DM74LA

Thanks for all the feedback, this information helps guide my decision process.

BigT, thanks for that info. So there quoted rate on the site IS the actual pay. im OK with that money being taxed as I've already calculated for it and I want to be able to hit some OT with base rates in the 40's. i don't think I will mind staying in an Extended Stay provided there are NO bed bugs or other pests.

Last question, so even a company like Fastaff, who advertises rates in the 40's and higher, incorporates housing into these quoted rates?

Yeah, that's why I'm asking. Cali has the highest state tax plus a multitude of other costs associated with living there. My eventual plan is to work for Fastaff, sell my home in LA (the state) and rent in TX to be able to claim TX as my tax home and to obtain the compact license.

I'm interested in replies as well.

Why is the issue of extended stay being expensive an issue if the agency is paying for it? Does this detract from your hourly pay? I'm not a traveler so don't shoot!

Hey everyone. I'm curious as to how much the state tax rate of 13% seems to impact your take home pay? It's possible that some nurses are pushed into the higher tax bracket of 28% some these two combined would be 41%. Adding Medicare and SS withholdings, we're getting very close to 50% of your earned income. does anyone with an out of state perspective have an opinion in this? thanks in advance.

Hey all, it's been a couple of years since someone has asked. Seems around 2013 someone had asked about the Dallas market and got a few replies that it was flooded due to all the nursing schools in the area. Has this changed any. Also, I am an ADN nurse and heard that this could also limit my options as well. I'm currently in Shreveport where at my facility we go through spells of having no positions after a graduating class comes out to being extremely short after a few months-usually due to nurses leaving after their commitment is up. Also what does the float/pool or agency/contract options look like in Dallas? Thanks

Hi, can anyone recommend any good staffing agencies or hospitals with internal float pools in the Dallas area? Also wondering what the pay range looks like for agency or hospital based float pool nurses. I'm an ICU nurse but also do hemodialysis.

Hi all, I'm wondering how well a traveling acute dialysis nurse gets paid compared to med-surg or ICU. I've spoken with some non-dialysis travelers and they are convinced that dialysis assignments (I'm assuming they mean acute) pay very well. One nurse even told me like $100 an hour. I'm thinking 'yeah right maybe $100 per case'. But when I go online, I just see rates in the low 30's which is way below other areas. I've even spoken with a dialysis based travel agency and got a quote of around $32/hr plus housing. If this is what they're paying, it's definitely not even worth my time. Any opinions or first hand knowledge? thx

Hey, I'm not certain about any one particular course you could take, it really depends on what you want to do. General organizational and analytical skills are the best. Knowledge of Microsoft Office especially Excel (in my experience) is valuable. The majority of what we've been dealing with is refining our processes and policies. There's a lot of that to do. Technical work really cannot proceed until you get all that worked out. It's easy to hide bad process and workflows in paperwork. All that comes to light once you start to try applying technology a to it. We've just had a round of hiring and my manager hired people with no technical background, mainly nurses, who showed enthusiasm and courage in seeking the job. So I think that you're enthusiasm should speak for itself. If you do land a job, you can be as technical as you want. Our job duties range from education through writing reports and workflows. It's really up to you.

I happen to be a programmer and a nurse and I know people frequently get the terms 'configure' and 'programming' confused. But there is the possibilty of writing computer code in the informatics area if you have the desire to do so. Meaningful Use requires that the software system being implemented has a decision support system in place-we call this process 'rules and workflow'. This does require writing code and passing parameters between modules and not all nurses are interested in this level of technical detail. Thus some hospitals may let the vendor set this up for them. Some let their in-house programmers do it-but they usually need a clinician for the requirements. Most vendors hold classes to train those interested in learning and most hospitals would be happy to oblige since this is usually the cheaper option. Hope this helps.

74K in Louisiana. I'm content though, basically making the amount a float pool nurse would.

I have a similar background. I have a bachelors in computer science, but no job experience. I went directly back to get an associates in nursing. After nursing for five years I accepted a position that recently opened with our new clinical design team. After being there a few months people in the department started asking why I didn't apply to the department sooner? My response was, 'I had never thought about it'. If you hospital has an IT dept or even a data processing dept, it would hurt just to talk to someone in that dept. You may be surprised. I understand that it's hard to find someone with both skillsets.

Kathy, our informatics team is within the Data Processing Dept and we answer to the CIO.