Relocating to Knoxville area

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I will be graduating in December with my associates in nursing. My husband and I are planning on moving to the Knoxville area shortly after. We currently live in West, TN. It seems that most of the information I am finding shows East, TN to be one of the lowest paying areas for new grads. Regardless, we love the area and are willing to make the sacrifice.

My interest is in critical care and cardiac. However, I am still open minded to many other areas of nursing. As a new grad, what can I expect from the area hospitals? What is the current pay rate? I have done some research and have found more desirable information about Covenant Health. Is this the company I should pursue first? I really just want a starting place where I can learn what I need to advance into a critical care or cardiac setting.

I know there are many debate over whether a new grad should be hired into a critical care setting such as ICU, CCU, CVICU, ER ect. What are your suggestions? Where does a new grad who is interested in these areas begin?

Thank you in advance for any of your comments!! ;)

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

Hi. I work at a Covenant Facility in Sevierville, right outside of Knoxville. I love working with them because they own at least 5 or more hospitals in and around Knoxville. This means that you can transfer between facilities after a year and not lose benefits or CTO already accrued. I believe the starting rate for new grads is around $19 or so. Not much more. There are other hospitals in Knoxville that might pay more.

I love living in Sevierville because it's only 40 minutes from Knoxville. The hospital I work at is very family focused and everyone pretty much knows everyone. We just built the new hospital and the ER is 38 beds. You would love it there.

Let me know if you need more information and I can help you. I relocated to TN about 2 1/2 years ago.

Crystal

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Hi. I work at a Covenant Facility in Sevierville, right outside of Knoxville. I love working with them because they own at least 5 or more hospitals in and around Knoxville. This means that you can transfer between facilities after a year and not lose benefits or CTO already accrued. I believe the starting rate for new grads is around $19 or so. Not much more. There are other hospitals in Knoxville that might pay more.

I love living in Sevierville because it's only 40 minutes from Knoxville. The hospital I work at is very family focused and everyone pretty much knows everyone. We just built the new hospital and the ER is 38 beds. You would love it there.

Let me know if you need more information and I can help you. I relocated to TN about 2 1/2 years ago.

Crystal

Thanks Crystal!! We have some friends who live in New Market, which is about 30 minutes from Sevierville. We have been looking for homes in that area. I will definately check out the Covenant Facility in Sevierville on my next visit to the area.

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Congrats on your move! The Knoxville area is my hometown. I have some friends who graduated from nursing school there (way before I decided to pursue nursing myself) and have worked for Covenant, and I have not heard anything bad about them. I have a soft spot in my heart for UT, since I volunteered there for several years during high school, but I don't think their employees are state employees anymore, but rather work for University Health Systems. I don't think that had negative consequences for pay, but I think it might have messed with the benefits quite a bit. Good luck on your move - your post made me homesick :)

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