Ask a Travel Nurse: What’s a fair hourly pay rate for Travel Nursing?

Ask a Travel Nurse Question:

What’s a fair hourly pay rate for Travel Nursing? For example, I used to work for $38 per hour. Now I want to travel, and an agency quoted me $20 per hour for Miami. Am I getting ripped off with that pay rate?

Ask a Travel Nurse Answer:

If you used to work for $38 per hour and are then going to get paid $20 per hour for the exact same job, then yes, you are getting ripped off. However, a Travel Nursing assignment is likely not the same as the position in which you were making $38 per hour.

A Travel Nurse assignment simply cannot be compared to a staff position. If money is your motivation, I discourage travel. You can make more money in a staff position and picking up extra shifts of OT or working registry.

I cannot advise you on the rate you were quoted because there are a ton of things that go into the assessment of travel contract. Was this rate quoted with the assumption of participation in their tax advantage program? Do you actually qualify to be in their tax program (have a “tax home”)? Were you taking their housing or a stipend? Was that stipend included in the hourly quote? Were there any license reimbursements? Travel reimbursements? And possibly the most important question, “Is it worth it to you, if you had to take a pay cut, to work in Miami for 13 weeks?”

I believe that a recent problem in the world of travel is that many nurses who are just getting started, simply call a travel company and ask what they pay, before they truly understand the world of travel and the components of a Travel Nursing contract. I do understand that it can be hard to know where to get started, but there are a few places these days for you to get a better understanding of Travel Nursing (as opposed to 20 years ago when I got started).

I do not know where you are starting as far as a knowledge base on travel nursing, but if you are starting from scratch, I might recommend my book, the Travel Nurse’s Bible.

I’ve been working on a rewrite for some time now, but currently have a 3-year-old that keeps me quite busy. But, with all the requests for the book, I decided to make the 2009 edition available online in the Amazon Kindle store.

While it is a few years old, during the reworking of the book, I was surprised to see how much of the book, has stood the test of time. Plus, I’ve made it available for less than the price of your next meal at McDonalds. It’s a great place to start even if you do have a little knowledge about the travel industry.

If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download free programs or apps to read it from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. You can find it here.

Some great websites to find out more about travel, other than here at travelnursingblogs.com, are ultimatenurse.com, allnurses.com, and the Delphi forum for traveling professionals (go to delphiforums.com, look for the box on the right that says “Explore existing forums”, type in “Travel Nursing” and the top result is a group called Travel Nurses and Therapists).

Pan Travelers is also another good site with a forum. They have a free section and also a portion where there is a charge to access information.

Healthcare Traveler Magazine is presently entirely online, but can be found at http://healthcaretraveler.modernmedicine.com/ where you can read current or back issues (I’ve written articles for them as well as a monthly column that you can find in past issues). You can also join Healthcare Travelbook (healthcaretravelbook.com), which is a sort of Facebook style place for Travelers, which also has a forum.

Research the industry a bit more and I think you’ll find that $20 per hour, depending upon location and many other factors like those mentioned above, is not an off-base quote for a Travel Nursing assignment. You just need a better understanding of why that is and all the factors involved.

If you do decide to take the plunge, let me know and I can offer you some help in getting set up with some great people in the industry that I use for my travels.

I hope this helps.

David

david@travelnursesbible.com

It’s never too early to decide on an exciting career as a Travel Nurse!

There are a lot of cool things about Morgan Russell, the 15-year-old who sold the most Girl Scout cookies last year in South Texas.

She loves sailing, plays the oboe, and, our favorite — she dreams of becoming a Travel Nurse!

The future Travel Nurse set her goal of selling 2,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies last year, and she clobbered her own goal by selling 2,418 boxes. With the return of the Girl Scout cookie season, Morgan has set her goal once again at an ambitious 2,000 boxes.

And speaking of ambition, it is Morgan’s love of both traveling and of helping others that seem to have led her to aspire to a career in Travel Nursing.

“I want to be a traveling nurse,” the go-getter and future Travel Nurse told San Antonio Express-News.

With obvious talent, compassion, and determination to spare, we think you’ll make an awesome Travel Nurse one day, Morgan!

To read the full San Antonio Express-News article on Morgan, click here.

As for the Girl Scouts, if Morgan is any indication, their mission to build “girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place” seems perfectly on track.

