melissa8321

I am at Valley Medical Center. It's been a great assignment, the staff has been awesome!!! I'm heading to Phoenix for the winter, but only because I hate rain lol. If it wasn't for the 8-9 months of rain I would never leave :)

Awesome!!!!! I am going to PM you :)

Hi everyone :) I just accepted a travel position in the ER at Banner Good Samaritan in Phoenix AZ starting November 5, 2013. Anyone else ever been to this facility???? Thoughts??? Comments??? Anyone else traveling to the area this winter???

I am currently on assignment in Renton, Wa and have been here since July. Renton is about 10 miles south of Seattle and has a light rail that goes to downtown which is pretty cool. If you like to spend time in the city the light rail will definitely save you a ton of money parking downtown is crazy $30-$40 a day, the lightrail costs $2.75 each way :) I don't feel that the cost of living is that bad for the most part. Washington puts a pretty heavy tax on cigarettes and alcohol so if you're not big on either of those you shouldn't notice much of a difference, also the sales tax here is 9.5% because they do not have state income tax here. Housing is expensive if you are looking to buy a home but if you are renting the prices are pretty fair compared to most places I've been. As far as wages go, expect lower $30's/hr. As Ned as satated above most of the staff jobs here are union and they make on average more money. The hospital I am at now the staff makes mid $30's/hr and they do not pay anything for the benefits. There area is gorgeous especially in the summer....lots to do especially if you are into the outdoors. It does rain a lot the rest of the year and it is very cloudy and gloomy...don't let anyone tell you different lol it's Seattle and it rains lol. As far as the Seattle area goes....what I have noticed is that the more north you go the nicer the areas are and the further south you go the less nice the areas are especially in King County, other local cities that are super nice are: Federal Way, Puyallup, and Bellevue to name a few. I'm in Renton which is Boeing headquaters so it's kind of an airport town and lots of industry not a whole lot to do locally but like I said the light rail is close by so it's fairly cheap and easy to get downtown and nicer boardering cities are only abpout 20 minutes away. Hope this helps you out. Good Luck :)

Mondays are always the worst day (most volume), Sundays after the football game there is a rush of ambulatory younger patients, during the football game there are lots of young females with "pelvic pain" c/o ie: requesting a pregnancy test (grrrr), Friday and Saturday after 2 am (high trauma, lots of GSW's....did I mention I worked in Detroit for 5 years, lol), Labor Day and Memorial Day lots of trauma (GSW's), New Years Eve & Christmas Eve again with the "pelvic pain" complaints (maybe trying to give bf a gift for the holiday lol, weekends and early evening in the fall pediatrics, end of August to October tons of 10-18 year old sports injuries, snow and rain = increased number of ambulances instead of walk in patients, I could go on and on, people can often be very predictable...it's funny :)

patient took an ambulance to the ER for chapped lips.....GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Well for starters you did yourself a world of good by starting out on a telemetry floor because you have a good foundation of cardiac and respiratory, which by the way is the most important..."A,B,C's" :) The rest of the other stuff just falls into place. There is a really good book made by the ENA that I still use to this day to reference that helped me out a lot when I first became an ER nurse http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emergency-nursing-core-curriculum-ena/1100251404?ean=9781437726565 it's also a great book to use if you ever want to get your CEN. Don't ever be afraid to ask questions in the ER, no one knows everything, and if you are ever unsure of something always ask. Good luck to you I'm sure you will do great!!!! :)

Depends on the facility...some are good and some are bad. Different states have different laws. States that are right to work states can fire you for no reason. I agree with most of the above comments, many hospitals are big business and believe the "customer" is always right. Where I worked for several years any complaints by "customers" were reviewed with the employee and you had the opportunity to tell your side of the story. For the most part no Corrective action was taken for "customer" complaints at that facility. However in many states it is only a misdemenor to assault a health care worker which is appauling. A few states have made recent changes to their law making it a class 3 felony which is the same charge as assulting a police officer. Hopefully more states will catch on soon and change their laws too. Nurses work too hard and do too much good to not be protected. New Texas law makes assault against emergency department personnel a felony | 2013-07-09 | Safety and Health Magazine

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I also have an ADN and I have no problem getting assignments. I have 6 years RN experience and 5 years in ER in a level 2 trauma center in Detroit. Good Luck :)

lol, oh how love the whisper, this cracks me up. when this happens to me I often ask the patient whats wrong with you're voice and how long has it been since you were unable to speak normally :)

Hi there. I am a travel nurse currently on assignment in the Seattle area. I have been here since July and my specialty in ER. I know that in the hospital I am in many of the other travel nurses go through Favorites Staffing. From what I hear they have several jobs in Washington. From what I have heard most of them are fairly happy with that agency. Hope this helps

I am not with that agency. I am with Nurses Rx, a branch of AMN Healthcare. I' m not sure where you are from but typically housing is included if you are a certain distance way from you're permanent residence. I am in Renton, WA and my residence is back in Michigan and I definitely would not have taken a contract without housing being part of the deal.

I am currently on assignment in Renton , WA which is about 10 miles south of downtown Seattle. I have been here since July and I love it here. It is so beautiful!!!! From what I know Bremerton is a very nice area located on the eastside of the Olympic Peninsula which is gorgeous. The weather has been great all summer not too hot, not too cold and mostly sunny....but it's starting to hit the rain season and from what most of the locals tell me it is cloudy and pretty much rains everyday from mid October to June. However I don't let the rain stop me I just through on a rain jacket, some rain pants, and some boots and hit the town anyway :) There is lots to do here especially if you are into the outdoors. I will be here until November 2nd and then I'm hopefully heading to AZ for the winter to find some sunshine :) Good luck on your assignment and if you have any specific questions about the area I'd be glad to help :)

I am an ER travel nurse and I work for Nurses RX. They are an AMN Helathcare company. They have lots of ER jobs available, especially in the areas that you mentioned above. There are several postings in Oregon and New York and they are ER specific. Iam currently on assignment in Seattle, WA and I have no complaints about the agency at this point. I think many of the negative reviews of travel companies are written by people who have way too high of expectations as far as the compensation and accomidations they think they should be getting. My accomidations are very nice not amazing 5 star but nice, similar to what I could afford if I was paying for them myself. As far as the wages go I am making several dollars more an hour than I was back home as a staff nurse, so no complaints there either. Travel nursing is hard work and there is for sure a huge adjustment period but it is a great way to experience lots of amazing places and see and do things that you could otherwise probably never do in a "normal" job. Travel nursing for me was by far the best decision I have ever made. Good luck to you, hope this helps!!!!