Tampa General...any thoughts

NedRN · Jan 10, 2013

Safe for whom? Thousands of people live in safety around every hospital in America, and commute and work there safely. It would be difficult at best for anyone to let you know in advance what your subjective perception of a particular area's safety might be.

BluntForceTrauma · Jan 10, 2013

There is a hospital system BayCare that hires its own travelers directly in Tampa and Clearwater. They also provide housing either on the water or very close to....according to prior threads I've seen. I was told the pay was around $34-$35/hr. If cross country can beat that, which I don't think they can, I would try to hire on with the hospital directly....more money!

jennymaria23 · Jan 11, 2013

I work for Baycare right now. The housing is right on Tampa Bay and is a beautiful gated community. Pay is $35/hour day shift if you're contracted to a certain floor. If census is down you will be the first to float. If you are not contracted to a floor and simply float all the time, pay is $40/hour. Those are both with housing. If you don't take housing it is $5/hour more. There is also night shift differential and weekend shift differential. There are 11-12 hospitals to choose from split into different "CHAs." Those are groups of hospital sometimes with slightly different rule/policies, but you can shadow at all of them if you like. Orientation pay is $30/hour for a week of orientation and I think that's despite your base rate. You will have one shadow shift on your floor and then you're on your own. (My manager was helpful and gave me a couple of extra shifts).

BluntForceTrauma · Jan 11, 2013

Jenny, what hospital are you working at currently and what is your specialty? I am very interested in coming that way! Are you from Florida? If not, how was the licensing process?

PMKNSE, MSN, RN, APRN · Jan 11, 2013

Jenny what hospital are you working at currently and what is your specialty? I am very interested in coming that way! Are you from Florida? If not, how was the licensing process?[/quote']
I can tell you that I applied for my license this December and they have now changed the fingerprint process. They used to require them to be on ink rolled cards and now it has to be Livescan at one of their approved providers, which are all in Florida. So now I had to pay a company they suggested to process the cards and convert to electronic to send to Livescan, that cost $76.50. Paid the fee but haven't been fingerprinted yet because the local sheriff office only does it for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I've worked the last 2. We will see how it goes. Other than that it went seamlessly. Lol

ukjenn231 · Jan 16, 2013

TGH is secluded, it's like "on it's own island." Tampa has good and bad parts, like everywhere. TGH is a good hospital but I have heard that due to management changes they have been firing nurses and that the ratios have gotten bad. I work at Baycare as well and have seen a lot of new nurses here that left TGH in the past few months. That being said, it could be a good travel gig, but Baycare definitely is worth checking into as well. I love it here.

86toronado, BSN, RN · Jan 19, 2013

For those of you working directly for baycare, do they contract people year-round, or just for "the season"? Just curious for my own personal reasons, not trying to hijack the thread...

sweetgurly25 · Jan 20, 2013

they do year round but mostly fall winter season

Bnurs · Feb 23, 2013

I am also planning to relocate from Canada to Tampa, I already have my license and unsure which route to take, travel nursing or direct hire from the hospital.

How can I get housing by the hospital, I thought that was only by travel nursing

Any info would be much appreciated

Cheers

mike23 · Jan 3, 2015

Which Baycare are you with UKJen231? I am deciding between St. Joes and TGH and am looking for advice.