Texas Hospitals

[ERpinup]

I have decided I am moving into the world of travel nursing!! Very excited and nervous as everyone can imagine. For my first assignment I was thinking Texas. I am not sure why but that's what is really appealing to me right now :-) Any advise on any of the hospitals there? I do not have a contract for anything right now but any information on places you all have been would be greatly appreciated!!:)

Thanks in advance!!!

[nursetaminator]

To the OP: there are lots of great places in Texas to work. And there are some places that suck (Conroe I've heard). It's just like everywhere else. Usually it comes down to specific facilities. If you're on facebook join a few of the nurse travel groups & ask some questions there bc you'll get a much more diverse response. I see people posting all the time about places they've worked in Texas that they love.

I'm on my first travel assignment in south Texas and these people are AMAZING. The first day on the floor the hospitalist introduced himself and welcomed me to the facility. He treats the nurses like family. All the staff say hello and I've had so many people stop by to say welcome to town and thanks for taking the assignment.

No we don't have unions, not every hospital is HCA, yes you're going to work for every penny you earn, very few of the doctors are rude.... I could go on and on and counter what others have said. Everyone has their own personal experiences and opinions. Some people refuse to work for HCA facilities. I worked for one and while some things I wasn't crazy about overall it wasn't bad.

Be more concerned with the specific facility, not the state.

[sweetgurly25]

I was a staff nurse for 2 years in texas and i can attest to some of the complaints. However, not all the hospitals are like that. the HCA are notorious for mistreatment and low pay is also common in small cities and towns. I worked for baylor and texas health resource hospitals in dallas and they were pretty decent.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

I have met too many travel nurses from Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Florida to make it just a coincidence or personal preference.

They all tell the same stories about awful working conditions and low wages.

[holldog99]

I don't live in TX but I have heard that the Baylor and Methodist systems are better than HCA.

[ERpinup]

Wow, thanks to all. I am still deciding between Texas and Arizona. Of course there is always good and bad experiences for everyone somewhere. I am not starting until end of February beginning of March so I still have to see what is actually open and available. Has anyone worked in the ER in the Texas hospitals?

[daisybsn]

I worked as an L&D staff nurse in Dallas, TX at Baylor University Medical Center for almost 2 years, and even went back to Irving, TX to work at Baylor Irving for a travel assignment. Yes, Texas does not have any unions, and you do work really hard when you're there. However, everyone I worked with was really helpful, and some nights could be busy and rough, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. You're bound to have hard/busy shifts no matter where you work. Several of the travel nurses I spoke with who traveled to San Antonio and Austin didn't have anything negative to say about the hospitals they worked at. Only negative I heard was that the city of San Antonio itself didn't have enough things to do on an off work day because the ones I spoke to are in their mid to late 20s, and wanted to do a lot of venturing out and exploring the city. Everyone's experience is different. I think you should give Texas a chance because if you take a 13 week assignment, 3 months will fly by and as nurses we can survive anything for 3 months.