I am a 42 y/o graduate of ADN program working on BSN. I currently have 1 year med-surg experience but will have almost 2 years exp. when I obtain my BSN.
I visisted my local VA hospital recently and had alot of questions answered but many still not.
Questions:
The woman at HR could not answer questions specifically to pay regarding OT, weekend, and shift differentials.
1) Can anyone elaborate on these differentials?
Also I was told that there was no commitment for nurses when changing locations as to how long one must stay before moving on to another facility. I am thinking of using the VA as a "traveling type" position because of the long-term benefits of government retirement and being treated as a "regular" staff instead of a traveler "making more money" and being treated unfairly in a facility.
2) Is this true, can I transfer for say.....6 months and move again if I find a similiar job title in another state?
Also, I have not been able to find out how different VAs figure out there COLAs. The woman told me it was specific to each location.
3) How can someone find this out before relocating? Right now it seems kind of frustrating to not know basic pay scales if someone wanted to relocate on a regular basis.
It looks like I may be better to stay where I am for a year or two to finish my BSN and go in with that increased experience and education for an increase in pay.
4) Any suggestions with the amount of experience and/or education would work best in regards to pay in general?
I forgot to ask about training, the facility where I am near closed the medical areas and it is mainly psych/long-term/detox/PTSD.
5) Would it be better to get some critical care experience in order to have more options when trying to relocate? In my current facility there's such a shortage that I should be able to train ICU in the near future.
I was explained the retirement system (although entirely sure how it works) it seems like a decent plan for the future.
6) Is this system a great way to look at towards retirement?
Also I've read here how VA may pay for MS although the woman I spoke with way not entirely sure how that worked so any info on that would also be appreciated.
It's hard trying to find out specifics without asking someone who's experienced this. Thank you for any info you all may have to offer.
KK4YOU
96 Posts
Hi, no its through the state of ca. Thank you anyways though :).