CSUS Fall '11 Hopefuls....??

mt2544 · Jun 20, 2011

The clinical locations pretty much change each semester. (However, there are some people who wind up being at UC Davis Med Center for pretty much everything, but that's just luck of the draw.) There is some opportunity for you to have a little bit of input for 2nd and 3rd semesters (people were able to trade with others if something just wasn't going to work for them). 4th semester you have quite a bit of input as to where you have your preceptorship, although there are no guarantees.

I just graduated last month, and this is where I was during the program:

1st: Sutter General

2nd: Mercy General

3rd: Sutter Memorial

4th: Kaiser Roseville

(I was one of only two students in my class who was never at UC Davis.)

And in addition to these clinical rotations, there are also placements for community health, mental health, etc.

Oh, and I wanted to add that while all the rotations are certainly comparable, they are by no means the same. Your experience will be heavily influenced by the particular clinical faculty you have, as well as by the individual hospital units themselves. (Some units have lots of great, supportive nurses, and some don't.) You will all get different types of patients, which will affect what diseases and treatments you wind up knowing the most about.

davismom · Jun 20, 2011

Fabulous feedback MT2544. Your post was extremely helpful! What is your take on the jobs situation at current? Are people having a hard time finding a job that graduated with you? Any idea whether more people are getting jobs with UCD, Mercy, Kaiser or Sutter networks?

Has anyone in your class been able to sign a contract with some loan forgiveness?

mt2544 · Jun 23, 2011

Hi davismom -

I am not aware of a single hospital, anywhere in California, that is offering any loan forgiveness to a new grad at this time. I can't imagine that there is one. (If anyone finds out different, please post.) The California market is so incredibly saturated right now (hundreds of applicants for each new grad position) that employers really don't need to do anything to sweeten the deal. The new grads getting jobs are just grateful to be employed.

That said, the market is certainly getting better, but it will take a long time to recover. Hopefully by the time you graduate there will be significant improvement. I think approx half a dozen students in my class had jobs lined up by graduation, and I think at this point (a month after graduation) that number is probably somewhere around 20 or so. (And this is out of a class of 70.)

This is a link to an op-ed piece that talks about what's going on with the new grad hiring situation, and what it means for the future of nursing: http://www.suzannegordon.com/?p=581

For example, Stanford offers an RN residency program for new RNs with a BSN or MSN. They're doing preliminary interviews right now. I have heard that there are 18 positions for which they received more than 900 applications. Now, a prominent RN residency program will of course attract a significant number of applicants, but this gives you some idea of what the market is like. Local recruiters have said they are getting several hundred applications for each position.

From what I have seen, Davis and Mercy have been taking the most new grads. (But by no means a lot.) And of course things may well be different by the time you graduate.

If you absolutely need to stay in the Sacramento area, do NOT precept at a Kaiser unless you are currently employed by Kaiser in some other capacity (which would make you an internal hire). The union-driven hiring practices make it pretty much impossible for a unit to hire an outside new grad, even if everyone on that unit is in love with that new grad.

I did precept at a Kaiser b/c I knew I would have a great experience as a student, and I definitely did. But I knew that employment with them was a long shot and I do have the option of not only leaving Sacramento but leaving the state in order to find work. I am diligently looking for work throughout California and am getting the paperwork started to get licensure in a couple other states so that I may begin looking there in earnest as well.

There is no one perfect path that guarantees a job at graduation. But there are many things you can do to improve your chances. If there is some particular hospital you are determined to work at, try to get a job there as a CNA or unit assistant. (A few students in my class were CNAs during school, and at their hospitals they only needed to work 2 weekends a month to maintain their jobs. This is a manageable work schedule during the program.)

I firmly believe that nursing will work out beautifully for me as a long-term career--I was made to do this work--but the short-term may be something of a rough go, and I may wind up having to move somewhere I'd rather not live just for the opportunity to get this "new grad stink" off me.

So, to everyone reading this, don't be discouraged. If you really believe that nursing is for you, go for it. But if you're getting into it thinking that you're guaranteed a fat paycheck at the end, please research a little more thoroughly before putting yourself through the rigors of the program.

~M

**Please bear in mind that all of my input on the job market is purely anecdotal; I haven't put any effort into systematically assessing my entire class. That said, I am still in touch with many of them and have a sense of how we're doing as a group. I just want to make sure that no one gives too much credence to my words. I'm just an unemployed new grad trying to figure things out for myself. :)

oaktown2 · Jun 24, 2011

mt2544 - thanks for your post. It wasn't ideally what I wanted to hear (though it also wasn't a surprise!) but it is still really helpful to hear people's experiences and at least there were some that did have jobs lined up. My hope is that things will continue to improve over the next two years.

