Nurses considering a career in the Golden State may be interested in these tidbits.
Opportunities. California's nursing shortage was the subject of a recent Los Angeles Times article. The article described the California Wellness Foundation's efforts to highlight the shortage and encourage more minorities to consider careers in health care; 51of 58 counties in California have shortages in allied health professions.
The Times article also noted that the average annual salary for a full-time RN had increased 32% since 2000, to $69,000 last year. And rising salaries and improvements in working conditions are attracting students to nursing, but nursing schools can't keep up with the demand. They need more faculty.
Great facilities. Four California hospitals made it on America's Best Hospitals 2007 Honor Roll, published by U.S. News and World Report: UCLA Medical Center; the University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center; Stanford Hospital and Clinics; and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Two important variables that the magazine uses to rank hospitals are the nursing index (the ratio of full-time RNs to the daily patient census) and Magnet status. There are currently 10 Magnet hospitals in California.
Living. San Francisco made Relocate-America's top-10 places to live in 2007, and five more California communities made the top 100. And eight more California towns made Money Magazine's top 100 (Claremont was number 5).
Your Guide to Job Opportunities in California
Cedars-Sinai Health System
8723 Alden Dr., SSB-110
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Contact: Thea Bruzdzinski
(310) 423-6320
Fax: (310) 423-0378
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.csmc.edu/careers
Memorial Medical Center
1800 Coffee Road
Modesto, CA 95355
Contact: Jill Ayres
(209) 572-7194
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.memorialmedicalcenter.org
UCLA Health System
10920 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Contact: Sheri Monsein, RN
(866) 895-6690
Fax: (310) 825-3102
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://hr.healthcare.ucla.edu
For nurses who prefer a warmer climate, the South has some great opportunities for living and working.
Award-winning places to live. Suwanee, Georgia, was ranked number 10 in Money Magazine's Best Places to Live 2007. Suwanee is northeast of Atlanta and has two hospitals nearby, Newton Medical Center and Northside Hospital, in addition to other facilities closer to Atlanta.
Communities in Money Magazine's Top 100 are Helena, Alabama; Martinez and Peachtree, Georgia; Olive Branch and Ridgeland, Mississippi; Apex, Holly Springs, and Mooresville, North Carolina; Seven Oaks, South Carolina; Bartlett, Tennessee; and Glen Allen, Mechanicsville, and Vienna, Virginia.
Two communities, Ashville and Cary, North Carolina, were named to Relocate-America's list of the top 10 places to live in 2007. Seventeen more made its top 100.
Award-winning places to work. Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, tied for seventh place on America's Best Hospitals 2007 Honor Roll, published by U.S. News and World Report. The magazine also recognized Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, for its gynecology and kidney specialties. University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, was recognized for endocrinology and University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham for rheumatology.
Currently 43 hospitals in the South have Magnet status, including the four facilities recognized by U.S. News and World Report.
Florida has embraced Magnet status in a big way. Of the 256 designated Magnet hospitals, 17 are in Florida. And U.S. News and World Report ranked Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami number one in ophthalmology.
Florida RNs earn a mean annual salary of $56,710, but these figures vary by region; for example, the mean salary in the Miami metropolitan area is $62,590. In Pensacola, it's $50,700. Money Magazine ranked Lake Mary, Florida, the fourth best place to live in the country. Lake Mary has no hospitals but is near Orlando, which has many choices for nurses. Winter Springs, ranked number 31, and eight other Florida communities made Relocate-America's top 100: Bonita Springs, Bradenton, Cape Coral, Fruit Cove, Longwood, Sarasota, Tallahassee, and The Villages.
In terms of housing affordability, Tallahassee scored better than any other community in Florida on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, and the Pensacola area wasn't far behind.
Your Guide to Job Opportunities in the Southern States and Florida
DukeMedicine
DUMC 3714
Durham, NC 27710
Contact: Nurse Recruitment
(800) BE-A-NURSE (232-6877)
Web site: http://www.dukenursing.org
Florida Hospital, Fish Memorial
1055 Saxon Blvd.
Orange City, FL 32763
Contact: Wren McLelland, Human Resources
(386) 917-5077
Fax: (386) 917-5282
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.fishjobs.org
Novant Health
Forsyth Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC
(800) 777-1876
Presbyterian Hospital, Charlotte, NC
(800) 473-6605
Brunswick Community Hospital, Supply, NC
(910) 755-8121
Web site: http://www.novanthealth.org
Pitt County Memorial Hospital
P.O. Box 6028
Greenville, NC 27835
Contact: Employment Office
(800) 342-5155
Web site: http://www.pcmhcareers.com/ajn