My husband and I would like to plan a trip to Seattle and/or surrounding suburban areas to see if we want to move this winter from Michigan. I'm graduating with my BSN this december and I'm interested in some hospitals including Harborview and Swedish in Seattle, Evergreen in Kirkland, Overlake in Bellevue, st. clare in Lakewood, fanciscan health care w/ several locations. I plan to start applying in early fall.
When should I visit? Should I contact these hospitals and see if I can set something up w/ a nurse recruiter? What, if anything, can you tell me about these areas? Do you know anything about these specific hospitals or their nurse residency programs? Are they competative? Anything you can tell me will be helpful.
I'm worried we will have trouble 'getting on our feet' as I am not seeing sign on bonuses or moving reimbursments advertised. The cost of living here is pretty low. I have to visit again though before making such big move.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i know swedish usually does a moving expenses bonus, but i don't know about any of the other hospitals that you mentioned. i wouldn't work at overlake since their mission statement/philosophy has patient satisfaction king over patient safety.
harborview is the public county hospital but they see the worst of the worst cases since they're the only trauma 1 hosp for wa, ak, id, and mt.
swedish is right next-door and is a bit more aesthetically pleasing.
those are the big hospitals in the washington area, the others are much smaller and less acuity. if you want high acuity and see more interesting cases, go to swedish or harborview. another "big" hospital in the south end of puget sound is tacoma general, where they see some higher acuities as well, though hmc is the referral center.
pretty much depends on what your goals are. good luck!
as far as cities go, seattle and tacoma are definitely good-sized cities, but a lot of people commute out of them to more suburban areas.
don't forget the uwmc! they have pretty high acuity cardiology, cardiac surgery and transplant populations.
Specializes in focused on critical care in school.
Thanks neeni1. That will help. I also passed that web site on to my fellow new grads. They are some of the most intelligent people that I have had the privilege to work with. What a great group they are. I will miss them. We recently lossed a friend in a bicycle/ car accident. He was incredible as well. Some drunk hit him on his bike. He would have made a great nurse. We were within a few weeks of graduating when it happened.
Anywho...how is the hiring in Washington? Is it competitive? I look forward to moving out there.
It just depends on where you apply....it may be more competitive at the U of W medical center than let's say Harborview....but apply everywhere...you just never know.
The City of Seattle will be charging you 20 cents each after the first of the year for any and all plastic or paper bags that you get at the grocery store, and also for take out containers. They love, love, love to take as much of your money as possible, and are very creative in how they pitch it so as to get you to jump on the band wagon.
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This is happening in big cities all over the country not just seattle. Buying canvas grocery bags is a one time expense and think of what you will be doing for the environment. This isn't a reason to move or not to move somewhere.
This is happening in big cities all over the country not just seattle. Buying canvas grocery bags is a one time expense and think of what you will be doing for the environment. This isn't a reason to move or not to move somewhere.
Yes, and we all have to pay down the road when our environment is damaged and our landfills are overflowing with plastic bags and other wasteful, one-time use items.
It's not politics to tax unnecessary garbage production, it's just leadership and common sense and I'm very happy to see large cities like Seattle take a stand to control the unbelievable amount of waste we all generate. This policy may annoy some people now, because they do not want to be inconvenienced in any way, but the next generation will simply incorporate a "reuse and recycle" philosophy into their lives and will no doubt look back on 80's, 90's, and early 2000's as a very wasteful period in American history.
Sorry to hijack the thread. I live in the Portland/Vancouver area but did live in Seattle for 7 years. I love Seattle, it is a beautiful and diverse city. Not without problems (e.g. transportation) but still a lovely place to live. Just live close-in so you can take the bus to avoid the unpleasant and frequent traffic jams.
Harborview, Swedish, and Virginia Mason are all within a 15 minute walk of each other, so if you live within a close commute of them you could switch jobs and hospitals without much problem.
Evergreen is beautiful and I've heard nurses like it, calm like Overlake but I also wasn't impressed with the Overlake nurses during my rotation there, one of them complained about every single student in our clinical group and one day went home in a huff in a very unprofessional manner. Others were nice but the culture didn't seem student or new grad friendly.
I don't think any RN graduates have had problems finding jobs, the problem is this area underpays nurses when you look at the cost of living, I think there's a RN here LindaRN or someone who's often posted about this.
Shoreline or Edmonds are reasonable places to live, I would be careful about living in Duvall or Carnation they are quite far out there, that would be a long commute for your husband into Redmond/Kirkland and for you into any Seattle hospitals. Some of the outlying areas like Duvall have 2 line main roads in and out and got built up way too quick during the good times and haven't been holding up their house values as well as places closer in.
My husband and I would like to plan a trip to Seattle and/or surrounding suburban areas to see if we want to move this winter from Michigan. I'm graduating with my BSN this december and I'm interested in some hospitals including Harborview and Swedish in Seattle, Evergreen in Kirkland, Overlake in Bellevue, st. clare in Lakewood, fanciscan health care w/ several locations. I plan to start applying in early fall.
When should I visit? Should I contact these hospitals and see if I can set something up w/ a nurse recruiter? What, if anything, can you tell me about these areas? Do you know anything about these specific hospitals or their nurse residency programs? Are they competative? Anything you can tell me will be helpful.
I'm worried we will have trouble 'getting on our feet' as I am not seeing sign on bonuses or moving reimbursments advertised. The cost of living here is pretty low. I have to visit again though before making such big move.
Hi - You will love Seattle! Definitely better winters than Michigan!
You should visit in October and start looking for a position in November-ish. The programs are competitive and all the hospitals have their pluses and minuses...depends on what area of nursing you want to get into. There are usually not sign on bonuses for Residents, but I know that Swedish will give a good relo package. They advertise it as "customized relocation" which means they will pay for what you need, but won't just throw cash at you. The cost of living in Seattle can be high, or it can be low, depending on where you live. The southend of Seattle is still very affordable, and pay rates are relative to the cost of living so you can expect to make more in Seattle. Seattle has not been hit as hard by the economic downturn, and the unemployment rate is still very low, so your husband should not have too much trouble finding work, too.
Good luck! The hospitals you list are all good ones, but I am biased for Swedish so I would start there! :redpinkhe
I have applied to Overlake and Evergreen. My husband will be working in Redmond/Kirkland area and we are looking at a house in Duvall/Carnation area.
I have heard it is very difficult to drive into Seattle so would there be any point in applying to Swedish or Harborview if I live out to the East.
It is worth noting that Swedish will be building a big new facility in Issaquah in just a few years, planning has already started. So, because they have so many internal transfers, the nurses who are already there will have first dibs on the new Eastside positions...my advice is get in early so that you can have your shot at one of the nurse positions at the new facility when it is built. Public transpo to Seattle is not bad - bus right from Duvall into downtown, and Swedish will give you a free metro pass. So that's just my .02! Good luck!
If your not set on the west side...You might want to think about central Wa. We have a couple of good hospitals, Yakima Valley Regional hospital and Yakima Valley Memorial hospital. Central Wa. isn't as large as Seattle or Tacoma, the cost of living is a little less, except gas prices.
I have my LPN from the state of Georgia with 4 years experience and am thinking of moving to the Seattle area as my daughter is moving there. I have also finished all of Excelsior College's ASN program except for the CPNE (clinical performance exam). Can anybody give me info on WA's acceptance of Excelsior, LPN pay rates, who hires LPNs there (though I'm still pursuing my RN, whatever it takes). Thanks.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
don't forget the uwmc! they have pretty high acuity cardiology, cardiac surgery and transplant populations.