romsy

hi there. i work at ucsf (cvt (cardiovascular thoracic) unit) and can honestly say it is the best unit i've ever worked in ( been a nurse 11 yrs)--great learning experiences, terrific teamwork, the nurses are some of the best i;ve ever worked with)..it is a teaching hospital so everyone is really very supportive of the new nurses. when you are new, they require you to rotate day and night shifts every month and then you can put in a preference for your shift a yr after and they might give you more weeks/months of your preferred shift depending on the unit's needs. the more senior you get, the less frequently you rotate shifts but everyone more or less rotates except for the really senior nurses (20 plus yrs or so in the hosp)..but i guess its not all the same for the units because i have a friend who works in ortho and she said she never rotates (havent been there for long)....check the ucsf website as they do have scheduled new grad trainings for each yr. i am originally from chicago but moved to southern ca 7 yrs ago..didn't really like it..so i decided to give sf a shot (moved her a yr and a half ago without knowing a soul in the city)... i love it here. it is a great vibrant city with the most beautiful natural setting. it is expensive if you plan to buy a home and settle here i guess but if you just plan on renting , it is very doable. have you thought about living in the city instead of out of it? ..there are some deals to be found in the less posh but still safe neighborhoods plus you dont have to deal with freeway/bridge traffic. check out www.dreamworld.org/sfguide/index.html for a very thorough guide re; the city's neighborhoods as well as craigslist.org for places to rent.....i live in the outer richmond district of sf now. 3 blks to the ocean and a block from golden gate park. it is a very safe quiet area but less expensive than other parts of the city because its foggier than the other neighborhoods and not really in the 'thick' of things. i used to live alone in the same area and found a great deal for a large 1 br w/ parking for only 1100$/mo. i've since moved in w/ roommates for really cheap rent ($500!- outrageous:)) as i plan to save some more for a future home (wherever that may be)...maybe you can rent something short term or get a roommate until you've decided on which area you want to live...anyway hope this helps and email me if you need any more info romsy

I ust sent you a PM

hi all. recent transplant to SF here (from southern Ca), though I really am originally from chicago. been a nurse for 10 yrs, loving it so far:) best of luck to all

Hi Dragonfair, though I have more than 2 decades to go before retirement, I have been an RN for 10 yrs and have more or less been thru a couple of major burnt-out episodes. I was going to suggest taking a really long vacation but i guess that would just be addressing the symptoms, not the cause. ..maybe you can ask your hosp to grant you a 3to 6 month leave (I've known nurses who did this) of absence and you can do some traveling in the meantime and hopefully come back with a clearer pic of what you want, or if that's not going to work, maybe shift to perdiem temporarily ( in my hosp, you dont lose your yrs of service shifting from ft/pt to pd then back again) and try working in another hosp just for a change..or you can cut back your hours in your old job and get some agency shifts working in other hospitals again for variety....if you weren't so close to retirement, I'd say go for traveling without a second thought but i guess your situation does require some degree of contemplation..myself, every time i'm faced with a difficult decision, I ask myself "what would i do if it was the last yr of my life?":) which my drives my mom crazy (she thinks life consists of working towards the ultimate goal of retirement then enjoying it ) because I am so restless i jump from one hosp to another every couple of yrs or so (I tell her I might die before I retire)......but hey you gotta do whatever it takes to make you happy and find the best place for you to work and thrive at and will treat you right so you can be the best person/nurse you can be....i used to live in chicago, now living in ca for almost 5 yrs. the whole state is practically unionized. say what you will about unions, i will never work in a non-union hosp again..maybe your hosp , if its part of a corp., has other branches somewhere in the state which you can explore and still keep your yrs of service towards retirement..this is how i traversed orange county , LA and SF---I got myself transferred from one hosp to another owned by the same corp. in different parts of the state.... ..anyways, i still think a long vacation is in order:) best of luck

