Nursing/travel nursing in Seattle area

U.S.A. Washington

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Hi! This is my first post on allnurses.com so forgive me if I make any mistakes! I decided to put it here over the travel nursing thread because i'm interested in both travel nursing and full-time employment opportunities!

I am just curious about travel nursing and nursing in general in the Seattle area... I've been an L&D RN in a large teaching hospital (the only level 1 trauma center and highest level NICU in the state, high risk maternal-fetal medicine) in Oklahoma for the last two years. My husband just graduated from pharmacy school and is taking his boards this summer. It is our dream to pursue our postgraduate lives and careers in Seattle, but I think I'd have to travel in order to help pay for our expenses. Does anyone have any insight on the best travel agencies for this area, what I can expect as far as hourly wages go (for travelers and FTE), how much reimbursement i'd get for housing through travel agencies, and the environments of the labor and delivery units in different hospitals?

Any advice/encouragement/input is greatly appreciated!

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There are only two hospital systems in Seattle proper that do deliveries: University of Washington (with one campus in the U-district) and Swedish (with several campuses, including two delivery hospitals in Seattle proper). A couple of years ago Swedish admin made a huge push to get rid of all travelers system-wide, so you may not be able to get a travel contract with any of the Swedish delivery hospitals unless the policy has changed and they've become ridiculously desperate lately. I have no idea whether or not UW is hiring any travelers.

If you're willing to take contracts at hospitals in the bedroom communities outside of Seattle, you'll have more options and may have better luck (i.e. Evergreen in Kirkland, Highline in Burien). There are nurses who commute from these bedroom communities to Seattle for work, so the commute is doable. However, if you had hoped to live and work right in the city, you may have a hard time.

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Thank you so much for this! Good to know!

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