Review: ​New Orleans- Ochsner Main Campus

My first away assignment was Nola. I never in a million years thought that I would end up here. I was 2 weeks away from my assignment in Houston being done and I was starting to panic. I had decided to switch to TaleMed. My recruiter was great and gave me a lot of options. It just so happened that New Orleans was the first to call me back.

Where: New Orleans

Location: 4.5/5

One of the biggest draws of this assignment is the chance to live in New Orleans. I had just been here for my birthday in November and had visited many times before. But I knew that living here would be a difference. I went at the start of the festival season. Which meant there was always something to do every weekend. The city was nicer then I thought, but it was hard to make friends. Everyone I would meet seemed to be from there and they had their friends from grade school and weren’t really looking for new friends. I would say it was a very inclusive environment. But there was so much to do that it made the time fly by.  Luckily I had met up with a fellow traveler from the Facebook Travel Gypsy Group and had her to hang out with. 

Hospital: Ochsner Main Campus

Oshsner Medical Center is part of the 25 hospital system that is located along the Gulf Coast. Ochsner Health System is Louisiana’s largest nonprofit health system. They were started in New Orleans and have many locations in New Orleans. The main campus is located in Jefferson, which is right outside the city limits of New Orleans. The nurses that work there seem to love it. Many of the staff nurses would drive in from Mississippi for this job. This to me blows my mind. I wouldn’t even drive more than 20 minutes for a job, let alone hours.

Traveler Friendly- 3.5/5

I didn’t find this place overly traveler friendly.  They kinda just left you on your know, which can be a hit or miss. They just had the confidence that you knew what you were doing. All you had to do was ask if you felt lost and they would point you in the right direction. The staff wasn’t mean, but they didn’t go out of their way either. How I like to describe it is that they were Southerns and Southerns are always friendly, but that doesn’t mean they are going to be your friend. There was some really nice staff that welcomed me that I worked with on mid-shift (11a-11p). But I think that just maybe the way it is when it comes to the traveler life. I was lucky I started with another traveler named Victoria. I would have been lost with her. #rideordie PRO TIP: Make friends at orientation.

Shoutout to Kat, Page, and Casey for showing me a good time ❤

ER: 3/5

The layout is 3 pods, fast track, and a peds area. You can pick up in the peds area if you want, but you are not required to work there. The patient population has a lot of transplant patients. The ER is also a stroke and chest pain center. Travelers are not allowed to treat stroke patients. Most critical patients start in their 3 shock/critical rooms. Once they are stable they move them to the other rooms. PT ratio is 3:1 or 4:1 depending on what area you are in.  There is also a results waiting room where you team nurse when taking care of the patients.

Overall: 70%

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The location was great. There was always something to do. The hospital was not bad. Everyone likes a different flow. Everyone has their version of busy. I like being busy (as I have said in other posts), and at this assignment, I never felt overwhelmed. The hospital had a boarder problem, like most hospitals in the country are experiencing. Boarder patients are patients that are admitted to the hospital, but there are no beds in the hospital. The nurses seem to really like working here. I never felt unsafe working here. I’d say if you want to try out New Orleans, this would be a good place to work. Ochsner has other campuses in Nola that are good to work at too, like West Bank (which I picked up extra at).

Agency: Talemed

One of my best friends, Deb, who you met in my Portland guide., told me about a recruiter she met in Vegas I should talk too. As you may have read about my last assignment,  I needed a new company. I had been talking to many companies and didn’t really want to talk to another one. But I wasn’t finding anything I wanted or time was running out. So I thought what the heck, I’ll give her a call. I’m so happy I did. Lana was amazing and always available when I needed her. I plan on using her for the next few assignments.