Outlying hospital vs downtown houston

[paintedbison]

I work in a small community hospital about 1 -1.5 hrs from downtown houston. I started there about six months ago. Before that I worked in a much larger hospital in a different city (relocated for hubby's job).

I am really frustrated where I am at now. I work on post partum and it is very unfriendly towards breastfeeding and seems behind the times to me. I can also be floated to any floor in the hospital if the census is low. And, we get med-surg overflow on our floor all the time.

I would really like to work somewhere that I can just be an OB nurse and not have to deal with med-surg patients. I got an email out of the blue from Methodist downtown, and I don't know whether to pursue it or not.

I am really unhappy where I am at, but I haven't been there that long, so I don't know if I need to just give it more time.... or if I should just go ahead and quit. I also don't know if it would be worth driving an hour more to work. (I just want to work part-time... so I wouldn't have to drive it everyday.)

The last thing I want to do is quit where I am at... get a job over an hour away, and then realize things aren't much better downtown and be stuck with the way long commute and outrageous gas bills. If I quit where I am, I would NOT ever consider going back. So I would have basically burnt a bridge with the closest hospital to where I live.

Sorry so long.... Any advice????

[ZASHAGALKA, RN]

There are lots of hospitals that ring Houston.

Methodist is not just 1-1.5 hrs away if you have to wade through rush hour to get there. H-town rush hour, as you know, is legendary, and downtown is JUST that.

Try other hospitals on the periphery. It's GOT to be a rare thing to mix women/children services w/ general services. Most hospitals wouldn't dare mix a potentially MRSA pt on PP services; or let their PP nurses float down to bring it back.

If you are 1-1.5 hrs out, there HAVE to be closer hospitals than downtown. Give your notice and you might not burn a bridge. But look around closer to you.

Really, a cold pitch from Methodist means nothing to you. You have more choices than that.

~faith,

Timothy.

[SnoopyComeHome]

Have you considered taking a travel assignment? The company I work with has assignments that have me scheduled as little as 3 days per week (and every other weekend).

I like it because I get to learn about the hospitals -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Best of all, I do not have to be part of the politics on the floor.

Let me know if you need any referrals to some of the better travel agencies.

Gina, BSN

NICU

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

I'm sure this isn't true on all the floors at Methodist, but from personal experience and hearsay from others, their staff aren't the most friendly.

[lands1980]

I called Safe Harbor at Methodist in the MICU due to an unsafe triple. I have never looked backed. The BNE wasn't shock after I called them and had little to offer about what to do. Found out I was one of several that week when this happened. Happened severval years ago and heard it hasn't changed.

Staff was unfriendly and disconnected even to each other like a prison atmosphere of everyone being chained togather and survival was the key word. Hope I am not vague about Methodist. I did really get some satisfaction in my nursing career at Saint Luke's. It ain't perfect either.

[lands1980]

Texas Women's Hospital. I have had some very limited knowledge about your speciality. It's HCA. You got options. Avoid Saint Joseph. I actually worked a PP shift and got 10 patients and 6 were new admissions. If I would not have been a high volume ER nurse I wouldn't have made it.