Richmond area ?

[NoctuRNal_UnicoRN, ASN, BSN]

Hello! I will be looking for work anywhere within an hour of Richmond, come spring. Most of my nursing experience is in ICU. I also have some pre/post op and OR experience. I'd love to bridge over to CVICU at some point for something new and different, and I love hearts, but it's not a deal breaker if I don't get into one soon. My experience is more suited to a SICU.

After doing some light research, I think I am interested in Henrico Doctors Hospital. Anyone have any insight into starting wages around Richmond/Henricos for someone with 3+ yrs experience? Is Henricos a corporate nightmare with the RN level system? Is the SICU and/or CVICU a good place to work with good experiences? I am happiest with drips, vents, lines and drains.

I'd love to hear about anything that anyone has to say about all the local hospitals. Thanks!

[1gr8trnstudent, ADN, BSN, RN]

Henrico doctors hospital (forest) is the best hospital out of the others in the richmond area. It is considered the main hospital to the others. Their SICU unit has a nurse ratio of 2:1 and it's a busy unit. The pay at HCA is higher. I am not sure what it will be for you having experience. As a new grad, I was offered over 30 in the ED. Good luck!

[NoctuRNal_UnicoRN, ASN, BSN]

I appreciate your feedback! I actually applied to and was about to start the shadowing experience for CVICU at HCA but COVID shut down hiring for new employees and they said they couldn't onboard me ? I have been super bummed ever since. I was finally going to get to do something different at a facility with great reviews. My offer before COVID matched what I had previously made, considering their differential, and I was OK with that for starting out down here. I had to resort to being a traveler because no facilities are hiring staff, or it's very limited. I haven't traveled to any HCA facilities because they aren't accepting travelers either. ? I keep checking, and I did find a staff option at the Parham location, but as you mentioned, Forest is more desirable and I may just continue to travel until Forest is hiring again. I wish we could rewind and just do 2020 over again.

[1gr8trnstudent, ADN, BSN, RN]

I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I did see them remove all their hiring positions as they are all about the money. I hope something opens up soon in the near future. I agree that you should stick to Forest because Parham is not desirable. Their ICU nurses get burnt easily and it's a very small hospital so some of the patients arent true ICU patients. I worked at Parham for 2 years. Good luck with traveling. Richmond is opening up so best of luck!

FYI I havent seen too many travelers for HCA. They prefer to hire prns

[NoctuRNal_UnicoRN, ASN, BSN]

42 minutes ago, 1gr8trnstudent said:

Yes! They have very little available. I ended up finding a place to live more toward Louisa than Richmond, so that opens up lots of options. Do you know much about Culpeper or UVA? I'm not a big fan of University teaching hospitals, but Charlottesville might end up being my best option for job security, if they call for an interview. Culpeper is small like Parham I believe, but I don't know anything about it or anyone who has worked there, so it's hard to say if it's a burnout job with barely critical patients or if they get a lot of different stuff and it's it's better opportunity because of the size ?‍♀️ I hope it's not too much longer before things like staffing and recruitment move towards normalcy. It's strange to be an ICU nurse during a respiratory pandemic and not able to find a staff position ? I appreciate your responses and thanks again for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

[1gr8trnstudent, ADN, BSN, RN]

I know UVA is a great teaching hospital and offers great benefits like VCU. The pay at UVA is higher than at VCU. I do not know anything about Culpeper hospital. I know you are closer to spotsylvania hospital which is part of HCA. I would opt for UVA over Culpeper just to increase your skills and gain new knowledge.