bisayaispisyal

congrats!!!! considering that its your first, i would go for med-surg. it has everything...psyche included. im on a respiratory/med surg floor. respiratory is our main area which could be tough too. anyways, when i first got here, i was thinking right away of getting a second job once i passed my nclex but eventually changed my mind as soon as i started working as RN. why? yep, the stress....even if i worked 12 hr shifts (and getting 4 days off at that), i dont think i can handle the extra stress on top of the regular stress at my first hospital..so i was thinking to get as much rest and relaxation as i can during my off days, otherwise, i would get burned out quick! but if you really wanna go for a second job, maybe you would think working in a non hospital setting (hopefully, there's lesser stress). good luck!

hi k-an 24, you're more than welcome. there is nothing better than helping fellow filipinos out. a lot of kind hearted filipinos also helped us when we first came here and we are simply passing it forward...good luck in your processing and take care! also, i will be posting at some other time (not now, coz i will be getting ready for work in a few mins. hehe..) more information about hospital, orientation and other stuff i can think of that might be useful.. to everyone, have a good day!

sorry about the mix up. i know the pay is very low..but i failed to mention that i signed up with holmes under different circumstances. i come from another country and started working as a nurse tech. when i passed my boards, that was when they raised my salary to that level. but i guess it would be a different story if u studied here or had more experience. or if you were an agency or a travel nurse, i heard they get paid more. or if you go to the per diem pool too, you get more coz you dont get benefits. im not exactly sure how much the figures are but definitely its more than the figures i gave out previously. i wish everyone well in their endeavors. happy new year!!!

mabuhay!!! wow, i wished i could have read this thread before me and my husband migrated here. i have been a member of allnurses early this year, and i found some of the threads/posts were informative but none like this...thanks to lawrence! anyway, we live in melbourne, florida and we got here last july. i just wanna share our experiences (though they may not be as extensive as those who have lived here longer) for those who are yet to come. re apartments -- we were lucky our agency found us an apartment near our hospital. we simply took the hospital shuttle bus which was across the block where we lived and it was more or less a 10 min ride away. everything else was also walking distance; the grocery, church, thrift store, dollar store (oooh, i just love these stores! im a sucker for bargain stuff.) our apartment had 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, a fridge (they dont call it ref), an electric oven, free water and cable, a communal washer/dryer, swimming pool and gated access and rent is at 735$ a month. apartments here could go as low as $600 for a 1 bedroom/1bath and as high as 1000$ plus, again, depending on the location and the featured amenities. re credit history - yes, that. this was as alien to me as pumpkin pie! at first, i couldnt understand the point of making "utang" just to be able to "utang" later. hehehe...people started to advise us about using our credit cards to establish credit history. again, we were lucky our agency helped us secure credit cards, we paid 100$ to open it and was refundable at the end of the year. made sure we paid them on time, including all our other bills. re car - we realized that florida has one of the poorest public transportation systems in the US. so even if we lived just nearby to everything else, we needed a car to get around (eventually, we got bored with our local grocery store and needed to find some asian/pinoy stores too. hehe) so, after 4 months of hard work, we just bought our car last week! yey! and its not a lexus by the way.. we made sure to stay within our means. the thing is, we were given advise to inquire about a car loan from the local credit union bank but we got denied bec we didnt have enough credit history, however, if we could get someone to co sign for us, then they would probably let us. but having someone to co sign for us is another story..anyway, we went straight to the car dealer and guess what, their inhouse financing approved us. we agreed on a down of 4$. didnt bring cash/check that day since we were still saving for it, but they said we could drive away with the car after we settle the insurance. we gave them 1500$ from our debit cards, signed an iou for the balance and really did bring the car along with us that night. and yes, someone posted here about relatives back home thinking that we have lots of money just bec we're earning dollars. true, but we're also spending in dollars. they think that dollars grow on trees...asking here and there..not even thinking that we are working hard for that and that we have our own needs too -- sp if you are just new to this country. i guess its our job to inform them of the harsh realities here in america, that everything is not as easy as it seems... well, i hope this helps....good luck to all of your out there!

hey there! i have only lived in melbourne for about 5 months. being to new to this country and all but so far, me and my husband like it here. are you considering holmes regional? anyway, starting rates (at this hospital that is) would be around $18-20 plus. i know a lot of nurses on my floor who live about an hour away from the hospital. so you're not alone... good luck in your studies!

