gnovime

But were you prompted to do the fingerprinting? I should probably just call them but didn't want to be on hold for hours. I was never prompted after the application to complete fingerprinting and there is no mention of that when I check the application status. Where did you get the ORI# from?

Florida Board of Nursing - Licensing, Renewals & Information MQA Online Services You just log in to your current license and then there's a drop down menu where you can apply for "Multi-State Registered Nurse Upgrade Application."

Has anyone done the application to upgrade to Florida Multi-State (compact/eNLC) license? I just completed it earlier today but it wasn't very clear on instructions. I completed and paid but it didn't tell me if I need to have fingerprinting done or not. On the main page it says if you haven't had fingerprinting in the last 90 days that you'll need to have completed again, but on the actual application it says nothing about instructions for fingerprinting or next steps. I've had fingerprinting done for other states recently, I'm sure that doesn't count, but at the end of my application I wasn't prompted or instructed to obtain LiveScan.

Have you ever, or heard about someone else, renegotiated a contract mid-contract? For instance if you found out another traveler with the same company was getting a much better contract at the same facility/position/etc.

There's a lot for me to like about the contract, more like than not, and it's the best paying contract I've seen so far (for my active states) and interview was great, facility seems like a good fit especially for my first travel assignment. It's just those small things that irk me. I doubt there will be much OT to gain at this place I'm more concerned about holidays, as I will likely be to work 3 holidays as far as I know. And the basic fact that $30 OT is ludicrous. So I will be 99% likely to take it, get my first assignment in, and if they won't work with me on OT for a future contract I'll just tell them to delete me from their call list.

Do most travelers hardly negotiate their contracts? I'm looking to sign my first contract and some of the details didn't make sense to me like OT rate. I talked to a traveler that raves about the agency and has been with them 3 or so years. She's never negotiated anything and thinks a $30 total OT/Holiday rate is fair ($20 taxed at 1.5x). The agency won't budge with me on it and part of me says not to push it this is your first contract, as everything else looks good, you'll have more leverage after I have the first one under my belt. The contract language is a bit grating, but have heard nothing but good about the agency.

I was looking in Central Florida, so I can imagine that South Florida was paying even less. Best thing to do though is if you really want it, sign up with some recruiters and get some quotes. Always better than anecdotal information. :) I'd keep my eye on Fastaff though if you want the best rates. They don't have any postings for Florida right now but best to sign up so you know when openings pop up.

As someone who started in Chicago then moved to Florida, I can attest to a lot of that. You really only want to come to Florida if you want the experience more than the pay. I was an ICU nurse when I was in Chicago and ended up switching to home health here since the pay was much better for HH, plus it was a nice change of pace (not easier, mind you, I see more in home health than I ever did in the hospital). Granted this was as non-travel, but the ICU rates I was getting quoted with, at the time, 5 years experience, was the same rate I was offered as a new grad in Chicago. Which Chicago new grad rates aren't that great to start with! Nurse pay already stinks in Illinois, and it's worse in Florida. So if you decide to travel to South Florida make sure you're just going for the experience. The pay will be low and the work conditions less than ideal compared to even Chicago depending on which hospital you're coming out of. Seasonal jobs direct through the hospital systems like Ned mentioned might be slightly better pay wise.

I got contacted by a recruiter from an AMN subsidiary, should I avoid any AMN company for Kaiser or just American Mobile?

Thanks Ned. Yeah I've been a free member on PanTraveler for years but now that I'm finally rolling along I might as well get the paid membership for a year. No floating worries for me as I'll be home health. Might be floated 50 miles out of my usual patient area but that's something else altogether lol. I completely hear you on the name brand "elites." I started my career at one of these in one of the very first Magnet hospitals. Lowest paying hospital for nurses in the whole city and horrendous treatment of nurses. You better believe though when Magnet rolled through, patient ratios were top notch and every t was crossed. When they're gone? Back to normal. Good advise on the Kaiser/AM situation. I've read about the subcontracting situations with different systems with people saying to cut out the middle man but I guess in this situation the middle man is the better option, or should I say middle middle man.

NedRN - Do you recommend doing the paid PanTravelers membership? I see it mentions you have access to their contract lawyer but hard to tell if that's truly useful or not. One of my recruiters is wanting to try to get me into Kaiser for my first travel position (home health) as he says that once I've done a couple assignments for Kaiser that's golden for my travel resume, though it's also higher paid than most of the other contracts so makes me think it might be possibly trial by fire

Aiming for one specific location will definitely limit you, more so if you're only working with one agency. Your best bet might to be look at seasonal jobs since high season is about to hit Florida, then you're also cutting out the middle man and working directly for the hospital system. Seasonals will often pay the same perks as travel, others can chip in but there's plenty of threads on here about seasonals in Florida, I know I always see them for Naples.

Thanks Wolf, yeah it was actually reading your post that first got me thinking about the CA license and verification consequences, however CA is my priority which is why I didn't want to save till last. That's why I'm hoping that applying to NY and MA now won't be an issue when I turn in my app in 2 weeks directly to CA BON. Other states I'm not as concerned about. If the job pays enough the $100 fee won't stop me. Spend some to make some :)

Well my goal is to be able to start looking at assignments by November so will still do everything I can to expedite the CA license. Might just have to bite the bullet on the CA license verification but maybe I'll get lucky :)

I've already booked my flight to Sacramento it's in 2 weeks, so the next 2 days I'm working on getting my applications in for the other states. You think that should still work for timing? Also should I go ahead and initiate the Nursys verification for CA before traveling?