Nursing in Philly advice

[trouper]

I am a Tele RN I, soon to be RN II living and working in Texas. I am making plans to move and have contemplated several cities, one of them being Philly. Currently, at my hospital, the day shift patient to nurse ratio is 4:1 or 5:1. Can someone tell me what the average day shift patient to nurse ratio (on a Tele/Cardiac floor) at most Philly area hospitals are? Also, what is the average wage of an RN II in the critical care setting in Philly? My current base is $25.35 and I am hoping to make more than this as I know Philly will be more expensive . Finally, can any local Philly nurses recommend reputable hospitals in the Philly area where nurses seem content with their job and work environment.

Thanks for any input,

[dondon44444]

hi, i used to work on a telemetry unit at abington memorial hospital...its one of the biggest hospitals on the outskirts of philly. i dont know if you are looking for actual philly hospitals, but this is a nice suburban area about twenty minutes from the city. it actually pays pretty much the most out of all the other suburban hospitals, and its pretty big, not some small hospital. i used to work night shift there and we got about 5 patients apiece...twelve hr shifts. during day shift they tried to give the nurses between 3 and 4 patients each. also, i believe the base pay there is around $25. if you worked night shift there you make around $30/hr. and the other plus is not having to pay philly wage tax if you work there. it is a magnet hospital. i hope this helps. i dont work there anymore bc i dont really like hospital nursing myself, but i wanted to get some experience there right out of nursing school. its a very high tech unit, they do open heart surgery there, cardiac caths, transplants, and all kinds of other procedures.

hope this helps you