UK RN needs advice/wise words

[higgy1]

Hi all, hope you are doing well.

I've been offered a surgical nursing post with fraser health. I understand that this means I can work anywhere within fraser health so my questions are...

1) which facilities within fraser health have surgical units that you would 'recommend' to work in (conditions, staff levels, management attitude etc..) and

2) what are the places like that they are sited in (populations, schools, crime rates, housing afforability on a nurses wage (got 4 kids under 12 and a wife) etc...)

Any information is all useful, so thanks very much in advance...

[pugmum]

Hi there,

Just saw this thread...To answer your question is difficult...Fraser Health is a large health authority, divided into 3 regions with 4 hospitals in each.

Fraser North - Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, Burnaby General in Burnaby, Eagle Ridge in Port Moody, and Ridge Meadows in Maple Ridge. Fraser South - Surrey Memorial in Surrey, Delta Hospital, Peace Arch in White Rock, and Langley Memorial in Langley.

Fraser East - MSA Hospital in Abbotsford, Mission Memorial in Mission, Chilliwack General in Chilliwack, and Fraser Canyon in Hope.

The smaller hospitals are in Hope, Mission, and Delta, and have limited surgeries. RCH, SMH, and MSA are the largest in each of the regions. Of these 3, RCH would have the most variety and most of the specialties, but I don't think they do all the heart surgeries (I could be wrong here as I don't work there). So if you are looking for variety, either of these 3 would have it, with MSA being the smallest of the 3 but still must make referrals to SMH/RCH. The one advantage MSA has is they are building a new state of the art hospital which is to open within 2 years.

Housing prices are the most expensive in Fraser North and South, and get cheaper the farther you move out into the Fraser Valley (Fraser East). Many choose to live a bit further out, but then have to make the freeway commute across the Port Mann bridge or Patullo bridge which can be a bottle neck!

I have worked at SMH, LMH, MSA, and Mission. Langley is a nice community but growing rapidly. The same with Surrey, but busier. White Rock is beautiful, touristy in the summer, but housing is expensive unless you are independently wealthy! In the valley it is a bit more rural and housing is cheaper, Abbotsford and Mission tend to have younger families, and the population is expected to increase over the next 10 years.

The whole Fraser health Authority is undergoing organizational change right now, realigning directors etc and just hired a new chief nursing officer.

Wish I could be more specific about surgical units, but have not worked surgery for several years! So i hope this info about FH is helpful to you. One thing about FH is that they are very good with supporting nurses for specialy education, so if you apply for a program and are accepted, they pay books, tuition and salary. You should also be offered some relocation assistance the last I heard. Good luck to you! Oh, and the Olympics are coming in 2010...you'll have people coming out of the woodwork wanting to stay with you! :chuckle

edited: the link if you are interested is http://www.fraserhealth.ca