Nursing Wages in Idaho Falls. Looking to relocate. (Boise, Pocatello: apartment, to rent)

[D26B]

My husband and I are looking to relocate. He has 4 years experience in the OR as an RN. We are currently in Washington. I can't seem to find any current wages for Idaho RN's. Can anyone help? We are interested in Pocatello, Idaho Falls, or Coeur d'Alene. Also, for any locals in these areas....pros and cons to living in these areas? Thank you.
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[6.7traveler]

Call up whatever hospital you are interested and ask for HR or a recruiter. Tell them you are an OR nurse with 4 years of experience and you are interested in moving there and would like to know the salary range. They will 9 times out of 10 give you a salary range from low to high for your experience level. Very easy, takes less than 5 minutes. There are many variables between shifts and experience levels so it would be much better to call for yourself. Some hospitals even post the pay range on their website, but if not just call.

[Mtn. States Resident]

I totally agree with 6.7traveler. Talk to placement agencies. It's your husband that is an RN with 4 yrs. In the O.R., correct? Does he have a BSN or is he a CFA? Those are huge differences in training, responsibilities and compensation. CFAs are in demand and sometimes negotiate with specialty surgeons, but usually the hospital to work with a designated specialty team.

Kootenai Healthcare is in NID. You may want to post in the ID thread for local residents to respond. I can't remember if Kootenai has an ASC. Otherwise, care is quite integrated at Kootenai both for inpatient and outpatient care. It's a Trauma III with its first year of Family Medicine residents in training. It's an unopposed pprogram so new PGIs will be added in July and this class will become PG IIs. You can check their schedule for their time in the O.R.

Portneuf Medical Center is in Pocatello. An RN with 4 yr. Experience would probably work on the general B and B cases vs. Complex Teams. Pocatello is home to I.S.U. who has greatly improved their BSN and MSN programs. It's a Trauma III and 181 beds. Pocatello has an ASC. I think it's called RM Surgical.

You can find these on the web. One word of caution if you check PMC's medical staff. Read closely or between the lines. They list locum, telerad, telemedicine doctors to look like they are all in Pocatello, which isn't correct. The Neonatogists, Infectious Disease, Endocrine, some ophthalmology docs and now all Interventional radiologists are in Idaho Falls and rotate who goes to Poky. Poky has a Family Medicine program. I'd check FP duties in the O.R.

Mountain View is a limited general med/surg hospital is Idaho Falls. It grew out of an ASC and some Orthos and OBs and other surgeons building a 17 bed facility. It has expanded to 40 beds including some for medicine. They have about 8 O.Rs as they still make $ from procedures, OB and Not offering full service like a 24 hr. E.R. Mtn. View might be a good fit. They do Robotic Surgery.

Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center ( EIRMC) is largest of the facilities at 341 beds. It is one of two Trauma II hospitals in ID, with the other being St. AL'S in Boise. It has the ONLY Level I Critical Care Nursing unit in the state. Other ICUs are Level II or lower. EIRMC has an education program for employees. There are a couple of CRNAs who worked their way up from regular RNs, and many MSN, BSNs. Both Idaho State and BYU-Idaho and EITC. Send nursing students to learn here. But there is always need given specialized programs and a new addition that will be added. Robotic surgery and certain pediatric surgeries requiring a PICU are done at EIRMC. The NICU is the only IIIb outside of Boise or Salt Lake City Metro. EIRMC pays X amount of tuition for RNs to get advanced degrees.

That should be enough info to get you started contacting recruiters or nursing officers.

Good luck finding your husband a job. I hope this goes smoothly for you.

MSR

[D26B]

Thank you!!!

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by D26B

Thank you!!!

You are welcome, D26B. May I ask you what general area of WA you are located? We have a fair amount of people who move from WA to here.

I hope you've been able to contact recruiters and/or Human Resources at the hospitals.

MSR

[D26B]

We are in Vancouver area. Just over the Oregon Border. The pay is good but housing is getting ridiculous. We can't even find a decent house to rent under $1500 a month. The cheapest apartment I found was $850 1bed 1bath. My husband is planning on researching the different Idaho hospits and making phone calls on his next day off. We are torn between Idaho and Colorado.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by D26B

We are in Vancouver area. Just over the Oregon Border. The pay is good but housing is getting ridiculous. We can't even find a decent house to rent under $1500 a month. The cheapest apartment I found was $850 1bed 1bath. My husband is planning on researching the different Idaho hospits and making phone calls on his next day off. We are torn between Idaho and Colorado.

Portland metro and even areas in the South Wiliamette are getting very expensive. I have a friend near Eugene who interviews weekly to find a new job. He and his wife both work and they are not able to stay ahead of the living expenses. He says areas are getting run down and it is clearly those who "have" and "the have nots." I also have a friend in Portland looking to relocate.

I have an MD pal who lives in Lake Oswego. He use to work in Portland at Emmanuel, but was recruited and pursued so much by the hospital in Bend, he changed last year. He's the Medical Director of a specialty so he got a terrific deal of days on then days off.

When your husband talks to the facilities, just a few suggestions, if I may.

1. Area of surgery he is most interested in i.e. ortho, gyn, pediatric, cardiac or neuro etc. Lots of times one can even talk to the BSN/MSN service line Director of a specialty he'd like to focus on more. Chances for promotions. I don't know what he wants to do, but I think if it were me, I'd want to end up with a Surgical First Assist Certified, some day. They have to be good and they have to enjoy complicated cases. SFA make great salaries in Idaho.

2. Does he want to get his BSN/MSN or higher? Let them know. He won't be happy if the hospital doesn't really care.

3. Volume of all cases, and volume of any specialty areas that interest him. They do about 90% off-pump heart surgeries in Idaho Falls. Many have never seen or were trained on them. Not to worry, they train CV surgeons throughout the nation. Don't let lack of exposure limit, instead ask about training opportunities.

4. Plans for surgery expansion both physically but especially new services on the service lines.

CO will probably pay more, but like Metro Portland the residents have to make more given the cost of living. More rural hospitals may or may not pay amounts similar to the Front Range and Denver metro.

Idaho probably won't pay as well, but the cost of living is much less.

MDs are leaving both Portland metro and WA cities like Moses Lake and the Tri-Cities for eastern ID. Some probably has to do with the specialties, but it seems like more and more who have been in practice a while are relocating. We have many on the medical staff who did medical school or residency and/or fellowship in Seattle who accept positions to practice in eastern ID initially and never leave.

Interestingly enough, a lot of doctors are choosing E. Idaho over CO to practice. One finally explained to me that E. Idaho feels a lot like CO use to 20 yrs. ago.

Let us know how it goes. If your husband has questions he's welcome to send me a PM. There are things I won't write openly.

Good luck...I hope the two of you are able to make progress this week.

MSR

[6.7traveler]

My wife has worked as an RN in Colorado... I'd choose Idaho... Colorado , while beautiful and an outdoor paradise is getting too crowded for my tastes. The pay isn't that much higher in Colorado, especially if you aren't working on the front range. The pay in Colorado seems to be anywhere from $25ish-$35ish, maybe a bit higher for a certain speciality in Denver.

All the scenic mountain towns like Durango get literally dozens of calls per day from people wanting to move there so it's harder to get a job and they know they don't have to pay as much. Colorado population 5.3 million, Idaho population 1.6 million. I'd go with Idaho for that reason alone, but some people actually like lots of "action" so to each his own.