WA RN moving to Oahu, advice pls!

U.S.A. Hawaii

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Specializes in Med-surg, long-term, ambulatory.

I'm a 23 year old RN-BSN working med-surg in WA with about 8 months of acute care experience right now. I was an LPN and worked in long term care as well as ambulatory care while getting my ADN and then my BSN before landing a med-surg position. My boyfriend's in the navy and is getting stationed in Kaneohe Bay in Oahu in April and I'm planning on moving there with him. By the time we move there, I will have had at least a year of acute care experience. I've been reading forums and looking on hospital websites to gauge how hard the job search is for RNs and it's sounding very difficult for new grads, but I was wondering if anyone might know how hard it would be to snag a hospital job for an RN with my background and experience? I would greatly appreciate a realistic opinion and any helpful advice from the nurses and new grads living on the islands already, mahalo!

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its really tough on the islands right now but with 1 year of acute care experience you should have a better time of finding a job. I recommend getting your resume out there and applying for jobs at Queens, Straub, and Castle asap and see what the response is. Its either going to be easy for you because the nurse managers feel that a year is enough experience or its going to be tough because even the experienced nurses are having a tough time. I also greatly recommend checking in with the travel nurse agencies that contract with Oahu hospitals. That is how most out of state RNs get their jobs. Kanoehe Bay is a great place to be stationed and Castle Hospital s right there but its the smaller hospital. If you're looking for the Level I trauma center then you want Queens. Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Med-surg, long-term, ambulatory.

Thanks for your advice, jpeters84! Our moving date is set for April, would you recommend applying now? Also since you brought up nursing agencies, how are they doing on the islands? Here in Washington state, they're starting to fall out of favor here as the hospitals are trying to save money on their budgets by not hiring any travel nurses. But I will definitely check them out. Any reliable nursing agencies that you know of?

Castle Hospital was the main hospital I had in mind of applying to. Are you familiar with how they're doing as far as staffing-wise or their hiring process? Thanks again!

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Specializes in ICU, EMS.

http://www.hawaiipacifichealth.org/hph/careers/default.aspx

I would suggest you look here. HPH is Straub, Kapiolani Women's & Childrens, and Pali Momi on Oahu. Also not to nitpick but if it matters to you, Queens is a Level II not Level I trauma center.

Good luck.

CC

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I've been applying for RN positions at every hospital on Oahu for 4 months now with zero success. 2 years of acute care experience ( 1y PCU, 1 y Med/Surg)

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Specializes in Med-surg, long-term, ambulatory.

Thanks for your input, Ukie_nurse! Did you just recently move to Hawaii from somewhere else?

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Specializes in Med-surg, long-term, ambulatory.

Thanks, CC-RN-EMTP! I'm not too concerned with what level trauma center I work at. Not to be too picky, I would just rather much prefer working at a hospital rather than long term care. Do you know how lucky I'd get if I were to start applying now? I'm trying to time everything out when to plan applying for my RN license there and when to start applying between our planned move-in date. My big concern is just hoping I can get a job offer in time before I move there.

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Hello,

I hope this link helps a littel bit. Good Luck...

http://www.squidoo.com/nursing-in-hawaii

And maybe you can apply at Tripler.... Here a link to that.

http://www.tamc.amedd.army.mil/

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Specializes in n/a.

are you getting married before y'all move? will you be on his orders?

if you're married before the move, and thus on his orders - you can get preferential hiring at any military facility. there's a big clinic on k-bay (the base he'll be stationed at) and they're actively hiring experienced nurses right now.

i'm married to a Marine, but i'm not on his orders (he was already stationed here when we got married) - so i don't qualify for any pref hiring. its a major bummer.

having some experience under your belt should really help you. the other replies gave you good advice about hospital's sites to check out.

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Specializes in Med-surg, long-term, ambulatory.

Over the weekend, he proposed! We are planning on getting married before we move so I'll be on his orders. I'm really hoping the preferential treatment will help out. By the time we move there, I'll take whatever job is available. I'm hoping to get something acute or ambulatory on the base.

Now I have to wait to get my HI RN license in the mail.

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We are REALLY wanting to move to Oahu (Kane'ohe Bay) when I graduate nursing school, but I am worried about the huge difference in cost of living. We live in Alabama now, and you can buy a huge house for around 150,000. Nurses here start out at about 20 dollars an hr. This has me nervous about applying as a new nurse, if the jobs are that hard to find. What is the average pay for nurses in this area? I don't graduate until 2012, but I just wanted to know a bit about what it's like, or if this is a good idea...

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