Read on for a few Girl Scout related fun facts, and, if you’re on the road and nowhere near your usual Girl Scout cookie hook-up, just click here to enter your current zip code in the “Find Cookies!” field to see locations and times where you can go buy a box … or four … in your area.

• Scouts in some troop locations can earn a “Nurse Exploration” patch. Makes sense, considering part of the Girl Scout Promise is “to help people at all times”!
• 59% of female U.S. Senators and 60% of women in the House of Representatives were Girls Scouts.
• The Girl Scouts website features a list of recipes — think cheesecake, pie, and parfait — that are made with their cookies.
• About 100 years ago, at the advent of Girl Scout cookies, Scouts and their moms baked the cookies themselves at home before peddling them door to door or in high school cafeterias.
• During World War II’s sugar, flour, and butter shortages, Scouts switched to selling calendars to raise funds. The national organization returned to cookies after the war, at which point they licensed a number of local bakers to manufacture and package the goods.
• By 1951, there were three types of cookies: Peanut Butter Sandwich, Shortbread, and Chocolate Mints (now called Thin Mints).
• By 1978, the cookies were streamlined to just four bakers and all packaging was made consistent — featuring the Scouts in action.
• In the 2000s, just two licensed bakers churned out eight varieties and all cookies were kosher.

Click here for a chance to win a Littmann Stethoscope, in honor of American Heart Month!

Since you are a nurse, you probably already know that Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States, responsible for 1 in 4 deaths every year. To promote awareness during American Heart Month, Tafford Uniforms is offering the chance to win a Littmann Stethoscope, in honor of American Heart Month!

But before we tell you how to win, we want to raise awareness about heart disease prevention by offering up some lifestyle change tips that promote good heart health for you and your community.

Here are 10 tips you can share for a heart healthy lifestyle:

• Limit particular fats in your diet— saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and especially trans fat-  This includes margarine,  processed snack foods, red meat, deep-fried fast foods, bakery products, and dairy products.  HINT: If the term “partially hydrogenated,” is on the nutrition label, it means the product contains trans fat.
• Get tested for diabetes and control it if you have it — Consider being screened for diabetes. Many insurance plans now offer a free yearly wellness check which may include this screening. Ask your doctor if it’s time for a fasting blood sugar test to check for diabetes, and pay attention to body signals if you have it.
• Get enough rest nightly — People who don’t get enough sleep have a higher risk of heart attack, and many other factors which contribute to heart disease. On average, 7-9 hours of sleep per night can make you feel refreshed and can reduce stress levels, which also helps your heart.
• Encourage the use of spices for seasoning instead of table salt. If you use traditional iodized salt, try switching to sea salt (rock salt) or pink Himalayan salt for the rich mineral content. Try gifting a sample of new spices to a friend or family member who may be at-risk, so they can experiment with substituting for salt.
• Quit smoking — The good news is when you stop smoking, your risk of heart disease drops nearly to that of a nonsmoker in about five years. Even if you have smoked for a lifetime, your risk decreases when you quit.
• Monitor your blood pressure and cholesterol levels — Adults should have their blood pressure checked at least every couple of years and have their cholesterol checked every five years, especially if they have other heart disease risk factors. It’s always good to watch these numbers so you know where you stand, and take actions to lower it when needed.
• Exercise regularly — Try getting around 45 minutes of moderate physical activity several times a week. Even low impact activities, such housekeeping, taking the stairs, pushing a baby in a stroller, tending a garden, and playing with your pets outside, all count toward your total.
• Stick to a healthy diet — A diet containing 6 to 10 servings of vegetables and fruit daily, accompanied by whole grains assist in protecting your heart. Other low-fat sources of protein like beans and some fish can also reduce your risk. Eating fats from healthy plant-based sources, such as nuts, olives and avocado, lowers the bad type of cholesterol which ultimately helps your heart.
• Reduce consumption of alcohol — If you regularly consume alcohol, it’s better for your heart to keep it moderate. That means one drink a day for women and men over age 65, and up to two drinks a day for men age 65 and younger.
• Sustain a healthy weight — Reducing your weight by just 7% can help lower your cholesterol levels, decrease your blood pressure and reduce your risk of diabetes. Excess weight adds to factors that increase your chances of heart disease so maintaining it keeps you on the right path.

Click here to check out the Littmann Classic II SE Stethoscope!

