Rural Hospitals

weirdscience · Apr 7, 2013

Outside of Austin: Cedar Park Regional Medical Center, Lakeway Regional Medical Center, Seton Highland Lakes, Seton Smithville, Seton Edgar B. Davis, Seton Hays, and I believe there's a Scott & White in Round Rock. Just off the top of my head...

weirdscience · Apr 7, 2013

If you are a new grad, not sure what your options are, though. I'd heard that at least Cedar Park, Lakeway, and S&W were not looking at new grads late last year when I was job-hunting.

themoderngiant · Apr 7, 2013

At least its a start, thank you.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Apr 8, 2013

Frame of reference here - ~ 80% of working nurses in Texas are in only 10 (of our 254) counties. Statistical Information

Suburban does NOT equate to Rural. Rural is a whole different thing. In Tx, we even have 2 distinctly different types of rural; countryside & frontier. Countryside rural = towns that are closer together with denser populations (East, Central & South Tx). Frontier = settlements are very far apart & population is very sporifice (far West Tx, Big Bend, etc). Many rural hospitals are also categorized as 'critical access' facilities, which gives them a 'pass' on some regulatory requirements that are simply not feasible for them.

In a true rural facility, it is not unusual for staffing to include only 1 RN per shift... and that RN is the Supervisor, OB-ED-MedSurg- EmergencyTransport nurse. They are sometimes cross-trained to initiate mechanical ventilation, take XRays, process some lab tests, etc. Srsly. Experienced Rural RNs have to be extreme generalists. We even have a nursing school (Texas Tech) that has recognized Rural Nursing as a clinical specialty track for MSNs.

To borrow a phrase: Rural Nurses - the (very) few, the proud, the brave!

allnurses Guide · Apr 10, 2013

Yeah, kind of made me choke to see suburban hospitals referred to as rural. They are nowhere near the same.