Possible relocation. questions about Dallas area

allnurses Guide · Jul 27, 2012

Frisco/Allen/Plano/McKinney/Fairview are all really good areas to raise a family if you are interested in North Dallas. Good schools, safe neighborhoods for the most part. Every town has its less desirable areas but just do a little research and you will be fine. Particularly Fairview, if you can afford it, with the Lovejoy school district, is considered to be a primo place to raise and school young ones right now. Lots of young families there. Allen is enjoying high football achievements and has a "small town" feel to it still. Sandwiched as it is, there is a limit to how much it can grow. Plano is much bigger than it used to be but the schools are still considered some of the best in the state. Frisco is still growing and I personally hate hate hate driving there. The traffic is awful. They are working hard on it, but right now the roads don't seem able to keep up with the volume of people very well and driving in Frisco is always stressful to me. That being said, they have lovely neighborhoods and like all communities in this area have very reputable schools. The entire area is saturated in family friendly activities, restaurants, entertainment venues (Frisco Rough Riders, Allen Event Center with its hockey and football teams along with concerts and other events), Plano Community Theater and tons more.

Medical City is owned by HCA. HCA also owns all the Medical Center of ______ (insert suburb name here). I work for one of these and am very very happy in my job. Is it perfect? No. But it is good and I have no plans to move somewhere else anytime soon. Other areas hospitals are the Baylor owned facilities, which tend to pay less but have high nurse satisfaction (Baylor Frisco is considered a primo place to work), THR (Presbyterian hospitals) which vary in quality and nurse satisfaction (Presby Allen has a poor reputation but Presby Plano is considered to be good as is Presby Dallas). There are the new Forest Park hospitals, one in Dallas and one in Frisco, which are considered awesome places to work. Those hospitals are doctor owned, have good benefits and high employee satisfaction ratings with brand new everything and well equiped.

Most of the local hospitals are strongly prefering BSN candidates these days but ASNs with pertinent experience are still getting hired.

TraciLD · Jul 27, 2012

Not.Done.Yet, do you know if Forest Park will hire an ADN graduate? I am very interested in their facilities but don't know if they have gone the BSN only route. I'm torn between doing a BSN or ADN program. I will be application ready for the ADN program this Fall but would need an extra semester for the BSN program. I know I should probably wait and just do the BSN but if I could get my ADN and then do the RN-BSN program that would be ideal for me (as well as cost effective). I know you are a graduate of Collin which is where I am applying so I was just curious.

To the OP, I live in Frisco and cannot say enough wonderful things about it. I have lived in Frisco for almost 15 years now so I am probably biased. I do like the Fairview area but it is just a little too far North for my family. I know Frisco ISD is a great school system but I think most of the schools in the North Dallas suburbs are worth looking into.

allnurses Guide · Jul 27, 2012

Forest Park prefers to hire BSN nurses and doesn't take many new grads. I only know of one, in fact, who got hired there. He was a BSN nurse. Whether ADNs have gotten hired there, I honestly do not know. I do know they don't want to even talk to you until you have passed NCLEX.

TraciLD · Jul 27, 2012

Forest Park prefers to hire BSN nurses and doesn't take many new grads. I only know of one, in fact, who got hired there. He was a BSN nurse. Whether ADNs have gotten hired there, I honestly do not know. I do know they don't want to even talk to you until you have passed NCLEX.

Thank you. They still say BSN preferred on their job site but I figured it was probably more of a requirement than preference.

grahamd01 · Jul 27, 2012

Thanks for your great insight not.done.yet.

I really appreciate all of your comments. I'm curious as to whether northern Texas hospitals are beginning to unionize yet or not? Any suggestions? Also thanks for your opinions about HCA health systems, I will certainly keep them a part of my research into moving.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2012

Thanks for your great insight not.done.yet.
I really appreciate all of your comments. I'm curious as to whether northern Texas hospitals are beginning to unionize yet or not? Any suggestions? Also thanks for your opinions about HCA health systems, I will certainly keep them a part of my research into moving.

North Texas hospitals are vehemently anti-union, and I seriously doubt that any of the healthcare facilities in the Dallas area will unionize during my lifetime.

I come from a state where many hospitals and facilities are union, so living and working in Texas has involved some 'cultural' adjustments from me.

grahamd01 · Jul 28, 2012

Thanks for your reply TheCommuter, what type of differences do you see with your adjustment? What do you recommend in making adecision about a hospital.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2012

Thanks for your reply TheCommuter, what type of differences do you see with your adjustment? What do you recommend in making adecision about a hospital.

Just keep in mind that employment in Texas is 'at-will,' meaning that you can resign at any time for any reason. Likewise, the entity that employs you can terminate your employment at any time and for any reason.

grahamd01 · Jul 28, 2012

Just keep in mind that employment in Texas is 'at-will,' meaning that you can resign at any time for any reason. Likewise, the entity that employs you can terminate your employment at any time and for any reason.

what hospitals have you had experience with?