Nursing in Hawaii

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I am living on the Mainland right now and want to move back to the Big Island Hawaii or Maui Hawaii. I lived there as a kid but haven't been back since high school. So, I have some background but not as a working adult. I am an RN w/ a BSN and I have worked with home health, hospice, for the state and in the hospital. What is it like working as a nurse in Hawaii? How much do RN's with a BSN make? I am white/haole and is there predjudice against white nurses from patients or employers? I had some of that in grade school.

Thanks for the help,

Pixienurse

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Would love to live/work in Hawaii but I have read other threads that say jobs are hard to come by on the Islands. My wife is from Guam and we may move there after I finish school. Good luck, I want to follow this thread.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

I hear that HI is the only place worse than CO and CA... but maybe HH and Hospice aren't as bad off?

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Specializes in ER.

I worked an ER travel assignment at Hilo Medical Center on the big island back in 2006 and loved it. Never had any problems from patients or co-workers. The nurse manager and I did not see eye to eye on many things but it was not racial by any means (she was native Hawaiian, me white guy). It's hard to get travel companies to pay decent there but I went out for $35/hr (most were getting 26/hr) so it all depends on how you sell yourself. I'd probably try to go there on a travel job 1st and see how you like it. Pay wise, it's all union for regular staff so you can go to Hawai'i dept of health web site and look at jobs and pay rates.

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Being a travel nurse in hawaii sounds like a good idea. I am just worried that I couldn't learn the floor quick enough. Do they give you some time for orientation? I have been looking for nursing jobs on the Big Island and they are there. And $35 would be an ok start. I would love to find something at $40 or above if possible.

pixienurse

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Specializes in ER.

You can try but $35/hr is good for HI, the recruiters will throw the idea that everybody wants to go so the pay isn't that high but in reality it cost them a fortune to house and pay for travel for nurses to go there so they cut the pay rate so they still make their money. Here is a open job at Hilo ER just to get an idea of what full time pays. http://www.hhsc.org/recruit/jobannc/HMC_4-11_ED.pdf

Good luck on getting there, it was a lot of fun. Travel job orientation usually is 1-2 shifts, the expectation it that you can come in an work with minimum orientation/direction.

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I worked an ER travel assignment at Hilo Medical Center on the big island back in 2006 and loved it. Never had any problems from patients or co-workers. The nurse manager and I did not see eye to eye on many things but it was not racial by any means (she was native Hawaiian, me white guy). It's hard to get travel companies to pay decent there but I went out for $35/hr (most were getting 26/hr) so it all depends on how you sell yourself. I'd probably try to go there on a travel job 1st and see how you like it. Pay wise, it's all union for regular staff so you can go to Hawai'i dept of health web site and look at jobs and pay rates.

Getting a travel job in Hawaii is pretty darn hard (from friends who travel nurse and have tried for quite some time to get an assignment in HI)

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