michael22

Thank you for the information as I am trying to decide on becoming an FNP or a Psych NP as well, I appreciate the input. I moved to Boston after nursing school which was a complete career killer. Gone were the opportunities and dreams of becoming an ICU nurse. None of the hospitals would train me for any specialty not even the one I worked at for the first 2 years after nursing school. I learned after living in Boston for a decade that Boston has so many colleges that are churning out nursing students that the competition for all jobs is stiff. I made my mind up to leave when I was at Massachusetts General Hospitals nurse employee appreciation event. I was talking to a supervisor from MGH who was introducing me to her daughter, who just graduated from nursing school with her BSN. This young woman was accepted into a new ICU training program that payed somewhere around $10.00 an hr, I believe it was for 6 months. My co-worker and I a 30 year emergency room nurse were appalled that such an institution as MGH would pay someone such a pathetic wage, this was in 2013. I with a decade of nursing could not get into the ICU but they were taking new grads and paying them $10hr. I left Massachusetts and never looked back! I think working in a smaller city with fewer nursing colleges may enhance ones career. As I pursue my MSN whether it is as a FNP or PMHNP I will seek out a smaller city to practice in.

As a boston based nurse with 6 years of experience. I am underemployed myself and have been looking for work in California and colorado. I would not recomed anyone to move here, the job market is tight. There are a lot of nursing schools here putting out new grads. The competition is tough. New grads who work as CNA's at the hospital I work at tell me they have submitted 100's of applications and I have talked to two women who graduated in 2008 and just found there first RN jobs. Good luck on your search. Have you tried the VA web site, they hire new grad, you have to be able to move though.

Thanks for the information. I did not think there was much difference in rents through out the bay area. I will check out Berkeley. I have never been their before in all my travels to the bay area in the past. I know here in Boston, the farther out you go from downtown Boston, the nursing wages drop significantly. Is it not like that in the S.F. Bay Area? I have also applied to a couple places in the south bay, but I think it might be harder to connect with new people and make friends versus living in the city. So I may stick to more densely populated places. I do need some green space though. Yeah your right you do have great weather!

The recruiter for Denver Health that I met with, told me I could expect to make $52,000 a year. No thanks! I am not going to uproot my life and move across the country at my expense for that. I think that is pathetic for a job such as nursing with the responsibility involved. Its a wonder they have any one working for them.

I to was lied to and deceived about going into the ICU training program right out of nursing school, but this was in a civilian hospital. Is there any other industry that blatantly lies to you about the job to get you in the door then deceives you and does not carry through? 5 years later, it happened to me again at my present job. I will never take another nursing job without getting everything in writing. This one has cost me a lot! a lot of pain, loss of money and a lot of frustration and arguing with my partner.

thanks I will love it if I ever get a decent paying job their.

thank you for your honest input, I appreciate it

Hi, I use to work at the VA in Phoenix as a lab tech before moving out of state and going to nursing school. I have been looking for work and applying to several VA hospitals across the country, now that I am a nurse. I definitely want to get back in. The pay varies from city to city with some adjustment in pay. Some jobs do not pay enough to live in particular cities. This does not make much sense to me. An example would be southern California, the pay seems to be quite low compared to the cost of living their. Where northern california seems to pay significantly more. If you are completely open you could start at a rural hospital, work for two years and take an internal transfer to a more desirable location. My friends in Government tell me the benefits are easily equal to $40,000 a year, outside of your hourly pay. One nurse told me they pay for your MSN and she knew of two such people the VA put through CRNA school and NP school. They got a portion of their salary while going to school full time, with a commitment to work at the VA for ? amount of years afterwards. The down side, I experienced, the VA does not fire people who are not good workers and those who call in sick chronically, thus we worked short I would say 3 out of 5 days a week, due to medical leaves and people being out sick all the time. One nurse did tell me she worked with a lot of slackers. The VA has their own rules and regulations and I cant began to tell you the stuff they had me doing that would never have been allowed in an outside hospital. So there are good and bad things to consider. I check the web site every 3-7 days for new postings. You can google their GS-wage scale, but it is very confusing at best. Good Luck.

It is the 2nd hour after the patient comes out of surgery in a hospital and the first hour out of surgery from ambulatory care. The patients generally are not monitored cardiac wise and they are no longer intubated. They could be on O2, bleeding, etc. and generally stay at least 1 hr. if they are not nauseated, vomiting and are drinking. Iv's are pulled and D/c instructions given. We call it Fluff and Buff before they go home or get sent to the floor.

I started working in the OR out of school, but do not scrub, then did psych nursing and presently I am working in 2nd stage Pacu in an ambulatory setting, inside a hospital, hoping to get acute care skills so I can move on. If I stay in Boston, our unit will be merging with 1st stage Pacu next winter and there is a possibility we will be cross trained.

Thanks, I agree. a city that expensive you can blow through your savings very quickly without a job lined up. I noticed when I was out there last year, the high cost of everything, including groceries. M

Hi Chris, thank you for the information. I never got the M/S experience in nursing. Jobs here in Boston have been fairly hard to get without experience for several years, unless you have many years of acute care skills. There are several nursing schools churning out new grads every year costing about $180,000 for a BSN. This coupled with some prestigious institutions setting the pace, I feel the market here for nurses to be a tough one. I think the wages are pathetic given the cost of living here and the amt of responsibility in our work. I started at $27.00 hr, which was considered good and I now make $31.50 hr. I have friends who are in business and the computer science field, who are making $90,000-$150,000 a year, so not all jobs pay low here. there are a few union hospitals that pay better but hard to get into. So I started out in the OR and then worked in psych and now I am in a second stage pacu, hoping to graduate to 1st stage pacu sometime. I have been trying to land work to get acute care nursing skills. Everyone wants me to go back into m/s/telemetry but I can not take care of a 7 patient patient load. My career path has not gone as planned, one of the reasons I want to move west and get more experience. I am not sure if now is a good time, due to the economy. So I am checking it out. It looks like the average rent in the city is around $1200.00 does that sound correct to you? Thanks Michael

Hi, I am looking to relocate to the S.F. Bay area from the east coast and I was wondering if anyone knew what the job market is like for nurses with 5 yrs of non acute care experience and the general salary range. I have been searching on line and checking things out for about six weeks now, but I only have one week off this summer and I need to make it count if I make a trip out their to job hunt and interview. I have not had much feedback from nurse managers and I do not know if they are not taking me seriously because I am thousands of miles away or what. Any recommendations on what hospitals/institutions are better than others, would be helpful. Thank you.

Hi, I have been looking to relocate to the Denver area. I am an RN with 5 years of limited, non acute care experience. Can anyone enlighten me on the job market and the wages versus the cost of living in the Denver metro area. I was in Denver in April and I was very disappointed with the hospital recruiters attitudes and lack of setting up any interviews for me after communicating with them for 6 weeks prior to my coming into town. I took time off of work, at my expense and did not receive one thank you or nice to meet you or anything. I loved the area but I am pretty discouraged. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.