katrn09

Just an update, I decided on Portland and made the move about 4 months ago. I got two job offers within a week, and love it here. The pay was equivalent to what I was making in Southern California, and the patient ratio is the same.

That is crazy, but I kind of get it for those type of jobs where someone needs emergent surgery. I work on a regular inpatient unit, and quite honestly they can get by for an hour (a more reasonable on call window in my opinion) till someone comes in.

Yes everyone has to take on call, if you live far away apparently you can tell them when they put you on call how long it will take you to get there and they will decide if that works for them. That actually brings up another point- they put people on call based on how much on call time you have worked, not how many hours you've been on call. For instance, if you were at home on call for 12 hours, but didn't get called in, it'd still be your turn the next day, until you logged some of the expensive (time and a half) on call pay.

So, I got a wonderful job in Portland that I love, except the on call policies give me anxiety and make me kind of angry. -If you are placed on call, you have to report to work within half an hour of being called in. -On call lasts all day, and if you are called in within an hour of the start of the shift you are not given on call pay. -If you get sent home, it is on standby, and you might drive all the way home just to get called back in. My issue with this is that you are essentially giving up an entire day where you can't do anything but yet you don't get paid (on call pay amounts to something like $3 and hour). Also, I think it is extremely unrealistic to expect someone to come in within half an hour, with getting dressed, Portland's traffic, and parking. So I am curious if this is the standard among all the hospitals up here? What are your on call policies?

I work on a Neuro-tele unit, specializing in stroke but really we take everything. The ratio is 1:4 as mandated by the state of California because of the telemetry monitoring. Occasionally we have to go over ratio to 1:5, which happens more frequently when we are 'in season' Sept-April (resort type community). It's back breaking work, and scary even at 1:4. We don't have an official step down unit, and the patients we have on the floor can be really precarious. Oh and ironically when we go over ratio we have no charge nurse because they've already been pulled into the mix and we still don't have enough staff, so it means no lunches or breaks. Good times.

Are you still looking? I can give you a heads up on an opening at my hospital if you are in So cal.

How do you have an Oregon ID if you live in Washington? Thanks for the information, it does seem like living in Vancouver you get the best of both worlds.

Anyone have any opinions? I've been looking at Portland, but with Vancouver so close and with cheaper housing it's hard to decide which way to go. I want to get my nursing license before I start applying but don't want to have to get one in both OR and WA, would like to narrow down my search.

From the jobs I've looked at it seems like Oregon pays nurses more in general, almost comparable to here in California.

I am planning to move to the Pacific Northwest next year. I'm not a new grad and I have a solid resume with many years acute care experience, telemetry and neuro. My question is this: which is a better state to be a nurse in? Are there differences in acuity, ratios, pay? (Posting this on Washington board as well to get as many different opinions as possible).

Have you looked into the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area? We definitely have plenty of sun, one reason I'm looking to head your way in a couple years. It's hard to leave my hospital though, the pay is great. You'd make around $40/hr here, plus differentials. Housing is going up but you can still get a pretty nice place, with a pool even for around 250k. My hospital is hiring right now, trying to get nurses trained over the slow season, summer. It's more challenging but not impossible to get hired as a new grad, my floor alone has hired three in the last year.