Texas Hospitals

NedRN · Jan 5, 2015

Generally speaking, Texas is not kind to nurses. I prefer to visit and work elsewhere.

RunawayN · Jan 6, 2015

Generally speaking, Texas is not kind to nurses. I prefer to visit and work elsewhere.

Wait what? What do you mean?

NedRN · Jan 6, 2015

No union hospitals, mostly for profit HCA hospitals that have high ratios and hostile management, super arrogant docs, a notorious blacklist, and an aggressive BON that will give you heck if the smallest thing is reported.

Vacation or visit yes. Work no. At least for me.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 6, 2015

I was gonna post the same thing. Texas is one state I will NEVER take an assignment in, ever!

Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN · Jan 7, 2015

And have either of you ever worked in Texas? Because what you say is not true. this is coming from someone who has worked all over the country and now I stay in Texas only.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 7, 2015

And have either of you ever worked in Texas? Because what you say is not true. this is coming from someone who has worked all over the country and now I stay in Texas only.

No, I have never worked there. Taking a travel assignment involves some level of uprooting for a given length of time, and I have heard enough about Texas (on here and through people I know) to decide that I dont want to go through all that effort. That is not to say I will never visit, I just choose not to work there. Why is that a crime?

NedRN · Jan 7, 2015

While it is human nature to gripe more than to praise, I think if you do a search for Texas in this forum, the consistency of complaints about texas, and all for profit hospitals in any state will be enlightening. So will searches for Texas BON. Try a search for Texas blacklist for another eye opening read of some very long threads here.

If you think this is just the disgruntled making a lot of noise, try reading about nurses working in union heavy states such as the New England states and the west coast states. You will find a very different quality of chatter.

I have no doubt there are some great places to work in Texas, but to this traveler, the odds don't look as favorable there as other states. I'm glad Texas has worked out for you and hope it continues to do so. I'm happy to visit and work elsewhere.

BTW, I have worked in Texas, but before I became a nurse.

NedRN · Jan 7, 2015

One more bit of admittedly anecdotal information, I personally know three travel nurses from Texas who still live there but refuse to work there. That speaks volumes to me about comparing workplace differences between states.

I have worked as a nurse in other southern states with similar conditions to Texas so it is easy for me to "get" Texas without having worked there as a nurse.

OrganizedChaos, LVN · Jan 7, 2015

No union hospitals, mostly for profit HCA hospitals that have high ratios and hostile management, super arrogant docs, a notorious blacklist, and an aggressive BON that will give you heck if the smallest thing is reported.
Vacation or visit yes. Work no. At least for me.

My best friend worked as a nurse & we live in Texas, he isn't wrong (about most of those things).

Lovelymo79 · Jan 7, 2015

To each their own. This "argument" comes up on here every once in awhile. I live and work in Texas and I have absolutely no complaints. I've never experienced any of the above. I'm about to go out of state to see how they do things in other places but I have met lots of travelers from other states who have come here and loved it. I'll definitely be back here in Texas once I'm done traveling.

I say if you want to come to Texas, come. Try it out for yourself. What others "hate", you may love. I, for one, never base my decisions on other people's opinions, especially third-party opinions.

NedRN · Jan 7, 2015

There is a lot to be said for that but if I'm not mistaken, you have asked for agency recommendations. We do integrate other people's opinions and experiences into our decisions and of course that is what I'm basing my opinion of Texas nursing on. Clearly none of us has worked at every nursing unit at every hospital in Texas so there is a lot of room for argument here. What I said is factual, Texas does have a crappy BON, management at for profit hospitals is not nurse friendly, docs are more arrogant than in other places, and Texas does have a notorious blacklist that has ruined a lot of nurses careers. Equally factual is that there will be a lot of folks on the other side who like working there. As travelers we have a lot more choice than residents. We choose to work at interesting places, for the money, and vote with our feet about abusive workplaces. I don't like the risk reward ratio in Texas but in any case it would be unfair if another traveler like the OP doesn't have a chance to know about it and evaluate the risk reward for themselves personally.