Although some risk factors such as age or family history of heart disease cannot change, these prevention steps are a great place to start to reduce the overall risk.  Helping spread the word in your community to friends, neighbors and patients can have a positive impact around you.

And now for the fun stuff! To enter to win a Littmann Classic II Stethoscope or Travel Nursing Blogs mug with Starbucks gift card, follow this link http://gvwy.io/h0ip9q.                                                                                               

The grand prize winner will take home the stethoscope, and three runner-ups will win a coffee mug with a $5 Starbucks card, courtesy of TravelNursingBlogs.com. We will announce the winners on Feb 20th so stay posted — and good luck!

References:

National Institutes of Health and MedLinePlus
Mayo Clinic

A Travel Nursing assignment in Hawaii is a great opportunity to work and play!

Ask a Travel Nurse Question:

My co-worker and I have decided to break free from our local hospital and try a Travel Nurse contract. Even though it is expensive, we thought Hawaii would be a nice destination. My question is, does Travel Nursing in Hawaii pay well? How do we make this work so that we are not broke and are paid well?

Ask a Travel Nurse Answer:

Bottom line, Hawaii is expensive. It’s a coveted destination and because of this, they do not really need to pay TOP dollar to continue to attract nurses. However, you do still find Hawaii assignments which means they still have needs and must pay enough for nurses to make it worth their while.

The first notion you must abandon is in making money (or coming out ahead) when taking a Hawaii assignment. The best that you should hope for is to break even. Hawaii is not a place you travel to in order to make money, it is purely about the experience of the islands!

So you must also forget about the “paid well” part. You get paid what they are paying. If you don’t accept that, there are other nurses that will. The variable in all of this, that you can control, is the “not going broke” part. To accomplish this, you must have a monetary strategy and a budget that allows you to pay all your monthly expenses and hopefully have some “play money” left at the end of month.

Ask most seasoned Travelers and they will tell you the easiest way to make money on an assignment is by taking a housing stipend. While this can be a good way to pocket some extra money, it does leave you to find your own housing. This is something that you may or may not want to take on. If this is your first travel assignment, I always caution nurses to take the company provided housing as this is one more burden that you do not want to have to be responsible for on your very first outing. I have actually NEVER taken a stipend when I was away from home because housing is just not something about which I want to worry when starting a new assignment.

However, you are in the unique position of traveling with someone, so that does allow a creative way to have the stability of company provided housing, and make a little money by taking a stipend. The way this works is that one of you opts to take company provided housing with the understanding that you will require a two bedroom apartment. Now the travel company will charge you extra for this (in most places a few hundred dollars a month, but in Hawaii, who knows?), but then you will both have a company provided place with your own bedroom. The other person will take the housing stipend and out of that, will pay the extra money charged for the additional bedroom, and then split the remaining money.

This situation allows both of you to have the safety and security of company provided housing while still earning some money through a stipend. As with any other earnings when traveling, but sure to understand the tax implications on money that is received for a housing stipend but not expressly used for that purpose.

The reason I like this approach, as opposed to both of you taking a stipend, is that the company is responsible for arranging your housing. On one of my Hawaii trips, housing was tight and I had to stay in a one bedroom apartment for about a month before moving to a condo. A few months later, the owner of the condo decided she was not making enough off the rental and I then had to move to another unit in the same complex. The thing was, all of this happened behind the scenes and the only thing I was responsible for was packing my things and moving. I didn’t have to worry about looking for a new location (twice), paying security deposits, paying rents, completing rental paperwork and signing leases, etc. That assignment would have been a nightmare if I had taken a stipend.

Another additional thing to think about is on which island you’d like to work. If you find an assignment on Maui or the Big Island, while these may be less “touristy” areas and have a bit more beauty to them, you will also have to deal with no public transportation (i.e. buses). On Oahu, you can get around quite a bit without an auto (although you may need to rent one on days when you wish to visit the more remote parts of the island). However, the outer islands have little to offer in the way of public transit (or at least that was the case the last time I was there, about six or seven years ago).

On the outer islands, you will have to consider the cost of a rental car, or, if you plan on staying a while, the cost of shipping your auto to Hawaii (which I did the past two times working on Maui). This may certainly affect your bottom line and once you are out there, island hopping is easy to do and not very costly. So Oahu may be the best bet if looking to minimize costs.

