge programs, too.

Definitely get in touch with HR departments, though. They can advise you on whether you'd have a chance getting hired with the ADN. I'm guessing it'll be easier to be hired as an ADN in Ames than it might be in Des Moines, although you probably wouldn't be paid as much. Ames has a relatively low cost of living, even though it's a college town.

I'll definitely contact HR departments to find out if they hire nurses with ADNs.