ST. Thomas USVI Travel????

Specialties Travel

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Has anyone completed a travel assignment to St. Thomas, USVI? I have been submitted by Professional Nurse Travel Agency to the Roy Schneider Hospital in ST. Thomas, but I have read some negative feedback on the hospital/staff/people. These posts were dated back in 04-09, so not sure if the feedback is reliable. People say you must be open minded and flexible, which I am...but I don't want to be placed in a horrible hospital situation for 3 months! They have also said there were no supplies, and that management are uneducated and its a hostile environment. Then I would read posts that said it was great! I'm confused! I will be working in PACU if I do the assignment. Any feedback Please!?!

Yes but private schools in the states are more costly than that. Have you thought about home schooling?

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She said she was doing that now.

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Specializes in OR.

Looking to permanently relocate to St Thomas and finish out my nursing career at the hospital there. I have 22 years experience in the operating room, my kids are grown and married. I vacation on the island one to two weeks every year and know the prices, the driving, problems with the power and about water shortages. Still I love the place and have made friend's there among full time residents, but none who work in the hospital. I would love to hear from those of you who currently or recently have worked there, especially anyone with knowledge of the OR. Thanks in advance!

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About one out of three cases cancel because either the patient or surgeon don't show up. Getting supplies is a real hassle. L&D is immediately adjacent and the OR does the sections with no help from L&D. Circulator responsible for both the surgery and the pediatrician (actually, I can't quite remember if it was a pediatrician, might have been a midwife - but it wasn't the L&D nurse). You also print the baby and draw the cord blood. I enjoyed the challenge myself. I can't really think of many specific positives about surgery. Good ENT doc.

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Specializes in OR.

Thanks for the post,Ned. Are you still in STT? Was or is, Karen W., your head nurse? I spoke to her several years ago and was impressed with what she told me. Interesting about the overlap in L & D and the OR. Haven't dealt with anything OB in a long time but I think I can remember what's required. Where you able to live near the hospital and what are the on call responsibilities like? You are definitely a great resource for info.

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It was a number of years ago and I don't remember the name of the manager. She seemed rather overworked and I was struck by how little work she must have to do compared to a larger OR. I've noted that in other small facilities too, and while I don't know everything they do, I suspect poor organizational skills.

I don't remember any call nor any after hour emergencies. Obviously there must have been some, perhaps the staff did it. It would be difficult for a traveler relying on the island bus or a taxi to take call. Great question.

I love doing sections but it is a rare assignment where you get to do them. I volunteered to do one there after another traveler refused saying reasonably that he hadn't been oriented. I hadn't been oriented either, but I tend to think that most of the OR is basic nursing care. That is not quite true of course, but I'm pretty good and enjoy a challenge. Even though I was much more experienced at sections than the normal OR traveler, I was surprised at how organized you had to be. I got tips from the midwife (they have many midwife travelers - also unusual at any hospital), but still when they mentioned printing the baby intra-op on that first case, that was a surprise. So was getting my head around having two patients in the OR, either one of whom could code and I would have to abandon the other. But I did enjoy it, even the first one. Not much in the OR is as fulfilling as a successful section.

There was one other unusual thing there I've seen nowhere else. Ever heard of anesthesia assistant? Me neither. But they have one, and while he is not supposed to practice independently (from what I read on the internet), he effectively does - often no anesthesiologist there during induction or emergence. He was also the president of their professional association.

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Specializes in OR.

Wow, what great experiences you've had!! As a reg. staff member I would probably be required to take call. Right now I'm on heart call so I rarely have to come out but up until five years ago it was a common occurrence. It's been my experience in the "deep south" the CRNA, nurse anesethesist, does all the work and the anesthesia doc may or may not be in the department. This was not the case where I worked in Seattle, Boston and NYC. I work in a seven suite plus two cystos, OR, 135 bed hospital and this is how they do things. Were there many full time employees in the STT OR and do you recall if RNs had to have scrub skills as well as circulator abilities? My training in NYC expected the RN to function in both roles but this was quite some time ago.