Luv2, if there was anyone who was obsessed more on finding the right area of Ca to settle, that would be me. I'm originally from chicago (which I love though pay isn't great) but my parents and sister are from Ca so based on their ceaseless nagging, I finally relocated here 5 yrs ago. We lived in anaheim (north orange county, inland, about 30 min to the coast) and I was miserable because i missed living in the city so I moved to LA which I hated so i left after a yr,moved back to orange county which now seemed more tolerable than LA:). After almost 4 yrs, I still felt displaced in southern ca so last yr. I finally decided to bite the bullet and move to SF without knowing anyone here. It is of my opinion that Ca is really not that expensive as long as you dont buy a house:)...anyway, I think you have to establish first which area of Ca you would most thrive in and then worry about which hospitals/areas of nsg you would like to explore. Do you like living in a big city , near all the cultural amenities or you dont mind the suburbs and the commute? Do you prefer southern ca or northern ca, they are quite different. Southern Ca has better weather (i.e. more or less warm all yr round, and SD has the best weather of all), northern ca is cooler (which I like). If you love the beach for swimming, surfing, lazing around in the sun, etc, then you would probably like southern ca. The oceans to the north are wilder and colder . For me the south has a more generic, less earthy feel to it and outside the beach, you're limited in the surrounding areas you could explore within a 3-4 hr drive (at least for me)..i.e. going south I guess you could do mexico, east - everyone goes to vegas for the weekend:), north- maybe ojai or the central coast, sta barbara etc...up north, basing yourself in SF (with all its great pay (pay is highest here in the entire state) and cultural enticements:)), you have the redwoods, the ocean, the hills, the mountains --the wine country, big sur, monterey, lake tahoe, yosemite, point lobos, mendocino, etc..omg you'll never ran out of trips to take:) That said, its your decision. I basically started with kaiser since they're all over the state which was convenient because I just basically got myself transferred from one hospital to the other. They pay well and treat their nurses well. If you choose LA and need the ocean:), definitely live and work near the coast, (sta monica is great) as the commute from inland is going to kill you (its not the distance, its the neverending traffic) and whatever $$ you save in rent is not worth the stress of facing LA traffic everyday. check out ezrentlist and westsiderentals for descriptions of neighborhoods and rentals.. ..i think ezrent also covers san diego..there is a VA in long beach (south of LA and north of the oc)..I f you choose the OC, I love huntington beach, the apts that are more inland (but still in HB) are cheaper or you could check out fountain valley which is the next city closest to HB. If you choose to be be near laguna beach, irvine is nearer, cheaper but not that much , and has more apts. saddleblack memorial is the nearest hosp. and I guess missionviejo (great hosp. from what I've heard from all the travelers I've met) is doable. I guess you have to decide too if you want smaller community hospitals or bigger teaching type univeristy hospitals and how far you are willing to drive to them from where you live. UCI is a great teaching hosp but they dont pay that well (as compared to the others) but the benefits are great. If you choose SF, well there is a VA in the outer richmond area, a few blocks from the ocean:), and a lot of other great hospitals to choose from...find out which neighborhood works for you or which hosp and base your job or place to live from that decision...SF is a more compact city...research on the neighborhoods that appeal to you and check out craigslist.org for rentals..again sf is great if you're single and dont plan on buying a house here:)..you could even save more if you get a roommate and the pay is just tops plus you have the awesome Ca ratio and a great city and great surrounding areas to explore:)...that said, my rent in the outer richmond for a 1 bedrm is 1100 with parking (no laundry but it is just a few blocks away),-- a chicago apt along LSD would cost more but this a great neighborhood for me, not the marina or pacific hts but I love it here... I live 8 blks from the ocean (at least once before I die I have actually lived near the ocean), 4 blks from golden gate park , the public library and our little neighborhood 'downtown":) area with all the multi ethnic restuarants and a great indie theatre....the area is safe, residential but very diverse, more bohemian( for lack of a better word) and laid back than the OC thing...I love it here ..it is. about 20 min to downtown sf and 40 by bus...best of all, I dont have to deal with traffic and freeways going to work:) best of luck in your search

kaiser 6 south is med surg tele. 7S is also named m/s tele but is actually more med/surg. there is another unit on the 5th floor that is more cardiac tele, i.e. post cabg pts etc.

Just curious, SherBear..where do you work?..I could check your hospital out:wink2: ...myself, I've just recently moved to Kaiser SF (3 mos ago) from one of the kaisers in SoCal..the pay is definitely higher..perdiem RNs in my hospital say that their rate is 20% of their base rate (based on CNA contract based on experience) plus shift diff.

THANKS so much for the very informative post begalli. Romsy

Hi all. I am a tele nurse currently working in orange county, ca and am looking to explore the northern part of the state, specifically the SF bay area. I'm thinking of applying to this hosp for their critical care training program in sept and would appreciate if any of you would have any feedback or firsthand expe- riences working here. thanks.

no, university of chicago in illinois

Hi. I might probably be moving to chicago (from Ca) in the summer and I've narrowed my hospital choices to either northwestern or UCI but I'm leaning towards UCI because its a union facility. Anyone with any experience working in UCI, it would be great to hear about your experience. How's the pay scale? I'm a telemetry RN with about 7 yrs experience. Of course i do intend to talk with recruiters and all that stuff but any additional post would be appreciated. thanks.

Go to www.shusterman.com and click "nurses". This is a law firm that facilitates sponsorship of RNs by certain hospitals. They have Beverly, Brotman and California Pacific on this page. Maybe you can contact these hospitals(all in LA) directly if you want to. If you want it easier, you can contact the law firm itself and they will take care of the process of contacting who. Good Samaritan (also in LA) also sponsors RNs( www.goodsam.org). Some of the Tenet facilities also do some sponsorship. Its is usual to Contact HR first. Good luck.

Hi. I am currently in Southern Ca looking to move up north. This hospital has a critical care nursing training program for jan 2005 which I am interested in. Has anyone had any experience working in this hospital? is it a good hospital? ...any insights would be much appreciated....how is burlingame as a city? I've done some research and will eventually drive down there later..but again any initial info would be great..thanks

Hello all. I am currently living and working (tele unit) in the orange county area in southern cali and would like to explore life in the northern part of the state as well as transition to critical care. I am considering UCSF and Sta. Clara Valley Medical center (san jose) for their training programs. of course, I plan to do more in-depth research and visit some facilities later on but i thought I might as well throw this thread out there for any of you who've had actual experience working in these hospitals...or for maybe you can recommend other hospitals with good training programs...What about the kaisers in this area? ( I currently work in one right now, a transfer would be easier)...I am single with no plans of settling down permanently in one area yet, so I am very flexible in moving to any area in this part of the state...thanks so much in advance.