mursinary

Thanks for the reply! I'm having a tough time deciding what I value more... Location or pay!

Thanks for the info, it does help!

Dude... relax. It sounds like you're doing fine. The fact that you're so worried (as has been said before) is a great indication that you're a conscious and caring nurse. That's a great start. Start concentrating on leaving work at work. I know it's not easy, but try. Taking all that worry home isn't doing anything productive, it's just serving to add stress and doubt to your life. Enjoy your days off. Relax. At work ask as many questions as you want. Don't feel bad about it. It's the new nurses that never ask questions that scare me the most. Find a few experienced nurses that you trust and use them as resources. Take it easy on yourself. It's ok to be new, to be unsure, and to question yourself. All of us have been there. Your concern speaks volumes about who you are, you just need to dial it back so it's not hindering you. You're going to do great.

Well, that's my problem. There's not a lot of information. The scales are from $32/hr all the way up to 111K/year. I need to know where I will fall within that range, since that's a pretty big range. So far the union information has been the most fruitful since it breaks down pay by experience as well. Basically I'm looking for someone who works the area to give me some info.

Unfortunately glassdoor has incredibly inaccurate pay ranges. Thanks for the advice though.

You guys are awesome! Thanks! If anyone has any more info, I'm all ears.

Hello all, I originally posted this in the California board but didn't get any replies, so I figured I'd appeal to a wider audience. I'm currently a travel nurse with 8 years of ICU experience. Lately I've started to get tired of the travel gig and I think I'd like to settle down. My last assignment was close to San Diego and I really fell in love with the city. I'm trying to decide if I can afford to live there but I'm having problems finding accurate numbers for pay. On the flip side, I'm also considering Sacramento due to it's location but am also having problems finding accurate pay numbers. Online they vary by 30k/year, which is kind of a big deal! Could somebody help me out and let me know how much I should expect to make in SD or Sacramento? Thank you so much.

Once you've been there for a bit and have gotten to know the nurses, I'd mention that you were in nursing school. Lots of nurses will take a little extra time to teach you something or show you cool procedures, etc. Congrats on the job.

I always wear scrubs. If you don't want to, at least wear something comfortable. Read your book. Be able to pass the self exam and be confident in your ability to differentiate rhythms.

There's no reason why you have to go to college immediately after graduating high school and in fact several studies have shown that taking a year or two off after high school can be very advantageous. Nursing wasn't my first career choice. I graduated high school and immediately went to Engineering school. I tried, for years, to force myself to love engineering and I just couldn't. Somewhere in there I took a break and got a job as an ER tech at a local hospital, a job I loved. I never would have even considering nursing had I not done that. My advice: 1) Don't feel like you have to know what you want to do with your life. You're young, you have time. 2) Take a year off after high school. 3) Get a patient care oriented job at a hospital. You'll get to see what nurses do every day. Try to visit as many different units as possible to get a good idea of what different jobs are like. 4) Relax. You're going to be fine. To answer your questions: 3 on 4 off is the best. Wearing PJ's to work is awesome. I make good money but wished I made more. If I had the chance, I would rather be a race car driver. Or astronaut. But this isn't bad. One last thing to add... lately I've been getting tired of my job. I've been doing it for 8 years now and it's beginning to wear on me. You know what? There are all kinds of different nursing jobs out there that I'm qualified for. If I'm willing to try, I should be able to work until retirement without ever getting too bored.

To reiterate what others have already said, I would be very careful about saying anything negative about your former employer. Spin it into something positive, i.e. looking for more opportunities, challenges, skills, etc.

I agree with what everyone else is saying... it sounds a bit fishy to me. I understand that in some parts of the US, jobs for new grads are very hard to come by. I suppose that something like this could help, but.... there's something unsettling about it. My "residency" was 6 months, on the job, intensive training with a preceptor. And I was paid a wage. If you can move, I'd recommend checking out the midwest/south for jobs. There are many hospitals that will gladly hire a new grad and train them properly while paying a real wage. Get a year or two of experience and you should be hireable at any hospital in the country.

That's going to depend where in MO you are. Since you're referring to it as the south, I'm going to assume that you're in the southern part of the state. My first job was in Springfield (8 years ago) in an ICU. My base pay was $17.50/hr. So I suspect that low $20's/hr is probably the norm now, with a few dollars for a night shift diff. On a different note, I used to get into many an argument as to whether or not MO was part of the south. It's above the Mason-Dixon line and after living in Alabama... it is most definitely not part of the south. Sorry.

Nobody has any input? I've been searching all over but have yet to find anywhere that seems to have accurate pay estimates for nurses. I'm trying to compare a few different California cities.... Any information at all would be very helpful. Thank you.

If I were you I would email the California BON with your specific questions. They're pretty backed up right now, so expect the reply to take a bit of time. In the mean time, you may try to get answers from here: Philippine Nurses Association of Northern California, Inc. and Philippine Nurses Association of Southern Cal - Philippine Nurses Association of Southern California I know that when I was in California there were plenty of RN's that went to school in the Phillipines before coming to the US. They may have more insight.