ann444

my advice for any healthcare professional - especially a new grad is to do your research before signing on with a hospital in albuquerque. as with any city there will be good and bad hospitals. i have heard good things about presby. but there is one hospital in particular that has had numerous problems with medicare complaints and investigations. we are talking front page newspaper expose type of problems. do your research. this is not a one time event - it is something that even the staff admits occurs every few years. in my opinion it is not an educated group of people and from what i experienced any attempt to bring new staff in or institute program improvements was met with an angry opposition. so basically you have a group of ignorant people who are quite content to remain ignorant at the expense of patient care as long as they remain in control. the hospital genuinely had an almost third world feeling to it. the patient population is very poor and uneducated with no real advocate support. so unless you are willing to just go in, do your job and quietly overlook this sort of a situation i would avoid the place at all cost. i've seen several health care professionals attempt to be publicly vocal about the situation or attempt to institute program improvements desperately trying to make for improved patient care and outcomes only to meet with problems in their own careers down the road as a result of retaliation. i WOULD definitely give tucson arizona university medical center a try first if you are wanting to head southwest. a world class difference in facilities and staff. also a world class difference in management. it is an excellent facility and a beautiful place to live. phoenix also has some excellent hospitals to work as a new grad or as a traveler. in fact, albuquerque is one of only two bad hospital reviews i have to give based on 10 years of travel experience. so with that being said, protect your career, save yourself the grief and be careful which hospital you land in as a nurse when traveling through albuquerque.

hello disappointed, have you checked into the tax advantage program? you would definitely qualify for the program if you are maintaining a mortgage at least 50 miles away from the facility you are signing on with. not every agency offers the tax advantage program upfront so please check that out carefully. it usually results in about 200-225 dollars extra take home a week. this might offset the difference for you enough to allow you the ability to travel and save a little money. take care and let me know if you have any more questions. ann

hello panoply, from my experience there are a growing number of facilities and hospitals offering numbers of 55.00 hourly for travel nurses. please keep in mind that often times these numbers do not include housing. you would be responsible for your housing out of the 55.00 hourly. but yes, it seems travel nursing especially for areas such as cvicu is starting to command a larger hourly compensation especially in states such as california, maryland, connecticut, new jersey and several places in new england. just keep in mind that there can always be a play on numbers here and protect yourself. get everything in writing in your contract such as housing deductions, etc. you might often times find that once housing and insurance are deducted your actual take home pay is more closely resembling something like the mid to high 30's an hour unless you are self incorporated and can take major advantage of tax benefits - of course with self incorporation comes a load of responsibility and paperwork so prepare yourself. good luck. ann