thank you. i havent been here since my last post. good to hear that you're now on your own. feels liberating right? at least you can pace yourself and work on your own. no more following around to the pyxis room or hovering over your preceptor's shoulder while they chart... im on a heavy floor and usually they give us 6 pts. last night, i got the whole package! whew! i usually go home at past 8 in the morning. and dont get to eat lunch even. talk about hard work. ehehe..but over all, i like the people on my floor. very friendly and helpful. and that is what matters to me. have a good day! ;o)

i passed my boards! yayyy!!! now all i have to do is wait for my florida license, which could take me like a couple more weeks. but im not rushing things. still consider myself an orientee, being new to the hospital and all that. i now do tech work on my own and sometimes i "shadow" an RN if there are enough techs/nurse aids on the shift. just last night, i gave and received my first report. hah! didnt do bad, i think... has anyone been to the new wing yet? well, i have but we just had to go to the emergency diagnostic imaging dept, which is on the ground floor. we got lost in the maze of hallways! good luck in trying to find your way around. hehe..

need some quick hurricane orientation tips. considering that this is my first hurricane here in florida. we do have typhoons back in my country but i dont know what to expect with the hurricanes here though. basically, we just did what the news have been advising people to do. some say it'll blow over by the time it gets to us...some say otherwise. well, i think its better to be prepared. so, cerebrum, u started working already? how was it? :wink2:

i am quite ok now. new staff on my floor get sick almost every week, at least thats what the old timers had experienced too. i can only hope that i get used to it right away. that big parking space is for patients, yes, and for doctors and others. i know that associates can park there on weekends and nights only. otherwise, the florida marketplace is where you should go on day shifts. as for the cafeteria, its cashless; associates may use their badges to pay and we also get a 33% (i think, not sure) discount. we havent been to any of the beaches yet. how do you get there? im sure it is beautiful....cant wait to go. once again, welcome to hrmc!

you got that right. after a few days of working at the respiratory wing, i got sick! my throat started getting scratchy a couple of days ago, then had the colds which eventually ended up with that loose cough. and i had body malaise, nausea, diarrhea on top of that too. ewwyuckarch!! they had to send me home yesterday after seeing my condition, of which, i gladly obliged. some of the older staff told me that when they first started in this department, they too got sick almost every week or every month until their body adjusted or for some reason got immune to the "air" around. and to think i religiously took my vitamins, ate healthy and did my standard/contact/airborne precs seriously.... anyway, thanks for asking. im ok now. just needed a good few hours of rest and sleep to kick the sickness away. good luck on your first day at hrmc! any tips?...just make sure not to get lost. hehehe..are you on the day shift? parking is at the marketplace if you are on the day shift. a shuttle bus goes around the parking area picking up people at designated bus stops starting at about 5 am til 7 or 8pm. interval between buses is more or less 10 mins. quick Q, whats a NURSYS?

tgif!!! im glad i survived the week! i get sat and sun off then back to work on monday. but till then, im sleeping until 10am tomorrow. the staff has been great so far and i learned lots. my feet and back still hurts but then thats a given. the only thing that makes my day is when a patient says thank you.. by the way, im scheduled to take my nclex next month but my agency got us to the new mexico bon coz they say its faster. i would like to know how long it takes for the reciprocity process before i could get my florida license. thanks. have a great weekend!

hi. i guess you can say i've got the 1st day of work blues...i am so tired and my feet are killing me! not that i did anything but from just standing around almost 90% of the time.. hehehe...i have a preceptor, a real nice lady and i am supposed to be shadowing her for most of the time while i am still on training. but other than my feet, i had a pretty interesting time, getting to learn stuff and how everything works. actually, i didnt feel tired until i got home. unfortunately, we dont have a tv yet (so pathetic huh?) so, no grey's anatomy for me. we just moved in from a different country and we only have the basic necessities in our apartment.thank God for this computer though! otherwise, we would go nuts!

im at 7E (respiratory). im not sure yet what my program is because tomorrow will be the first time i report on the floors. pretty anxious to start though. everything is WAY different from what i was used to..when do you start working? :wink2:

i just moved to melbourne from overseas barely 3 weeks ago. my husband and i also work at holmes. we start on monday. had our orientation last week. we have to pass our boards first so we are now working as nurse techs for the meantime. we like it here so far...weather is good, people are nice, shopping is great (hehehe)! wish us luck!

hi there! we are now here in melbourne. love it, so far... we havent been around much (dont have a car yet) but hopefully when we do get a car, we can get to all the beautiful places and see the beaches. we have yet to start work this monday at HRMC, we had our orientation already last week and it went along well. we dont have hospitals THIS big in our country so we were kinda overwhelmed by it all. the weather is so much like ours, so no big adjustment there. maybe not that much lightning and thunderstorms though. hehehe..