For those that worked as CNAs, do you know if they did CNA training prior to starting school? Or I guess, was there anyone did became a CNA after they started the program?

One other mundane question - how many uniforms do you think it is good to have?

Thanks again for all your insight!

TLS11 · Jun 24, 2011

mt2544 has provided a lot of very good information in her posts. I am one of her classmates from the May 2011 CSU Sacramento graduating class. I agree with all of the information in her post. Every new grad RN's situation can be very different because there are so many factors involved. I know she will succeed in whatever path her career takes her!

Once you start the program, please get to know some of the sudents who are in their 2nd, 3rd or 4th semesters. It will give you a good idea of what to expect in the upcoming semesters. I highly recommend everyone join CNSA (NSNA), attend the meetings and participate in the events.

Buy one full uniform the first semester. Then buy a second uniform (scrubs only) during second semester. There are back to back clinical days in 2nd semester. During last semester, you may work up to three days straight depending on the schedule of your RN preceptor.

I am not familiar with the process of becoming a CNA. I know of one classmate that became a CNA at the beginning of 3rd semester. I believe you can get certification to become a CNA after first semester of nursing school.

This is my first post. I have been using the information on this website for the past two months. I wish I had found the site earlier. I think everyone who has been using this website for information and to communicate knows that much more...and I think this will put you in a better place in nursing school and in your job search once you get to that point. Good luck!

oaktown2 · Jun 24, 2011

Thanks TLS11! Anytime you want to share other things you have learned, I know I will be happy to read. I've learned a lot from this site and love hearing about what is yet to come!

mt2544 · Jun 26, 2011

I am not too familiar with the process of becoming a CNA. I have heard that some hospitals will accept nursing students who have completed their first semester, allowing the experience to count instead of requiring an actual CNA certification. (However, as you will discover if you have not already, the rumors about all kinds of things fly fast and thick in nursing school... It's best to find things out for yourself.) The best thing I can recommend to you on that front is to contact the HR department of whichever hospital you may be interested in and just ask them what types of jobs are available to nursing students, and go from there. (Personally, I wouldn't have wanted to work my first semester--it wasn't the busiest for me, but it was by far the most stressful. After that semester you will have a much better sense of what you, as an individual, would be able to manage in addition to school.)

Also, there were some students in our class who got hired as wound technicians in the UC Davis burn unit.

I had two uniforms throughout the program, but ours were much cheaper than yours are. (We wore a green Sac State nursing polo shirt and white scrub pants of our own choosing.) But really, I didn't ever need the second set until my last semester, even with back-to-back clinicals, because I have a washer and dryer in my apartment and just always washed my scrubs the minute I got home. But I liked to have that second set just in case. And thank goodness I had an extra... One day I used a clorox wipe on my stethoscope b/c the patient had something very contagious. Then, not thinking, I just put the stethoscope back around my neck. Later in the day I thought I'd gotten something all over me, but realized that my green polo shirt now had some brownish bleach marks. It looked like I had been sprayed with poop. Washing the shirt that night of course didn't improve the situation at all. Needless to say, this was not a look that would have inspired confidence in my patients. :) So, I was grateful to have a back-up so I didn't have to scramble to get a replacement. Just something to think about.

P.S. TLS11 - Thanks for the kind words. I know you'll do great as well. :)

oaktown2 · Jul 15, 2011

Hi - any Sacramento locals have an opinion on how much of a pain it would be to live in Carmichael? It doesn't seem that far out, but looking on a map is one thing, and commuting is another. Thanks!

davismom · Jul 15, 2011

I guess it depends upon where you are in Carmichael..(.ie. how close to 80), whether it would make more sense to take surface streets or freeway as well as what your tolerance is for traffic. There are a tremendous amount of people that commute into Sacramento from Roseville. Living in Carmichael, you would be commuting in the same direction on the freeway (likely at peak times in the mornings and a few evenings a week). Some of the larger surface streets are also pretty heavily trafficked. During the winter especially, Fridays going East on either 80 (or 50 for that matter) are both going to be pretty bad because of ski traffic.

oaktown2 · Jul 15, 2011

Thanks davismom!

mt2544 · Jul 15, 2011

Oaktown2 -

I asked a classmate of mine what he thought of the commute from Carmichael, and here's what he had to say:

"I [lived] in Carmichael..around the vicinity of Manzanita and Madison.

"I think that the commute was pretty reasonable...it was a straight shot to campus on Fair Oaks Blvd....with some trouble intersections like Arden and Watt. I'd say to plan for about a 20 minute commute without traffic and a 30 minute with (especially in the morning rush hour)."

Hope that helps!

~M

oaktown2 · Jul 15, 2011

Thanks mt2544! Very good to know!