rn moving to Augusta

i live in augusta. mcg is a good hospital. what are your specialties? I always encourage RN's to go to the VA when Augusta is your move. All the hospitals here are good but as far as benefits, retirement and money, if you have to be stressed then be paid for it at the VA. They are extremely RN friendly because they place their RN's on pedestals. We have 2 divisions. One the (downtown division)is more of a hospital atmosphere with typical med surg, the OR and ER are there. The uptown division which is where I work is more nursing home psych, primary care clinics, and the unit I work on is a DOD/VA floor that rehabs Active Duty Soldiers injured in Iraq and stateside.

I 've worked at all but 2 of the hospitals here (total in the area is about 6 if you count Aiken, SC hospital and Ft. Gordon's hospital). There are tons of options for Rn's here. Let me know if you need anymore info.

i live in augusta. mcg is a good hospital. what are your specialties? I always encourage RN's to go to the VA when Augusta is your move. All the hospitals here are good but as far as benefits, retirement and money, if you have to be stressed then be paid for it at the VA. They are extremely RN friendly because they place their RN's on pedestals. We have 2 divisions. One the (downtown division)is more of a hospital atmosphere with typical med surg, the OR and ER are there. The uptown division which is where I work is more nursing home psych, primary care clinics, and the unit I work on is a DOD/VA floor that rehabs Active Duty Soldiers injured in Iraq and stateside.

I 've worked at all but 2 of the hospitals here (total in the area is about 6 if you count Aiken, SC hospital and Ft. Gordon's hospital). There are tons of options for Rn's here. Let me know if you need anymore info.

Good info! I am looking into moving to augusta also. Do any of the hospitals offer Loan repayment. I know that MCG does not because they say that they pay the highest in the area.

I believe that University Hospital does ( I won't swear by that but I believe that my girlfriend who finished school in 2005 was reimbursed and given a $5000 sign on bonus). I know for sure that the VA does but the stipulation is that you have to apply for it within the first 6 months of your hire date or something to that affect. Also, please know that unlike the private sector, the VA pays RN's differently based on your education. An ADN makes less that a BSN. RN's have nurse levels.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Thank you jamangel for the helpful info. I'm planning a trip to Augusta in about two months to visit the hospitals and get a feel of them. Hopefully that will also help me out some with choosing a place to work. Jamangel do you recommend any particular neighborhoods or could you tell me some nice areas to live in.

well you have a lot of options because of the smaller cities that surround augusta and help make up the area. if you want to be closer to the city or in the city limits then summerville area is historic and is near most of the hospitals. west augusta includes not only augusta but includes the city of Martinez and Evans whic is about 10-15 minutes depending on where you are in the city. Both evans and martinez have upscale living, apartments and homes. If you want a little more rural living without being too far from the city then Grovetown and Appling are quiet areas. You know that only a bridge seperates North Augusta, SC from us and that there is quiet comfortable living there as well. I work at the VA. Let me know if you need to know anything else.

hi everyone im an lpn planning to relocate from south florida to augusta by fall of this year, can anyone tell me the lowest pay they know lpns to make, by the time i get there i'l have a year experience

I would like to know what Hospital's are RN Friendly in Augusta, as far as scheduling goes. I went to the VA to apply and to be quite honest I did not think that their Nurse Recruiter was very receptive towards me . I was just asking questions regarding their schedule and she went right into asking me questions about my clinical experience, as if I was interviewing (I got my ADN online with Excelsior and have 5 classes to go before BSN with Excelsior). I was looking for a day shift position since I have a child, something else she told me that they could not work with - my schedule. I was shocked to see that she (nurse recruiter) was unwilling to work with my schedule considering they are advertising 12 open positions and are "accepting graduate nurses". I ve been an LPN since 2002 whom was trained in the military (trust me this alone is worth more than RN school training out there) and have worked in Nursing Homes since 2002. I think that makes me more prepared than most of the new RN's out there. If anyone out in Augusta can point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it.

Also if any nurses out there know of extended childcare services in Augusta which are available, please let me know. Thanks and God Bless!

Well let me say first that Augusta has 2 VA's. You will find more flexibility uptown than downtown. There is no guarantee of straight day shift. You have to have a tour to rotate to. The thing is that you may never or very rarely have to rotate to it. I work day/night rotation. I haven't worked a night since February. The night tour recently changed from 0000-0800 to 2330-0800. Because of this change, I can't work nights because if I rotate to nights, I'd leave a gap on days. The solution? An approved tour of 0500-1330 or 0600-1430. It helps nights and keeps me there for the heavy part of the day tour.

Now, I know you want a solid guarantee. Not at the Va. So try University Hospital or Trinity. I don't know about Doctor's pay but MCG just gave their staff raises. I've worked them all but I had the best experience at University. They have magnet status and more importantly I was treated well.

Also, when did you speak to the recruiter, we've had a recent turnover in that department.

Thanks Jamangel for the advice. I spoke to the recruiter approximately 2 weeks ago. To be quite honest, I had gone with my son in tow to leave my application and wanted to ask a few questions, I dont think she took to kindly to that. But anyway I went to the VA next to MCG, iam not sure if it is uptown or downtown. I do need a day shift position and as of now am applying with several hospital's for the day shift and several dialysis clinics as well.

Thanks for your advice, I really appreciate it.

I worked at MCG for 13 years and wouldn't hesitate to go back, although that was almost 10 years ago now. They had decent pay and great benefits. It's a teaching hospital, which means that you can see and learn a lot.

I worked at University as an LPN many years ago and that experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

University is not the greatest place to work as an LPN but my blessing was a specialty floor.

I've worked MCG as well and it's okay too.

The VA you went to was the downtown division which is where human resources is so now that I think about it, it was a crazy question to ask you. Dialysis would definitely give you the tour you want. Have you considered Aiken Regional as well. It's less than 20 minutes from Augusta. I've worked Aiken too and it took me 17 min exactly to get there.