RN/NP on the move

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Sep 8, 2013

I got your PM but decided to post a response here instead.

You need national certification to be licensed as a nurse practitioner in California. Only graduates of CA-approved NP programs are exempt from national certification. I understand you are trained as an ANP? You may find in-patient jobs as I've seen some ANP's in that position here. In the Bay Area however, all the ICU NP positions are dominated by ACNP's in the hospitals that have NP's in the ICU. It's a tough market to break into altogether. Send applications and make sure you finish the interview, get a job offer, get rolling on credentialing before looking for a place to live.

It is very expensive here and coming over and looking for a job will deplete your resources in no time unless your spouse already has a job here. You mentioned living in Cupertino in your PM. I'm not that familiar with the Silicon Valley area but I know that Stanford has some NP openings. That would be a good driving distance to live and work. We had a fellow once who grew up in Cupertino and attended their public schools and states that it is a fabulous district with lots of talented students fostered by a large concentration of Silicon Valley type parents. Apple supports that district with lots of donation (since they have headquarters there).

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Sep 8, 2013

Read your PM again. Can't PM you back. You can try looking for a bedside RN job. With your experience, you can be attractive to employers. Your husband got a job in San Francisco? Umm, I think the commute from that job to Cupertino would be horrendous. Pick a city in between.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

BostonRN13 · Sep 8, 2013

You could get a travel RN job as a bedside nurse in San Fran while looking for an NP job and settling all the documentation needs. Like Juan said its very expensive in the Bay Area and a travel position would give you either free housing (with a roommate) or a stipend for your own place. Plus, when I was a travel RN there the pay was fantastic. That's the way I said I'd always do it.

aali · Sep 9, 2013

Thanks a lot Juan n Thirteen. Due to good school system I want to live in cuppertino. Thirteen I got job offer from AMN travel in Stanford but weekly rate is $ 1600 including all perks n housing subsidy. They said Stanford pays $30/ hr regardless of experience. Also I m afraid that I want permanent job due to higher cost of living

Regarding NP job I want to work as ACNP n I had looked Stanford NP opening but they all requires NP License

Juan you are right I had got 2 job offer but it's evening shift (0.6) like a part time but the manager said I can pick more shift to make 40 hours weekly. The hourly pay without diff is 56 bucks ?? Isn' t it too low considering my academic education n 20 plus critical care exp.

my question is should I take travel or permanent job? I m applying for boards in November

How to find cheap house in cuppertino. I am checking craiglist n other websites daily ?

How long will it take to get my Cali RN Licence it's been 2 weeks n no reply ??

Thanks a lot again for all your help

aali · Sep 9, 2013

Juan thank again what city world be close by between cuppertino ??

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Sep 9, 2013

With your years of experience, those salaries seem low. Are these union-represented hospitals? That agency pay for Stanford is BS. When I was looking for a job here, I already had both an RN and NP license in CA. It took about 2 months to get them. I also applied for a NPF (license to furnish or prescribe) and that took longer than the other two.

I took my time moving here. I got phone interviews in August, asked to fly to meet my prospective team, was offered the position, and went through credentialing while still living in the Midwest. I asked to start end of the year and by that time, I was fully credentialed by the hospital and have signed a lease on a place to live.

While your circumstances may not allow the luxury of waiting (since it's your husband who got a job here first), I would get the ball rolling now. I find that your options are limited when you don't have the full qualifications to practice in the state you're moving to. The job market is tough here. There are tons of people applying for the available jobs. People come with qualifications as good as yours.

The choice of where to live will center on what your priorities are. It sounds like a good school district is one of them in your case. Does traffic bother you? The freeway that connects San Francisco to Silicon Valley gets congested on rush hour but if that's something that doesn't annoy you, then it's OK.

The surrounding counties around SF has many housing options. Look in Marin County (downside: crossing the Golden Gate Bridge by car each time as there is no reliable public transport but they have good schools and excellent recreational spots).

Berkeley is across the Bay Bridge and has apparently a good school district and is accessible by public transportation (BART). Some cities in the peninsula are not bad (Burlingame comes to mind). Some East Bay cities are good but again you're going farther away from the city of SF.

Craigslist is the best way to look for housing here. Post in the California forum. I'm a transplant here so I'm in no way an expert in the area.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

aali · Feb 3, 2014

I passed my AANP certification n have Fl license. I got my temporary RN license from California in Nov 2013which is Valid till March but I have not gotten my permanent license yer. I had called several times to BON but no one pick up the phone it's frustrating. Planning to visit CA in spring 2014 to see apartments and job interview.

Should u go thru locum tennen for my NP jobs dice they ease the process of license and Credentialing. I see NZp jobs avail is mostly psychiatric n dermatology which I am not certified

Any suggestion please