kauaitita
August 15th, 2005, 02:52 AM
I am hoping to network with some fellow nurses here! Some background for you-I am moving to Kauai to be near family, since I got divorced and have no family on the mainland. I am getting my Hawaii RN license soon (it's in the works). I have been an RN for 12 years-currently working ER at an Army hospital and I am a federal employee (Department of Defense). My experience is varied-I have practiced in many specialties-Open Heart CCU, Trauma ICU, Flight Nurse, Tele/Stepdown, GI Lab/Endoscopy, Recovery Room/Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Adult/Adolescent/Child Psychiatry, Psych ER, Chemical Dependency/Detox, Correctional Health (prisons), and of course ER which I have done for the past 2.5 years. Most of my experience is in Correctional Health (was a head nurse of a large Texas mens prison for 4 years) and in Psych/Detox (have about 4 years in that area as charge nurse).
I could easily apply for a transfer to Tripler Army (the pink palace) in Oahu, but the whole point of moving to Hawaii is to spend lots of time near my family and they are on Kauai. I hate to "throw away" my govt benefits and security of a govt job, but my family is most important to me-I am 40 years old and aint getting any younger! I WILL take a one year leave of absence when I move from the mainland, so at least I keep that Tripler option open JUST IN CASE things just dont work out on Kauai and I HAVE to live in Oahu-but that is a last resort thing.
Kauai has only 3 very small hospitals with very few openings so there is no guarantee that there will be openings when I move there (which hopefully will be no later than March). So i am preparing for the other options-working agency, home health, and nursing homes (if i must-i will do whatever kind of nursing i need to in order to pay the bills, at first anyway)....and would even consider taking short travel assignments to BI, Maui, and Oahu, or fly into Honolulu for prn work (maybe every other weekend to do 3 back to back 12 hour shifts or something).
My preferences are #1 prisons/correctional health #2 psych/detox #3 ER or PACU
So...if there are any other nurses, or anyone familiar with healthcare in Hawaii, would love to hear about your experiences, ideas, advice! Big Mahalos!
I could easily apply for a transfer to Tripler Army (the pink palace) in Oahu, but the whole point of moving to Hawaii is to spend lots of time near my family and they are on Kauai. I hate to "throw away" my govt benefits and security of a govt job, but my family is most important to me-I am 40 years old and aint getting any younger! I WILL take a one year leave of absence when I move from the mainland, so at least I keep that Tripler option open JUST IN CASE things just dont work out on Kauai and I HAVE to live in Oahu-but that is a last resort thing.
Kauai has only 3 very small hospitals with very few openings so there is no guarantee that there will be openings when I move there (which hopefully will be no later than March). So i am preparing for the other options-working agency, home health, and nursing homes (if i must-i will do whatever kind of nursing i need to in order to pay the bills, at first anyway)....and would even consider taking short travel assignments to BI, Maui, and Oahu, or fly into Honolulu for prn work (maybe every other weekend to do 3 back to back 12 hour shifts or something).
My preferences are #1 prisons/correctional health #2 psych/detox #3 ER or PACU
So...if there are any other nurses, or anyone familiar with healthcare in Hawaii, would love to hear about your experiences, ideas, advice! Big Mahalos!