Usa Places To Nurse

[MJ WINNIE]

I am a male Aussie RN with a greencard (granted through the diversity lottery). I'm joining up with a nursing agency (Nursing Managment Services ? any good). I hope to be working in the US by Dec of this year (after I have completed my NCLEX).

My main motivation is the money, so I can get a few bucks together and travel, as well as bank some $US in Aussie dollars ! low exchange rate!

The agency hasn't told me the hourly rate they will pay me yet (?next week). Can anyone give me some suggestions of what I should be getting from each state / Is there a big difference from state to state?

Has anyone worked with an Aussie nurse before?, thoughts on this.

Thanks

[fergus51]

Who hasn't worked with Aussies? A lot of fun in my experience. You can get salary information specific to nursing on http://www.salary.com which is done by region, or there is a thread already called "what do you make?" or something like that. There's really no way to say what you will make as an agency nurse without knowing where you are going. A friend does agency in California and makes 35$ an hour, but the cost of living is killer....

[fedupnurse]

A lot depends on which Agency you sign up with. In my area most Agency rates are 35 to 50 an hour. 50 is for specialty areas where you contract for a certain amount of time. Don't be afraid to negotiate. There are plenty of agencies around here and you can negotiate based on experience.

Good luck!

[TIREDmidnightRN]

The lowest I have ever seen in Michigan is 25....the average is 35 to 55...for med surg the top is about 42(with tele). A lot depends on how much experience you have.

[patadney]

Do you have experience?With a couple opf years experience you can do travel nursing,then get your rent paid and visit several areas of the country to see which you like best. My agency was Nurses RX-if you go with them,mention my name. The pay is by the job-for instance,there was a dialysis job in Wis that paid 30$ an hr this summer. Nurses RX has good health insurance at no cost to the traveler and a good pension,but you don't get vacation or sick pay. Some jobs have completion bonuses which serves as vacation pay,but my agency is trying to go with higher per hr pay so you have to save for vacation. The job usually runs 13 or 26 weeks. I have really enjoyed this work.