Traveling to dallas and houston

boiswunder · Feb 13, 2006

Hello,

I too am thinking about taking a travel assignment in Houston. Does anyone out there know anything about East Houston Regional Hospital and more specific the ER. Any insight would help. Thanks.

texastraveler · Feb 14, 2006

I know I am moving to either one of these cities in July. I just have a hard time deciding which one. I recently heard that RN jobs are scarce in houston. Anyone travel to any of these cities recently? Which are the better companies to travel with to this area? Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

The travel jobs in houston area pay LOW. A few times On Assignment has had openings at the Herman hospitals and were paying low-mid 30's. That is good pay for the houston area. Some are even offering mid-20's. Premiere Staffing, an internal agency had taken over all of the travel jobs, they paid around $35-$37/hr, but out of that you had to provide your own housing. They couldn't keep hospitals staffed with internal agency alone, so they have gone back to using travel companies. I think Bridge Staffing was advertising travel jobs in houston area. Pay was around $26/hr. Good luck, wish I could recommend someone offering higher pay. Let me know if you find anyone.

boiswunder · Feb 15, 2006

The travel jobs in houston area pay LOW. A few times On Assignment has had openings at the Herman hospitals and were paying low-mid 30's. That is good pay for the houston area. Some are even offering mid-20's. Premiere Staffing, an internal agency had taken over all of the travel jobs, they paid around $35-$37/hr, but out of that you had to provide your own housing. They couldn't keep hospitals staffed with internal agency alone, so they have gone back to using travel companies. I think Bridge Staffing was advertising travel jobs in houston area. Pay was around $26/hr. Good luck, wish I could recommend someone offering higher pay. Let me know if you find anyone.

Hey thanks for the insight. I know that texas pays poorly comparatively, but will make some money throught company's housing stipend. Hopefully the assignment doesnt suck to bad. Cheers!

cammy429 · Feb 15, 2006

I've actually been speaking to a few companies.. doing some comparing and the housing stipend for dallas and houston seems to be about $1000-$1300 depending on the company.

The houston area pays a little bit more but from what I have heard they dont really have a good nursing market right now due to relocation from evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. I have heard that the traffic is houston is horrible and all the hospitals (well the major ones) are located in one area called the medical center (maybe someone else can share some light on that, I have never personally been to the place). One agency told me that generally the pay in houston is about $26-$30 an hour but there was one hospital that was paying $34. With dallas one company told me that the pay is generally about $25 an hour while another quoted me $20:(.

I dont know where you are from but I live in NYC and I have been a nurse for a year... out of school I was making 68k a year which worked out to be a little more than $34 an hour so $20 is a huge difference. It's almost half my pay. The only difference for me is that Texas only does a federal tax while NY does state, city AND federal; so they get a pretty big chunk of my check.

The GOOD news is that I have been speaking to a realtor from dallas and just by chance he happened to be an LVN. He said that he works per diem at some of the hospitals in the dallas area and as an LVN he makes about $22+ an hour depending on the hospital. He said that one Hospital and I believe is baylor was paying $46 an hour per diem for experienced RN's. He said that he also have friends that are RNs that make $30-$34 an hour per diem.

So I am thinking th SMART thing to do is to probably move as a traveler and pick up some extra per diem shifts. If you are planning to relocated like I am you can just take a staff (the dreaded word) position and work per diem since most of the hospitals are offering relocation and sign on bonuses. I even personally saw an add where one hospital was offering a 15k sign on bonus because they are opening a new Critical Care area in the hospital.

If you really just want to travel make sure when you do your research you find out in detail about the medical benefits because a lot of the companies are shady when providing information about that. Some of them don't cover 100% of the insurance costs so you might have to pay something out of pocket for it.

Hey thanks for the insight. I know that texas pays poorly comparatively, but will make some money throught company's housing stipend. Hopefully the assignment doesnt suck to bad. Cheers!

SJOY7509 · Feb 22, 2006

I've lived in Houston and depending on your experience, you'll find that the pay is around 25/hr for full time. If you choose local agencies, they can offer up to 40's/hr.

There are many hospitals in Houston and as far as I'm aware are experiencing a shortage like most of America! My travel agency offers about the same amount of available positions in Houston as Dallas.

There's probably little difference with the two cities though. Both have medical centers and if you decide to work at those...the traffic is terrible. (Then again....depends on what you're used to)

If you live in the suburbs of either city and work in a hospital in the suburbs...then you won't have traffic issues.

As far as weather...Dallas gets snow and gets cold in the winter. Houston is hot and muggy in the summer. Pick your worst evil.

Good luck. You won't have a problem finding a job in either place. I'd chose a travel position though....or local agency position