SF Bay area ICU nurses?

[ICURNGUY]

Anybody need a hardworking ICU RN? I am currently and ICU RN with just over a year experience. I have worked as a tech in the ER, and floors for 3 years before graduating nursing school. I would love to work in SF/Bay area in an ICU! I love the knowledge base and amount of learning required. My ICU is Level 1 Trauma, Neuro, cardiac, resp. M/SICU. Not much experience with open hearts.....Heart transplant center in same city, but LOVE Trauma/SICU. I appreciate any info anybody could provide! If anybody wants to move to TX let me know and I'll help you as much as I can. We still NEED nurses, and with our cost of living/pay ratios it's nice. I love it here, but I am tired of the HOT, HOT summers and just loved SF when visited in August.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

I just recently moved to San Francisco and definitely don't have direct contact with RN recruiters for the hospitals in the area. All I can advice you is to keep checking hospital websites and look for ICU positions that meet your qualifications. UCSF Med Ctr has very few openings for full time ICU nurses as they did in the past. Sutter Health including California Pacific Medical Center has none the last time I checked. San Francisco General Hospital seems to be hiring though and that is a Level I Trauma Center. Their website is harder to find in a google search but their open positions are posted via the San Francisco Health Department. There's a few Kaiser facilities around here and they may also be hiring as well. So just check the hospital websites from time to time and apply online when you see an opening that looks like a good fit. I do see that most ICU openings require at least 1 year of ICU experience and you already have that.

BTW, if you were in San Francisco in August and loved it, the weather right now will bum you out. It's been raining day in and day out for almost a week! This is my first winter here and sometimes I feel a worse chill in the air here than I did in when I was in Michigan. Don't get me wrong, I hate the snow and I'm glad I don't deal with that stuff here. San Francisco is definitely fun to visit and all but things do change quite a bit once you start living here. The high cost of rent and housing is definitely a shocker not to mention the limited parking spaces including the parking lots and garages in area hospitals. You can easily spend at least $18.00 a day for parking within hospital grounds as an employee! Public transport can be a way to go if you don't mind that at all. All in all, I am happy with my move and wouldn't change a thing but just be mindful of the realities of living here once you do decide to move.