[gacri]

My wife and I are researching our ability to relocate to Vegas in the next year or two as she finishes up her college. She was an LPN for 4 years and had the unique opportunity to work in critical cardiac care right from the get go. So upon graduation she will have her RN License along with a few years of critical care experience to go with it...I have heard they are in need of nurses in the vegas area, BUT what kind of offerings are nurses getting to come there? Pay, student loan forgiveness, sign on bonus ect?? Like I stated we are seeing what are capabilities truly will be together to bring our family out there. We love the area and have some family there but of course what to live comfortable when there..Your advise is appreciated

[LV_James]

I can't answer most of your post, but as my wife was an RN in NY before we moved, I will offer one very important piece of advice.

Make sure her license is active when you move!

My wife, who had stopped working prior to our move, had put her license on inactive status. Once we were here, despite the shortage of good nurses, she was told the only way she could work here was to go back to NY long enough to get her license activated again.

It seems foolish, but that is the way it is (or at least was, a couple of years ago).

Just wanted to let you know.

[ndb3]

RN's are definitely in high demand in Vegas.... She should easily be able to get a $5-10k sign-on bonus... Depending on what discipline she decides to work in (home care, hospital, SNF) will determine how much she can make. Home care usually pays the most, however you have to figure in gas expenses and weigh the pros and cons.

Careerbuilder is a good site to look at, some job postings will list salary so you can get an idea of pay ranges for different places.

RN Jobs in LAS VEGAS, NV on CareerBuilder.com

Also craigslist has a bunch of job listings as well...

[Doug17]

The hospitals in Vegas are divded into systems and I'm sure they all have sites you can check out for more info. The main systems are:
Valley Health System (Desert Springs, Summerlin, Valley, Spring Valley, Centennial Hills)
HCA Far West Hospitals (Sunrise, Mountainview, Southern Hills)
CHW Hospitals - St. Rose Dominican (deLima, Siena, San Martin)
In addition there is University Medical Center (the only Level 1 Trauma Ctr) and North Vista Hospital.