Relocating and have questions

GigLs2u · Jul 16, 2005

Your best salaries will occur in a metropolitan cities so that leaves you with Houston or Dallas. In contrast, Austin is beautiful hill country and the state capitol.

I am not familar with Dallas other than it has several large hospitals and a major medical school. My sister went to medical school there so I know there are teaching hospitals. In Houston, there is the "Texas Medical Center" where there are at least 8 hospitals within walking distance of each other so the salaries are higher than in the outskirts of Houston. In addition, these are teaching hospitals which can help you begin your nursing career. Also, there are apartments in close (5 miles) including several that offer a shuttle bus.

Good Luck,

Joy

Hi,
I am re-locating to Texas the end of the year and have an opportunity to choose from one of the major cities. I am looking at Austin/Dallas/Houston currently but open to any other place that might offer good opportunities.
I have a couple of questions:
1. What is the best paying area in Texas (Austin/Dallas/Houston or someplace else) for BSN trained RN's? I guess I am also considering decent cost of living :)
2. I am a new grad. Will I have a problem finding a job with a decent salary?
Thank you so much for your help .... :)

laurenD · Jul 16, 2005

I live in Houston. As the previous poster said, we have the Texas Medical Center which includes two Level I trauma centers (Hermann Memorial and Ben Taub) Methodist Hospital (which was listed in US World and News as a top 10 hospital in neurology, among other specialties), St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital/The Heart Institute at St. Luke's (#8 for cardiology according to US W&N and listed in top 50 for nephrology), Texas Children's Hospital (#2 for pediatrics) and University of Texas MD Anderson (#2 for cancer treatment, also listed for urology and gynecology). Also Park Plaza Hospital, Diagnostic Center, Texas Women's Hospital, Veteran's Hospital, and Shriner's Orthopedic Hospital. ALL of those hospitals make up the Texas Medical Center. Most of them are teaching hospitals so residents are there around the clock (yay!).

In addition, we have St. Joseph's hospital (in the heart of downtown Houston) which is also a teaching hospital and where I work (I used to work at St. Luke's - a magnet hospital...but I am so much happier...and better paid at St. Joseph's - a non-magnet hospital).

LBJ Hospital and Ben Taub hospital are our 2 county hospitals. I hear that benefits at these two are excellent.

Of course, there are many community hospitals in the surrounding areas. I live in Clear Lake, south of Houston. Clear Lake Regional Medical center is up and coming. They have been accredited as a 'heart center'...the 2nd in Texas (St. Luke's is the 1st), and they are building a new 200 bed wing dedicated to cardiology due to open in 2007.

In Galveston, you have University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) which is also a level I trauma center and a teaching hospital. Next door to UTMB is Shriner's Burn Center. This place is amazing!! It is totally funded by donations, and I don't believe the patients pay much (if anything) for their treatments. It's small, only like 50 beds, and treats severe burn victims from around the WORLD. I had an opportunity to tour it. They put the families in apartments on campus because the treatments are so thourough...so long.

Also...having changed jobs within the past year...pay in the medical is comparable to pay at the outlying hospitals. In fact, many of the community hospitals pay more because working in the medical center is so much more attractive..."prestigious" or whatever reason. Parking in the medical center sucks. You park in a lot a few miles away and have to take the train in. Adds 15 minutes to your transit no matter how close you live. Unless you pay for a ridiculously expensive apartment within bike-riding distance.

I live 20 miles south of downtown Houston. My drive time to work (at St. Joseph in downtown) is 30 minutes there in the evening and 20 minutes home in the morning...I work night shift.

Wow. Sorry for ranting!! It's 0300 and I get a little crazy this late.

Good luck on your job search!

~Lauren

laurenD · Jul 16, 2005

Let me add...

Having graduated school in the past year...here is the low-down on internships for new grads:

Methodist, St. Luke's, Hermann, MD Anderson, Texas Children's, St. Joseph, and UTMB are the hospitals that I know have formal 12-22 week internships (depending on speciality). Competition is very high as the medical center hospitals only seem to take 10-15 applicants. St. Joseph took 23 this past June.

Some of the outlying hospitals have internships as well, but most are informal.

~Lauren

GigLs2u · Jul 16, 2005

Looks like Lauren and I both missed the Shriner's Hospital in the Medical Center. She is right. It is from the Shriner's (Masonic group).

My cousin's son was treated there free until he turn 18. He like his mother suffers from osteomalacia imperfecta. I lost count after 20 breaks.

I worked for Christus, Sister's of Charity, for two years. My experience gave me a lot of conflict because it is a religious organization. I saw a lot of things that made me uncomfortable but the most memorable was people terminated for first offenses related to inappropriate email. Since it is a religous order I expected a Christian approach such as a warning.

In contrast a friend of mine work as a psych case manager and said she was treated well. She was diagnosed with tumor that has a 5 year morbidity rate. Her recovery was long but her job was still there.

Good luck in your search!

Let me add...
Having graduated school in the past year...here is the low-down on internships for new grads:
Methodist, St. Luke's, Hermann, MD Anderson, Texas Children's, St. Joseph, and UTMB are the hospitals that I know have formal 12-22 week internships (depending on speciality). Competition is very high as the medical center hospitals only seem to take 10-15 applicants. St. Joseph took 23 this past June.
Some of the outlying hospitals have internships as well, but most are informal.
~Lauren

DalNur · Jul 17, 2005

Hi, I am also a BSN students thinking about moving to Texas. I saw someone was talking about the pay rate is $20 dollars in other thread. Is that for RNs? It is really kind of low compared to other states and countries.

DeepNurse · Jul 19, 2005

:) Thank you so much for all your replies.. and sorry for getting back to you all this late..

This is a great starting place for me to search for a job in Houston..

Again.. Thanks a bunch ..