Miami, FL Travel Nursing?

ChrisMMS · Mar 28, 2018

Hello gypsyBSNRN,

Recruiter here! Hopefully my information helps you make an informed decision about travelling.

1) You sure can! However, I wouldn't mention to the agencies or recruiters that you're working with you only want to do one 13 week contract because it may discourage some to work with you. It'll be hard to find travel contracts if you don't have a staff position in between your travel assignments.

2) You are able to get the housing stipend as long as your "Tax Home" is a certain distance away from the facility so this shouldn't be a problem. You may want to document paying your parents some sort of rent to prevent yourself from being audited. I'm not 100% sure on this area since i'm not a tax expert, but I would do a little research on this area.

3) From my personal experience and what I've seen out on travel boards Florida doesn't pay very well because it is a travel destination and summer is approaching. I'm seeing on average 1400-1600/Wk for the specialties you have listed above. However, these numbers are based on my contracts and margins so I would shop around with multiple agencies to see what you are able to find. You may be able to find a local agency in Miami that has a bulk of the contracts and is able to offer you a better rate compared to bigger companies.

4) Can't help you here sorry!

5) There is going to be a mix review for good and bad hospitals in the Miami area based on your specialties. Certain hospitals may treat their L&D Nurses very well, but that same hospital could have terrible conditions for their M/S floor. However, please keep in mind that generally as a traveler especially one on their first assignment that you are going to walk into the worst situation. Hospitals contract travelers because they are in desperate need to fill holes in their facility and often time the workload is not the best and you are given the hardest patients in the facility. However, this is not always the case some facilities are going to very traveler friendly. Just go into traveling with an open mind and do not except it to be a a cake walk.

6) There is going to be some number of needs for travel nurses in Miami. It is a travel destination for a lot of individuals so there are a lot of nurses willing to go out there which pushes the pay down. It will take you some time shopping around with agencies to find a Miami contract because most of us will not be swimming in contracts in this area. Florida is also in a weird place right now where they are cancelling a lot of contracts and a majority of the facilities down there are HCA. I would stay away from Florida as a first time traveler, but if it's what you have your heart set on just tread with caution as you may be making less than you are now in SD.

CaneRN · Apr 4, 2018

I "traveled" to south Florida (WPB area) to start the 2017 year for two contracts and I can tell you I would never do another assignment in the area again. I was living in Seattle prior to that and wanted to be close to home for the holidays. That's why I used the quotations around the travel. As the previous person said, a majority of hospitals down there are HCA, paralon, etc. which in my experience is not good. Something to keep in mind, at least when I was traveling to an HCA facility, you had to be a minimum of 50 or so miles from your "home" address, so that made some positions a bit challenging. To be fair, I've never traveled to Miami, but as someone who went to the University of Miami for my BSN, that's the "Cane" in my name, I would never work in any hospital in that area after doing my clinicals there. I guess I would just be prepared for the possibility of some pretty harsh working conditions and that's putting it mildly. Again, these are MY experiences and yours may be totally different if you travel to the area, but I would be careful. If you have any questions feel free to PM about hospitals, etc. I still have a few friends in the area from school and I know the area in general pretty well. Good luck!

NurseCheung, MSN, RN · Apr 16, 2018

I have heard a lot of horror stories from nurses who traveled down to Miami for assignments. Personally, I haven't been south of Tampa because of that reason. Best of luck to you if you decide to travel there.

Swellz · Apr 16, 2018

I don't know ratios for Miami, but Tampa bay area it varies by hospital. My current floor is 4-6:1 days, 5-6:1 nights, although I just interviewed for another floor and was told up to 7 on nights. I worked at an HCA on days last year and it was 6:1 on the floor, 5:1 PCU and ED holds, but up to 8:1 on the floor for nights. ICU travelers mostly staffed the PCU, and I know the ED travelers were unhappy. Another local hospital is 7:1 nights on the floor. Just to give you some idea.