Anyone travel to St. Thomas? Especially l&d

[LnD girl]

Hey there, I'm new, this is my first ever thread or chat or whatever. I'm not new to nursing or traveling though!
My big question is for those of you out there who have traveled to St. Thomas. I do know that life outside of a resort is no picnic, but am looking for specifics on what to expect (both good and bad) especially as far as cost of living for food/cars etc.
from an L&D perspective, I hear it's nuts to work there, but give me some specifics please.

[HeyFraydo]

I worked in the US Virgin Islands on St Thomas before although in Psych which had a low census and I actually enjoyed the staff.

Now I've heard the stories of all other units with understaffing and/or lack of supplies and such. I find that people either love it or hate it.

It's a Island Hospital and they do have limitations.

Number one though is becareful who you pick to Travel with.

Right now I recommend Rob K. at ProfessionalNurse.com

I traveled with them and they had a decent package and housing but as always do your research and negotiate.

I've heard but haven't confirmed that trustaff does not supply car rental stipend and the other companies that contract there are low paying but this info is constantly changing.

Several companies have came and went on USVI.

Best housing from my research Saaphire Village, The Golf Course Mahoganny...I lived in a 1st floor apartment of someone's house near Frenchmen's Reef Resort which was nice. Had W/D DW AC Good size..Overlooked the bay the ships come in.

Make sure you take a good supply of your meds if your insurance requires you to use Kmart Pharmacy which is to be avoided.

Everything is somewhat more expensive because it's an Island and has to be shipped in. Sprint worked great there with some bad places.

Take heed warnings about crime on where and where not to go.

They have several online papers > Thousands of newspapers on the Net > caribbean> US Virgin Islands

Ill be writing a article soon with all the resources I found then and now stay tuned.

Any questions pm me or email from my site. Good Luck!

CJ www.TravelNurseToolbox.com

[LnD girl]

Thanks for your great answers. I think that was more along the lines of what I was looking for.
If anyone else has anything to add or more info, keep it comin'!

[lovelife]

Hi There,
I was a labor & Delivery traveler two winters ago in St. Thomas.
It was a good experience I thought, and I am considering going back this winter again. I travel with my husband, so we found plenty of activities to keep each other company on the island. There is a lot of travelers working at that hospital. The local staff is burnt out sometimes, and probably tired of travelers coming and going, and quiting and not showing up for work. But, there are really good travelers there too.
They have all the equipment, computer charting, monitors outside the room, iv poles, attached OR room in the L/D unit. It is actually staffed better than some of the units I have traveled at. They use CNA's or occasional LPN to help out. They could work the unit if they absolutely had to, been there long time and are very knowledgable. Although, when travelers are working they prefer to sit back sometimes and relax.
The unit does maybe 100-120 deliveries per month, that's guessing. They have a quick admission questionaire, IV, enema, continuous monitoring. Not much labor support is typically provided, not much for halls to walk, no labor balls, no tubs, tiny rooms. Majority of the patients delivery naturally, they have a amazing expectation and pain tolerance for labor. They do have anesthesia services, but typically are prearranged for cost reasons, private pay patients, etc. I think most insurances down there do not cover it. The unit is managed and supervised by one Nurse Midwife- 24 hours a day. They manage the labor and consult with the OB/Family Prac. Doctors as needed. The nurse midwife and Rn are in the room for delivery, that is all that fits in the room (literally). If something is going wrong, then the Dr. is called in to cont. with the care, delivery, etc. This is for most patients although, some pt. are classified as "private pay" patients and the Dr. follows their care and does delivery. After the delivery, there is about 1 hour recovery, baby goes to nursery, and mom goes out to post partum. RN gives report comes back to take next labor. I thought the process was pretty good and easy for traveler to adapt to. They do inductions and scheduled c-sections too.

I think the biggest challenge for me was the language barrier. There was french, creole, irabian, mix....island language that sometimes I could not understand. You try to find someone in the hospital that can speak it, if not, you have to get by- hopefully they have a family/friend with them to interpret.

Also, other concern is the requirement to float, if the unit is closed. They have a book they keep track of float dates. But, some of the local staff are sick of floating- but are capable/cross trained in Medical/Surgical. Although most LD travel rn's do not like/want/or can float to MedSurg. I never did med surg in my life, but they were always asking me to float. One day they forced me to do it, I had 5 sick patients to take care of with total cares. Not a good day. But, they say a nurse is a nurse. US LD travelers when to the Director of Nursing and nothing improved. So that is a little stressfull coming to work not knowing forsure if you are going to be floated.

As for island living. Beautiful! The islands and water is HEAVEN. The traffic is kind of bad, during certain times, there are bad crime areas near downtown. Resort areas, and good areas to live. The nice part about all the islands is you can always ferry over to St. John or St. Croix, or take a day sail trip to the British Virgin Islands. They have movie theater, work out gym and shopping center, a couple miles from the Hospital.
Living options, most travelers stay at Saffiare Beach condo's which I heard mixed things about. We spent our first week there, beautiful views and beach. Ok units (small) old buildings. The drive was a little long for work, and you hit traffic, especially coming into work for night shift. There is only one road into the hospital/downtown area- one lane- gets backed up. They say you can travel the saffari busses, but I wouldn't do it or recommend it. They are probably about 5-7$ drive from DT to Saffiare each way. But loaded, with lots of stops. We just rented a car, spent $ 900-1000 per month on car, but you save a ton on gas, because there is no where to really get out and drive to. My recommendation is to call real estate, search online, VRBO.com, newspapers, etc. and try to find your own housing. Otherwise Bolongo Bay, or Mahagony Run Golfcourse are better choices I think that Saffiare Beach.

As for pay, we worked with Trustaff. We had a rough start with them, and they ended up shorting us in the deal at the end. So not happy with them, but often they have the most jobs. We ended up buying our own airline tickets- not reimbursed for. They just figured more take home money if they didn't pay for it up front. We took home about $ 1250 per week. Trick is they pay you like $ 10 per hour and you get a large amount tax free. I think this helps them out in the long run, but if it comes to tax season, you may be asked why a RN was making $10 per hour. You meals, inccidentals, and housing are tax free and part of the tax free part of your hourly.

There is cruise ships gallore that come into the bay day in and day out, so traffic picks up, saffari buses are busy with vacationers. There is ton's of DUTY free shopping, lots of nice beaches and restaurants.

After about three months, we were ready to come back. Just got sick of the beach, driving up and down winding hills to and from, and not being able to just drive straight. Drive on opposite side of road, which was fine to catch onto- no more than 25-35 mph. The people are generally very nice and gracious for the help and care they recieve. Can be a little bossy and upfront and forward, and scary quality of care at times. But in the long run, things get done to the best of your ability. If you are anal retentive and detailed and thorough, and demanding- probably not the best place for you. If you are laid back, easy going, get along well with others, adaptive and hard working you will get a long just find. It's not about the job, it's about the time off enjoying the island.

Hope this helps!