Springfield Hospitals?

[jab3da]

Hi all! I'm about to graduate with my associate degree in May 2010. I'll likely stay at my current location, but am thinking of moving to the Springfield area. I'm curious about what hospitals are located in the area, how much their base pay is, how much shift differential is, how their new graduate orientation is, what nurse-to-patient ratio is, and how people overall like working there. I've been on medical floor for 3 years as an LPN and would possibly like to try something a little different. Any thoughts on fun areas to try for a new grad?

Thanks!

[yetanotheramanda]

The big hospitals in the area are Cox (a north and south campus, not much at north) and St. John's. New grads start at about 17.50/hr at both hospitals. NOC shift diff is about $3. I know that sounds low but the cost of living is also low. New grads I know are easily able to afford nice apt's and decent cars (single girls with no additional source of income, as well as paying back student loans).

Not sure about pt:nurse ratios...friends on med/surg floors report having anywhere from 6 to 9 patients.

I personally find the Cox nurse intern program to be a great idea...but the BIG catch is that the nurse recruitment center there is scatter brained and difficult to wade through. www.coxhealth.com

St John's HR is better to deal with but there is no structured intern program. You get a preceptor and learn everything from him/her. www.stjohns.com

Good luck to you!

[marjibme]

There's also a couple smaller places in the area: Doctors Hospital in Springfield - Skaggs in Branson & CMH in Bolivar (both towns are about 30 minutes out of Springfield).

As a student in the St. Johns program (May 2011), I'm a lot more familar with folks that work there and 95% of the comments I hear are positive. I also have a few friends that work at CMH and seem to be pretty happy there.