One other thing you can do to make a little extra cash is to join local agency or registry while out there. There are several agencies on Oahu and I actually did work for Kahu Malama Nurses on Oahu on my second trip to Maui. You can even pick up extra shifts on neighboring islands.

Hawaii is one destination where you cannot really think about making money, but rather, have to come at it from the perspective of trying not to spend too much while enjoying paradise.

I hope this helps.

David

david@travelnursesbible.com

What’s your favorite place to grab a burger while on the road?

OK, so we all know that (most) fast food isn’t the healthiest option, but especially when you’re on the road traveling to your next Travel Nursing assignment, it can be a helpful option. And, as you drive through state after state you might notice the signs begin to change … Whataburger gives way to Wendy’s gives way to White Castle as you buzz on down the highway.

Part of the fun of traveling to an assignment is doing as the locals do and exploring regional treats and eats — from fast food to fine dining. “When in Rome” you might think, as you take the first Nebraska exit to try the Cornhusker State’s famed Runza. Or, “I’m definitely in” you might say as you peel into an In-N-Out burger on the West Coast.

Thrillist recently noted this phenomenon, with all 50 states of fast food ranked in its article, “Every State in the USA, Ranked by its Fast Food.” The rankings consider the big chains (like McDonald’s KFC, Burger King, and others), regional chains (like Shake Shack, Umami Burger, Culver’s, and others), and one-offs in individual states, on criteria of variety and deliciousness.

The top 10 of the 50 states of fast food ranked were:

10. Oklahoma

9. Michigan

8. Colorado

7. Louisiana

6. Kentucky

5. Georgia

4. Ohio

3. Alabama

2. California

1. Texas

Click here to read all 50 states of fast food ranked at Thrillist.

The list also includes a “notable fact” for each state. Here are a few of my faves:

Sonic — born in Shawnee, Oklahoma — was originally called Top Hat.

In 2014, Alice Cooper was inducted into the White Castle Hall of Fame. (In other news, there’s a White Castle Hall of Fame!)

Runza will FedEx their sandwiches to nearly any location nationwide.

Subway was originally called Pete’s Submarines, but was changed because folks thought they were saying “pizza marines.”

Maryland pioneered a fast food joint named Hip Hop Fish and Chicken, which now has 12 locations.

Pennsylvania’s famous Tony Luke’s cheesesteaks are sold in faraway locations like Bahrain.

There is Spam museum in Austin, Minnesota. It’s closed for remodeling, but set a calendar alert for the grand reopening in Spring 2016.

Columbus, Ohio is a major test market for new fast food items — so you may able to try the next big thing there.

What’s your favorite fast food indulgence — from your hometown or any place you’ve visited in your travels? Let us know in the comments!

Good Timing: When should I sign my next Travel Nursing contract?

Ask a Travel Nurse Question:

Hello, I’m a fairly new Travel Nurse and have a lot of questions. Mainly right now I’m wondering: When should I sign my next Travel Nursing contract? My contract date is coming to a close and I’ve been offered a few jobs that are just OK. If I hold out longer, say like two weeks from my contract end date, will I regret it or will more immediate need or higher paying jobs pop up?

Ask a Travel Nurse Answer:

Let me take a look into my crystal ball, or at least, my Magic 8 ball to try to find that answer

Sorry to joke, but I have no idea what contracts you may be offered in the future. Neither does anyone else. That’s part of what makes Travel Nursing so unpredictable.

You can only weigh your present options and priorities and do what is best for you. In 20 years, I have only taken one assignment because I needed to in order to pay the bills. Otherwise, I had an idea where I wanted to go, and then three or four other options should my first not pan out.

I usually start looking (if I know I am not going to extend), about a month out from my end date. If I can’t find anything, then I have asked my current facility if they would extend me a few weeks or a month, rather than an entire contract (which of course depends on their ongoing needs and willingness to do a shorter extension).

I have also enlisted the help of one or two companies when first looking, but then, if it’s crunch time, I have contacted as many as five recruiters at different companies, told them where I wanted to go, and then said, “Whomever gets me something first, wins.”

If you do not find anything, then the option to go home, visit family and friends, and work local registry or agency is always a possibility.

While I can’t predict the future, hopefully I’ve given you a few options to consider

David

david@travelnursesbible.com

Follow the path of order and get organized in 2015!

