Haven't worked those but did work in Central Florida, Orlando to be exact.
I worked at Florida Hospital South (Orlando) and there are a few other divisions of this hospital in Orlando, like Florida Hospital Altamonte and Florida Hospital Winter Park.

The last 2 are smaller but the first is large like 1000 beds. I went there for a 13 week contract in July of 2001 and renewed through Dec 2004. They have a rule that no traveler can renew more than one year without leaving for at least 3 months then you can come back. They were desperate and let me renew over and over. It is very traveler friendly there. Tons of travelers. When I first started there on a step down unit, the nurse ratio was 4:1 and we held 40 patients. On a day shift there should be 10 staff nurses and 1 charge that does not take patients and for the first several months I was there, on any given day out of those numbers, at least 7 of the 10 were travelers.

It isn't quite that many travelers now, but you are treated just like staff there. I mean to the point that if they call you for extra shifts, they give you the same bonuses they would their own staff, like, "come in and help us out tonite, and it will be $10/hr more for you" Things like that.

I loved it and will probably be going bak in the next year or so.
Good Luck!

I currently am under assignment at Florida Hospital South (in the CVICU) and also I have worked almost my complete nursing career in the central Florida area (Ocala, Gainsville, Tampa, Inverness, etc.). I just finished a year with ORMC in Orlando and was quite pleased with it (great trauma). Although the pay there was a little less than a "Florida" hospital it was worth it. Thus far, I have not been overly impressed with Florida hospital and have done some agency work at some of their other sites and still have yet to be impressed. I notice people float....ALOT. They were slammed a couple years back by JAHCO and since have gone through a lot of changes concerning policy. The orientation is horribly long and is organized like a child wrote the schedule. Plus, you have to go through Cross Country Travel, your company may be able to underwrite with them (as mine did) but CCT takes a couple bucks an hour for their cut. The majority of the staff I speak with also do not speak highly of working there. (at least for me it is only 13 weeks). The pay is good, so if you just wanna be in this area and want the bucks then it is tolerable but there are better assignments out there. All the tampa jobs I have worked I have liked. MRMC in Ocala is a real nice hospital but is a smaller city but close enough to bigger areas. Best of luck to ya, if you have questions about any specific hospitals let me know...I'm sure I've wandered the halls of most of them.

zephyrhills
Stay away from this hole. The worst run place I have ever been. They say they are faith based and have big murels of Jesus in front lobby but the patients get no care. 3 to 1 in ICU , They have no regard for their patients or their staff. They have computer charting that is an absolute mess and is down more then it is up. Your charting will desipeer. Pharmacy will put in and take out drugs when ever they want. Labs will be drawn at 11 am and they will show in computer that they resulted out at 5am.They are aware and will just say oh we know dont worry about it , it has always been this way. There are no nursing notes and they get upset if you find a way to put a note in . People will put notes any where they can find a field you can chart in. This was definatly a learning experiance that I never care to see again. So run.

i would go to St joesphs hospital in Tampa. i just finished a contract there and it was grat. they are going through some big changes so things are a bit wierd but once you get the hang of it it goes smoothly. St joes is a bigger hospital (800 something total i think) it is located kitty corner from tampa stadium. i have never worked at Tampa general but heard many horror stories while i was at ST joes (most left TGH to go to ST joes) i have never worked at Zephyhills or deland either and cant tell ya much about those

Re: Zephyrhills