Florida RN License: Help

Welcome to the world of travel nursing. I have been a travel nurse for over 11 yrs. I applied for a Florida license about 7 yrs ago, so things may have changed since then. I believe that the whole process took less than a month.
A good website for checking on license requirements is pantravelers.org  There are links there to every board of nursing as well as a brief description for obtaining a license in each state. There is also information there about contracts, and how to know if a contract is fair or not.
I have not taken assignments in the areas of Florida that you mentioned. Be careful of the hospitals that you choose to be submitted to. The for-profit hospitals in Florida leave a lot to be desired (HCA, Tenet) and I refuse to work at them. I also refuse to take the PBDS test. I have heard positive things about the Baptist hospital system in Miami and also Holy Cross in Fort Lauderdale.

I hear you on the for profit hospital. Currently at HCA hospital and I think I won't do them anymore.

Florida is a nice place to visit, but I have not found a hospital in Florida yet that isn't 20 years behind the rest of the world. I currently only work in GA and FL, so I can verifiy that not only is the pay awful, but the working conditions are horrible. Stay away from the Adventist System and HCA's. I can't determine yet how they all manage to stay afloat after all the lawsuits, the only reason I can find is that they are all equally subpar.

Hi Kris-

I understand what your going through with the FL license.  It's definitely a process!  My suggestion is that you call the board and speak with a board representative to get things straightened out.  Every RN who has worked with me has been able to get the license within 4 weeks and they call the board first to figure out EVERYTHING they need before applying.  Make sure to keep your receipts because most agencies will reimburse you for the license once you start the contract.

Baptist Health is a great health system to work for (NO PBDS REQUIRED HERE), and we actually work very closely with them! If you are interested in learning more let me know!

Lindsay Manes
Senior Recruiter
512-287-7025
Clinical One-soon to be "Randstad Healthcare"

Just got my FL license in 11/2011. You need two fingerprint cards (FD 258), to complete required CEU's and mail the certificate with the cards. Also complete the online application (or download and print off) and mail in with application fee/cards/CEU (etc) . The $30 NURSYS fee is to have your home state of license send license verification to FL BON. Its a very detailed process, but I actually got my license in 4 weeks!!

Florida is beautiful by the way. I'm in Tampa, and loving the weather.

Yahoo! I am active as of today for my Florida license. It only took 2 weeks from the time I mailed out all of my stuff. I sent it out on Feb 2nd and am active today. Thank God! Now I just need to find RN jobs in Florida. I think there are a few options last time I checked.

I am way excited now too! I also applied for my California RN licnese and should get that here soon as well. Such a relief to have this complete and ready to go. Thank you all for your input and advice. I appreciate any help I can get on where to go and what facilities are the best. Thank you again.

Kristin

YEAH!!!! Sounds great - let us know where you end up!

I am an OTR at Lee Memorial in Ft Myers.  I work at 2 of the hospitals here, everyone is very nice, no terrible complaints and there are lots of nursing jobs.  2 out of the 4 hospitals are using EPIC, the other 2 go live soon.  Check out there employment pages  http://www.leememorial.org.  They have seasonal positions, competitive pay, though all taxable.  They also hire a lot of travelers.  

I just returned from Florida and spent 4 months in Boynton Beach at Bethesda Memorial. I had a great experience, the hospital I would say is 50-60% travelers and they do float the travelers ALOT so unless you are flexible and readily adapt to new floors and units pretty much daily one may not like it, I floated tele, med surg, cu, postpartum, and pediatrics. Med surg was my home base but Iwas only there probably half my assignment. I had looked at Fort Meyers for an assignment but the hospital there required the pre employment test and I will not work at any hospital unless local who requires this, I have passed it in the past however when you travel a few thousand miles I am not willing to take a chance on a cancelled assignment based off a test that in no way indicates strength in clinical care etc... I was told to stay away from Delrey, not joking when I say every traveler I met who had been there called it "dell hell".  Good luck!

My husband is just finishing up a 3 month assignment at Sarasota Memorial. We LOVE Sarasota, but it's probably the worst hospital he has worked at thus far in terms of floating and scheduling. He was hired as an ICU float and so expected to float but he had talked to the NM on the interview and she assured him that he would primarily be in ICU but just needed to be prepared to occasionaly float. Well...he has worked in ICU for a total of 4 shifts in 13 weeks. They have worked him as a CNA even and rehab etc. Then regarding scheduling most facilities he has worked for has been pretty great about self scheduling for the most part but this place hasn't even considered his schedule requests. Next week is his last week here and we still don't even have his schedule for it! Makes planning a bit difficult. Other than these complaints it hasn't been bad. Like I said, we love the area so it's a trade-off.