After all of the holiday hustle and bustle has retreated and you settle back down into a more normal routine, it’s common to take a closer look at your life and surroundings. After the guests have all left, the gift wrap’s been cleaned up, and the gravy boat is stowed away for another year, you might find that things remain a bit chaotic. From closets needing reorganization to kitchen cupboards filled with Tupperware but no matching lids — it’s enough to make you want to scream at times.

Even as a Travel Nurse, things can get disorganized on the road without your handy home base storage solutions. Plus, you may feel the need to hang on to things longer on the road, to make sure that you have everything you need.

Get organized in 2015 with Nurse Mates Ultimate Nursing Bag.

If you’re like most people, you fully intend to keep both your home life and work life orderly. You want a clean home, and the ability to go to work with your life sorted out so it’s not a distraction. You want your scrubs uniform pressed and your personal belongings tidy before you start adding them into your work bag.

Then reality kicks in and life happens! You’re running behind schedule, rushing through the house grabbing the items you need and tossing them into your bag. The next day starts out the same way. Your 3-year-old had a tantrum, and now you don’t have time to get yourself together for your next 16-hour shift, so you throw in a few more items … Then, voilà, before you know it, your work bag or purse becomes a bottomless pit of knick-knacks, some of which may actually cut your hand when you reach in to search!

Eliminate stress with the Prestige Medical Nurse Cargo Bag.

We certainly don’t want any cut fingers, nor the frustration that comes with an overstuffed, disorganized bag. That why Tafford Uniforms offers cute tote bags for nurses that are functional, with all the pockets and storage space to keep items separated, while also maintaining a professional yet fun look. They’re available in different styles and colors depending on your preferences. Check out these nurse organization bags and keep yourself clutter-free in the New Year. You will feel so much better with an organized life, starting with your work essentials!

We could all use a clean slate to start from in the New Year, with a more streamlined and efficient way to manage the mess in our daily lives — and we hope these bags help you get organized in 2015. What’s your biggest organizational challenge so far this year?

Animal Planet’s annual Puppy Bowl is just one 2015 Super Bowl alternative.

So you don’t want to watch the Super Bowl. Hey, that’s OK! It may be all you’re hearing about this week, but that doesn’t mean it’s your only option, as there are plenty of 2015 Super Bowl alternatives. You work hard as a Travel Nurse, and you deserve to enjoy your downtime.

Whether Deflategate’s got you down, you’re a major Green Bay Packers fan, or you simply don’t get down with the gridiron, here are some other watchable options for Sunday, February 1. (And remember, just because you don’t watch the game doesn’t mean you can’t still indulge in the sinfully delicious traditions of cheese dips and wings!)

Puppy Bowl XI, 3 p.m. (ET), Animal Planet

Adorable puppies suit up for this big game, which is one of the best 2015 Super Bowl alternatives for any pet friendly Travel Nurse. Veterinarians and other animal advocates are on site to ensure the safety and welfare of the pups, and even better, each animal is a shelter dog available for adoption. Performers from the Kitty Halftime Show — this year’s will feature Katty Furry — are also available for adoption.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta marathon, Noon-10 p.m. (ET), Bravo

Calling all reality TV junkies! If you’ve ever had an assignment in amazing Atlanta, you’ll love seeing it as the backdrop for the third installment of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise.

Fish Bowl II, 6 p.m. (ET), NatGeo Wild  

Last year’s inaugural show featuring Goldie the goldfish, swimming around in a bowl, for four hours, elicited audience tweets such as “I thought it was a joke at first” and “Is every CEO at Nat Geo high?” In 2015, the tradition continues as Goldie journeys to the farm and will reportedly be joined by a clownfish … Can you handle the excitement?!

The Walking Dead marathon, 10 a.m.-Midnight (ET), AMC

AMC invites you to “grab some wings and a machete” and tune in as they marathon everybody’s favorite ongoing zombie bowl, beginning with the first episode and continuing through season two’s finale.

Kitten Bowl II, Noon (ET), Hallmark Channel

This purrfect TV event is back for another year. As with the Puppy Bowl, the more than 90 participating “CAT-letes” will be adopted out after the big game. The Katy Perry-soundtracked promo commercial is perfect. The only problem? You’ll want to take all 90+ of these tiny tacklers home.

Law & Order SVU marathon, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (ET), USA

Following Saturday’s “Super Stabler Marathon” (9 a.m.-11 p.m. ET) is the “Benson Bowl Marathon” on Super Bowl Sunday. Get your fill — as if that’s possible — of Detective Olivia Benson.

