nursetaminator

AtHomeNurse: Did you also have to record yourself doing a head to toe assessment?

Research, research, research. Join lots of different on-line groups (nursing and RV), read through previous posts, ask informed questions, etc. It can be done. But you need to thoroughly educate yourself. Good luck!

You are awesome!! Thank you!

Not currently in dialysis but have worked as an RN in a facility previously. Those are some darn good questions for an interview so thank you! Just don't know much about this company so was curious of others thoughts. I have previous management experience and hoping to advance in the future. And I was contacted regarding this job so I didn't seek it out but always like to keep my options open.

Looking at a clinical manager job with Fresenius. I read the thread from 2009 (oh my!). Was curious if things had changed, thoughts about the company, general pay (it was mentioned pay would be significantly higher than 60K/year), etc. Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Parallon is the vendor management company for HCA facilities and they are a legitimate company. They handle per diem and travel contracts for HCA facilities among other things. There are a wide variety of opinions regarding them. Research some of the travel nurse forums for further info. I worked with them for a per diem contract in Texas.

I wouldn't take a taxable hourly rate less than $18/hr which is pretty standard "thinking" in the travel world. The hourly pay needs to be a little closer in line to what staff makes, which for Texas nurses is on average $25-30/hour. Your recruiter should be able to reconfigure the pay package with an hourly of $18 while keeping take home pay close to what you've been quoted. If you get audited the tax man won't be happy seeing your base pay at almost half what staff RN's make. Not good. With a lower base pay that benefits the travel company A LOT bc their payroll taxes are lower, etc, etc. See if you can research previous threads concerning this because I know it's been discussed. I'm not usually up at this hour so I hate to go into further detail and it be confusing. A take home of $1200 for Texas (M/S/Tele) is pretty standard. Might be a little harder in the larger cities though to make any kind of money because rent will be higher. I'm currently at a small hospital in TX and $1200 is close to what I take home. But rent for my RV site is very reasonable compared to other areas of Texas I'd looked at. Good luck to you! Hope this all makes sense.

My husband and I travel in our RV. It can be a lot of work finding campgrounds close to the job and not paying an arm and a leg. And we're restricted by the weather sometimes. Really wanted to take a job in Cody WY but no RV parks were open the first month I'd be there for assignment. But we like having all our stuff with us and we both have motorcycles so our toy hauler works great for us!

That was awesome!!! LOL!!! MsConstrued: my base pay rate is $18/hr and my holiday rate is $27. Not sure what the "rules" are. Pluses and minuses to holidays. I actually prefer to work them bc it's usually slower, admin is gone, & I don't like to do "touristy" things on holidays. I'm not really worried what everyone else is getting paid, staff wise.

New recruiter time if he/she has any condescending tone in their voice like that. Those are straight up hard sales tactics and that's the last thing you need in a recruiter. It should be a professional relationship, on both ends. I'm still new to traveling and I'm sure there are disadvantages in not having another contract lined up after one ends but that's for each traveler to decide for themselves. People take time off between assignments all the time. I've got 2 recruiters I work with and if you'd like their name/number PM me. They've both been a huge help to a new traveler and are extremely patient and have never pressured me. As opposed to a 3rd recruiter I WAS working with who has pulled some stunts that I refuse to put up with.

So your recruiter won't respond to your messages when you have concerns about a contract presented to you but the recruiter pushes you to make decisions about your next assignment? Sounds like a car salesperson to me. The recruiter didn't call you back or answer your questions - on purpose. If it were me I'd find a new recruiter. If you have doubts there's a reason why.

To the OP: there are lots of great places in Texas to work. And there are some places that suck (Conroe I've heard). It's just like everywhere else. Usually it comes down to specific facilities. If you're on facebook join a few of the nurse travel groups & ask some questions there bc you'll get a much more diverse response. I see people posting all the time about places they've worked in Texas that they love. I'm on my first travel assignment in south Texas and these people are AMAZING. The first day on the floor the hospitalist introduced himself and welcomed me to the facility. He treats the nurses like family. All the staff say hello and I've had so many people stop by to say welcome to town and thanks for taking the assignment. No we don't have unions, not every hospital is HCA, yes you're going to work for every penny you earn, very few of the doctors are rude.... I could go on and on and counter what others have said. Everyone has their own personal experiences and opinions. Some people refuse to work for HCA facilities. I worked for one and while some things I wasn't crazy about overall it wasn't bad. Be more concerned with the specific facility, not the state.

To clarify: lost cause for getting a CA license/endorsement at this time.

Check out this link: Excelsior College | State Board Requirements Looks like most of the states you can get a license via endorsement, just need X number of hours experience working as an RN. If you go this route might be a good idea to keep copies of paystubs that show hours worked. According to a friend who lives in CA and received her degree from Excelsior (and got her RN license from Texas) you can apply for endorsement but it's pretty much a lost cause, at least for now.

Love it how they let you work your full shift on Monday then fired you at the end of the day. Doesn't sound like a place I'd want to work.