Nursing in Hawaii

[XcrMat]

Next summer I'll be moving to Honolulu with my wife who is an active duty army nurse. We are currently in Texas and I've been an RN with a BSN, working in med-surg for about 2 months now. By the time we move I'll have about 7-8 month of med-surg experience as an RN. I was also a military LPN back in 2008 and 2009 working in the ICU and PACU. I was wondering if anyone has experience as a nurse in Hawaii and could fill my in: how difficult is it to get a job? What are the staffing ratios like there? Or just what is it like being a nurse in Hawaii? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks :)

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

My experience in Hawaii was as a traveler. Hawaii only graduates a handful of new nurses a year, so they had to import some. That was 2010, don't know if that has changed.

I worked for Kaiser Permanente, check it out.. a good place to work.

Unfortunately some of the nurses were not positive towards "strangers". Some Hawaiian nurses feel we are stealing their jobs.

Some of them had the spirit of Aloha.

At the end of the day... you will still be in paradise.

Enjoy and keep us posted.

[Keseratops]

Hawaii has a few hundred new graduates each year with not enough jobs for new grads. However having experience will likely make things easier for you. If I were you I would look into getting a traveler job so that you can get placed and get your foot in the door. Hawaii is small so it is who you know and for permanent placement it seems to be how well you can fit in to a unit or hospitals culture. I think that people are generally very kind to new comers, but one has to show respect to get respect. There have been ignorant comments from travellers showing no cultural knowledge or sensitivity. It would be wise to do some research about the multi ethnic people here and read a bit about history to avoid this pitfall. I love Hawaii, and have come across incredible nurses and care here. Even patients and staff from all over the country and world give great remarks about the nursing care at the hospital i work for. Just remember not to expect everything to work like it did wherever you came from.

[positivethinker]

Been there, done that. Seeing that you did your last assignment in 2010, would you ever consider going back to do another assignment in Hawaii? Especially during the Michigan winters

[oahufish]

Job market for RN's is very tight here right now, we have many BSN's/New Grads doing Ward Clerk and NA work the past few years. If someone extensive experience in ICU, OR, Cath Lab or similar specialized area's they can probably pick up Call in work. I've been at Kaiser for 16 years and it is generally a great place to work, but we're not hiring much the past few years and those who are already in the system as Clerks, NA's, Tech seem to get the few jobs that come up.

If I were you, with your wife being in the Military...I would recommend getting into the GS system as soon as possible. You already have time that can be applied toward retirement and that will carry over with you wherever you may be stationed during her career. Benefits such as pension, leave, sick time will carry over wherever you go. If you take civilian jobs throughout her career, you'll always be starting over with each move. Even if you have to take a job which is Non Medical for a while, I would still stick with the GS system.