Toddler Bowl/Untold Stories of the ER, Noon/6 p.m. (ET), TLC

TLC has a day full chock full of Super Bowl ignoring planned, starting at noon with the first ever Toddler Bowl, followed by a block of Say Yes to the Dress, then it’s ER marathon time. Not the Clooney ER! From 6-8 p.m. catch Untold Stories of the ER, followed by a Sex Sent Me to the ER marathon from 8-Midnight.

YouTube Halftime Show, Super Bowl halftime, YouTube.com

If you’re down for the game but prefer to skip Katy Perry and Lenny Kravitz at the half, head to YouTube. For the first time, the video giant will host its own halftime show featuring more than 20 of its favorite creators and musicians (Harley Morenstein of EpicMealTime, Freddie Wong, Rhett and Link, Toby Turner, and others) with a combined subscribership of more than 60 million viewers. The show is set to include sketch comedy, musical numbers, fake Super Bowl ads, and stunts.

And, if you don’t care for any of these, you know what to do — just get your Netflix/Hulu/Amazon marathon on!

Do you have anything to add to our list of 2015 Super Bowl alternatives? Share away in the comments.

While looking for a little Friday afternoon fun, I stumbled across a page with awesome nursing memes on Facebook.

The page’s info describes it as “A page for nursing memes, nursing student memes, and funny nursing pictures in general. Post yours on the wall and we’ll post them to the page.”

Here are some of my favorite recent postings from the page:

For when it’s almost quitting time.

For a giggle regarding doctor’s notorious handwriting skills.

For when your pen goes missing. Again.

For nursing students studying for a big exam.

For when it’s eerily quiet.

Click here to check out more the page’s nursing memes. Do you know of any great pages for nursing memes on Facebook or other sites? Share your favorites in the comments!

Travel Nursing Central Rankings for 2015 can help put you on the path to awesome jobs this year.

New, awesome info to help you chart your career course as a Travel Nurse has recently emerged: Travel Nursing Central rankings for 2015, which include the Top Travel Nursing Companies for 2015 and the Top 10 Travel Nurse Hospitals for 2015. Both of the lists are based entirely off of Traveler ratings at TravelNursingCentral.com.

Both your agency and hospital can be key to the success of an assignment, and it’s especially helpful to have feedback from other Travelers who have work with or at them. Here is a quick breakdown of the Travel Nursing Central rankings for 2015:

Top Travel Nursing Companies for 2015

Travel Nursing Central’s Top Travel Nurse Companies for 2015 list is based on more than 2500 ratings of 160 agencies regarding 20 different criteria. To be eligible, an agency must have at least 15 ratings, a website, and have been voluntarily rated by a nurse Traveler in the last three months. Also, in making the annual list, only ratings submitted on or before December 31, 2014 are considered.

Click here to see the list of the 12 Top Travel Nurse Companies for 2015. From that page you can also follow a link to see the rankings of all Travel Nursing companies.

Besides helping Travelers find a well-rated travel nursing company that best fits their individual needs, Travel Nursing Central also hopes that companies are paying attention:

“Our hope at Travel Nursing Central is that in time, more and more companies will be looking at these results to set or change their standards of practice to achieve higher ratings from their nursing travelers.”

Top 10 Travel Nurse Hospitals for 2015

Travel Nursing Central’s list of Top 10 Travel Nurse Hospitals for 2015 is also based on user ratings. With 703 facilities rated, here are the 10 that came out on top:

1. Sharp Memorial Hospital (San Diego, CA)
2. St. Alphonsus Hospital (Boise, ID)
3. Shriners (Sacremento, CA)
4. Wilcox Memorial Hospital (Lihuem, TX)
5. White Plains Hospital (White Plains, NY)
6. St Joseph/Carondet (Tucson, AZ)
7. Mary Washington Hospital (Fredericksburg, VA)
8. Falmouth Hospital (Falmouth, MA)
9. LSU-SHC (Shreveport, LA)
10. University of Madison Hospital and Medical Center (Madison, WI)

Click here to see the list and criteria. From there you can also follow the link to see the rankings for all hospitals, including a detailed breakdown of ratings specific to friendliness, location, workload, parking, technology, cafeteria, and many more specific elements of the hospital experience from a Traveler perspective.