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I'm embarrassed at how dim my memories are of staff. Seems to me that staff did their cases and the travelers did theirs. I have a faint recollection of a scrub tech I think. I remember more about OB than the regular staff! I do remember the travelers.

I trained at University of Maryland and we didn't have techs. So I do scrub, in fact spent the last year mostly scrubbing, including hearts. But I didn't do that in USVI. Plenty of techs.

I have no objections to good anesthesia providers practicing independently, and I saw no signs that the anesthesia aid was incompetent. The law is an ass - it doesn't stop incompetent docs from killing patients and I've seen that several times personally in my career.

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Would love to go myself to VI and I was curious if any of you that we're contemplating going ever went and what you thought??

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I went to STT last Spring. I found the hospital to be just fine, and there were alot of travelers, so I never felt isolated. I thought the hospital was nice. I had updated equipment in PACU, and I found it to be set up like the small community hospital I worked at in TX. Alot of the general public or "locals" can give you a major attitude, but so what! I ignored it or them if I could. I was polite and said "Good Morning, Good Evening" because that's what they say out there. But alot of times they were rude or turned their nose up..because I wasn'ta local. But I was ok with that, I just turned the other cheek. Alot of people were nice, some not so much. I stayed at Sapphire Beach Resort. It was on a beautiful snorkeling beach, the Sapphire Village next door had live music and restaurant on site with good food. You can just walk over next door! I loved it there and was very safe. It was right next to Red Hook. I still go to Sapphire on vacation. I'm ready to go back on assignment, but am waiting until summer so my 12 year old twins and 17 y.o. can go with me. I got lonely there. The atmosphere in the evenings were bars/drinking. Days Beaches...many islands and beaches that walere amazing. No big malls. Just souvenir shops where the cruise ships come in. There is a small outside strip mall but nothing great in my opinion. There were some good places to eat, and there was a Kmart, KFC, McDonald's, Pizza, you name it. Even Payless shoes. Ready to go this summer!

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Don't do it. It's awful. I lived there 6 months, July 2013-Dec and worked at RLS for a terrible 7 weeks as staff-stupidly. It's nothing like the States. Conditions, culture, your safety there as a statesider, mosquitos, humidity, road conditions, so, so, many ghettos, the constant fear of being robbed or worse, etc. I found myself not wanting to venture outside of our 2 mile radius area where most the statesiders live. Do not live anywhere near the hospital! It's dangerous and scary to non-West Indians. St John is much nicer and cleaner, we spent every weekend there. St Thomas is ghetto and dangerous. The murder and poverty rates are the highest in the US and as a Statesider, you are a target. Don't do it!!

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Sapphire has since been shut down. Only condos available now, I hear, and the restaurant and dive shop are closed....

I went to STT last Spring. I found the hospital to be just fine, and there were alot of travelers, so I never felt isolated. I thought the hospital was nice. I had updated equipment in PACU, and I found it to be set up like the small community hospital I worked at in TX. Alot of the general public or "locals" can give you a major attitude, but so what! I ignored it or them if I could. I was polite and said "Good Morning, Good Evening" because that's what they say out there. But alot of times they were rude or turned their nose up..because I wasn'ta local. But I was ok with that, I just turned the other cheek. Alot of people were nice, some not so much. I stayed at Sapphire Beach Resort. It was on a beautiful snorkeling beach, the Sapphire Village next door had live music and restaurant on site with good food. You can just walk over next door! I loved it there and was very safe. It was right next to Red Hook. I still go to Sapphire on vacation. I'm ready to go back on assignment, but am waiting until summer so my 12 year old twins and 17 y.o. can go with me. I got lonely there. The atmosphere in the evenings were bars/drinking. Days Beaches...many islands and beaches that walere amazing. No big malls. Just souvenir shops where the cruise ships come in. There is a small outside strip mall but nothing great in my opinion. There were some good places to eat, and there was a Kmart, KFC, McDonald's, Pizza, you name it. Even Payless shoes. Ready to go this summer!
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