Traveler friendly. Great staff. Helpful.

Cost of living

excellent patient care and competency management, conducive to learning new specialties.

remote location and expensive city

Easily one of my favorite contracts and locations. Cottage Hospital feels more like a resort with an incredible cafeteria, beautiful courtyards to take your break, and the latest and greatest equipment. Employees are treated execptionally well by Cottage with lots of break time and support services. Other employees are generally very friendly and helpful. Since Cottage is a Trauma I hospital, you will have an interesting caseload. Santa Barbara itself is an incredible and beautiful city with beaches, mountains, and lots of parks. Lots of fun community events and festivals as well as a phenomenal restaurant scene.

First and foremost, Santa Barbara is in the top ten most expensive zip codes in the US making rentals not only difficulty to find but also absurdly expensive, especially during spring/summer. Be prepared to shell out at least $2000/month for a basic efficiency unit, if not $3000 and above depending on the location and amenities you want. The Santa Barbara social scene can feel a bit cliquey at times. Cottage Hospital has few cons that come to mind. The caseload can be intense and challenging at times due to the high census and acuity making it a very physically and mentally challenging job. While the staff is helpful, they will generally expect you to "know you stuff" walking into the job and may not be too keen on holding your hand if you are slow to adapt to new environments, equipments and diagnoses.