Raleigh-Durham area nurses....need your help!!!

wcu_nurse · Jan 7, 2004

I'd love to hear about the information you find out from the forum. I'm from Raleigh and my husband and his family is from the Bethesda area in Durham. I'm going to Western Carolina University and have 3 semesters left before graduating. We are definitely planning on going home when I graduate and even though I've always wanted to work at Duke, I feel like I may have better benefits and pay working at a smaller hospital or perhaps a UNC hospital. Not sure if you know this or not but Duke has bought a lot of hospitals within the past few years... Durham Regional and Wake Med ( i think, but not positive about this one)

But, best of luck to you. Who, knows, we may be working together one day.

Take care and God bless!!

_Kim_

floater · Jan 14, 2004

I can only speak about UNC and REX...UNC is a very busy teaching hospital..worked there as a traveler for 3 years...had 6-8 pts on days...ended up doing a lot of NA work and secretary work....I have been a nurse for 7 yrs and the pay scale at UNC and Duke is about 20-21 an hour for that many yrs of experience..I personally could not afford to work on staff after making a traveler salary. Both Duke and UNC offer "in house" 12 weeks contracts that pay $35 an hour no matter what shift. REX is GREAT...smaller hospital...they treat employees well..have great nursing assistants and lots of support staff...usually 2 secretarys on days. I work in their float pool and make $27 an hour for days...they pay $10 weekend diff, 3.75 for 3-11 and $5 extra for nights. GOOD LUCK

live4today, RN · Jan 14, 2004

If I were to ever move back to N.C., I would probably either move to Charlotte or Wilmington. I've always heard great things about those cities. Parts of Raleigh are nice too, but I don't think I'd ever live in Durham. :)

ginnymac_624 · Jan 29, 2004

I am writing to ask you if you might consider working for the Bureau of Prisons. I work at the Federal Medical Center in Butner North Carolina. Our specialities are psych, oncology, and soon to be orthopedics. We also plan to open a telemetry unit shortly. I am the nurse educator for the Medical Center. If interested, email me using NC Hospital as title.

Good luck, I love NC also. Ginny McLaurin

LauraLBS · Feb 3, 2004

WakeMed is a very good one to work for in Raleigh. Western Wake is in Cary, and it's also excellent.

Rex Healthcare is a UNC Hospital.

Raleigh Community was bought by Duke.

nia_king · Mar 9, 2005

If I were to ever move back to N.C., I would probably either move to Charlotte or Wilmington. I've always heard great things about those cities. Parts of Raleigh are nice too, but I don't think I'd ever live in Durham. :)

Hi,

I will be working for Duke starting early July, and I am currently looking for apartmnts in Durham. I keep hearing it's a terrible place to live in terms of crime, and I was wondering why you said you will never live there. Are some ares better than others or is the only option I have to live in Raleigh? Thanks

A.E

wcu_nurse · Mar 9, 2005

Hi,
I will be working for Duke starting early July, and I am currently looking for apartmnts in Durham. I keep hearing it's a terrible place to live in terms of crime, and I was wondering why you said you will never live there. Are some ares better than others or is the only option I have to live in Raleigh? Thanks
A.E

What part of Duke will you be working at? I'll be working on 5100 PEDS. I'm SO excited!!! Chapel Hill is close to Duke and affordable. Honestly, the best thing to do is drive down and look around. Let me know how it goes. I'll be starting in july too. My start date for orientation is June 27th. Keep in touch.!!!

Kim

nia_king · Mar 9, 2005

What part of Duke will you be working at? I'll be working on 5100 PEDS. I'm SO excited!!! Chapel Hill is close to Duke and affordable. Honestly, the best thing to do is drive down and look around. Let me know how it goes. I'll be starting in july too. My start date for orientation is June 27th. Keep in touch.!!!
Kim

Hi Kim,

I will be working at 3200 (Cardio-Thoracic ICU). I am really excited about it, but very apprehensive about apartment hunting and possibly finding a roommate. People keep saying Durham is bad but I don't want to drive miles and miles to get to work. I was down there for my interview and saw a couple of places which looked very promising. I went back to my hotel room that night and on TV was a story about a shooting next to one of them I will be coming down again end of May after I graduate to look around and hopefully definitely find a good place. How far away is Chapel Hill from Duke? I start July 11th. The recruiter mentioned something about the salary going up at the end of June so I decided to pick the next orientation date :) Thanks for replying.

Audrey

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Mar 10, 2005

I am not in the Durham area, but I wanted to tell you people who are planning to move what I did for my daughter when she moved to Florida. She had the job, she needed a apartment, we looked and looked, and saw some very scary places. We were on Jacksonville Beach and we saw a lady policeman writing out a ticket. We decided to wait and then ask her if she could steer us to some places. Well, she was so nice, she told us where to look and where not to look. We found my daughter the cutest apartment, clean, very low crime area, and very good neighbors. Rent was reasonable, she was only 10 minutes from job. Have any of you considered asking the local police? What about chamber of commerce? I always ask the local police when I go anywhere out of state where to go and where not to go. I just flag one down, or pull over if I see one writing a ticket. Most of the time they are very nice, very helpful, and very kind. This may sound a little nutty, but it does work. :)

nia_king · Mar 10, 2005

I am not in the Durham area, but I wanted to tell you people who are planning to move what I did for my daughter when she moved to Florida. She had the job, she needed a apartment, we looked and looked, and saw some very scary places. We were on Jacksonville Beach and we saw a lady policeman writing out a ticket. We decided to wait and then ask her if she could steer us to some places. Well, she was so nice, she told us where to look and where not to look. We found my daughter the cutest apartment, clean, very low crime area, and very good neighbors. Rent was reasonable, she was only 10 minutes from job. Have any of you considered asking the local police? What about chamber of commerce? I always ask the local police when I go anywhere out of state where to go and where not to go. I just flag one down, or pull over if I see one writing a ticket. Most of the time they are very nice, very helpful, and very kind. This may sound a little nutty, but it does work. :)

Oh my gosh! That is absolutley the best advice I have ever received! Thank you so so much, I really appreciate it..whew now feel better!! :) You are fabulous....

Audrey

Kaseyrn2b · Mar 13, 2005

Oh my gosh! That is absolutley the best advice I have ever received! Thank you so so much, I really appreciate it..whew now feel better!! :) You are fabulous....
Audrey

Hey there!

I've lived in the ral/dur area for over 7 yrs...Parts of Durham are downright scary, thus the high crime stats but then there are very nice, VERY expensive parts.Research Triangle Park employs a lot of people, high tech types, many of whom live in Durham. You just have to know the right places. The trick there, it seems is knowing where to avoid driving thru. It didn't seems that bad to me, but then I'm from NYC. My hubby, however wouldn't even consider lookingthere when we were house hunting. North west Raleigh is very nice, also expensive, not too far from Duke. Chapel Hill..apts I don't know but def. some of the most expensive real estate in the area. Very young, college town feel, liberal etc. Cary is about 20 min or so from Duke, has the 6th lowest crime rate in the nation and was voted the best place to live on the east coast this year. Its a great place to raise a family, but not sure if you are single, might be kinda boring to you in that case. Also Cary's rep is pretty snobby, but there are more down to earth people here than not. Just have to look past all the Lexus wagons :) Anyway, that's my 2cents! Good luck...I'm a pre-nursing student, I'd like to start at Duke, seems like it would look good on the resume, but I have heard Rex is nicer to work for. Also, both Wakemeds seem really nice. I had a baby at Cary Wakemed and was really pleased w/ the staff. Everyone seemed happy, not overworked all that. Nice digs to be sure! Let me know how it goes!!!