Savannah Georgia Ed/trauma nurses

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jun 4, 2016

Pay at Memorial Health seemed a little low to me as an experienced ED RN just working casually. The ED is pretty much brand new, just a year old. It's always crazy busy, but I really liked my coworkers. It has its own dedicated psych pod, which is nice. It's the only trauma center in the area, so everything ends up there, including transfers from a lot of surrounding counties.

There is currently a "merger" in the works with Novant out of NC, so there may be some potential shake-ups in the future.

Savannah also has St. Joseph's/Candler, which is two different hospitals that merged to one system. Candler is pretty close to Memorial, and St. Joe's is on the southside of Savannah. As an ED RN I also worked for SJ/C casually, floating between the two EDs. They were very different! St. Joseph's is known for cardiac, so we got a lot of potential STEMIs there. SJ/C is not a trauma center, but I still found those EDs challenging. SJ/C paid a little better and was a tiny bit less chaotic, but still had fairly high acuity (just more medical than trauma).

Memorial uses Epic, SJ/C uses Meditech, if you care about that thing.

I enjoyed my coworkers in all the EDs â€” great teamwork, no complaints there. I also love Savannah! We just moved, and I miss it.

pugmom79 · Jun 5, 2016

Thanks for the info! Super helpful! Coming from florida, we are known for low pay so I would *guess* it would be comparable since florida pay is so crappy lol.

At memorial how was the trauma room? Are there only specific nurses that work it or can everyone be assigned there? I hear trauma rooms are assigned differently. Where I come from once we are selected to take their trauma class (not Tncc this is hospital specific) then you can be assigned to have shifts in trauma.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jun 5, 2016

Newer nurses typically had at least a couple years of experience there before they were given the trauma assignment. I came in with TNCC and trauma experience, so I was put there from the get-go when I came off of orientation (9 shifts). It a big ED, but unfortunately there are still hallway beds (referred to as "overflow," lol), but trauma was always my favorite assignment. Coming from Florida I think you'd be okay with the salary. :)

pugmom79 · Jun 6, 2016

Thanks for the info!!! I will have my TNCC and experience in the trauma room here before we move and I'm studying for CEN too so hopefully they would like me :)

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jun 7, 2016

Thanks for the info!!! I will have my TNCC and experience in the trauma room here before we move and I'm studying for CEN too so hopefully they would like me :)

They will especially love the CEN! :) And only one RN in their ED has the TCRN, just sayin'. That would be a standout feature.

Why Savannah, any special reason?

pugmom79 · Jun 7, 2016

We loved the city and we like to experience new places. We could see ourselves living there and being happy :)

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jun 8, 2016

We loved the city and we like to experience new places. We could see ourselves living there and being happy :)

I can totally understand that! I love Savannah, one of my favorite cities ever. The violence there has kicked up in the last few years though, you'll see that at the trauma center.