San Diego- PEDS opportunities??Please help!!

U.S.A. California

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Hello- I will be graduating with my ADN in March in Arizona. I will be moving back to San Diego upon graduating and I am running into some road blocks that I was hoping some of you could respond to. I really want to work in Peds, there is one Peds hopsital that basically corners the market for all peds in SD. I have called all other hospitals and none of them have beds for peds b/c they are all sent to Children's. The problem is that Children's only has 2 start dates per year for new grads since they train them all together, I will miss the spring date by over a month and the next one isnt till fall. SD is way too expensive to sit around unemployed. Sorry to ramble. My question is that it seems wasteful to take another position in an area of the hospital that is not of interest to me and go through what could take months of a preceptorship only to quit soon after to get on with Children's and start yet another preceptorship?? The other option I thought about is maybe working in an outpatient peds facility if they even hire new grads in that capacity (?) until I can get hired on in a hospital but once again, i've always thought as a new grad, you should start in a hopsital setting to gain alot of skills early on. If I did that for a short time, would I be less likely to get hired on even 6 months down the road at a hospital since technically I'm not a new grad any more?? How do hospitals label you when you've only been out of school for 6 months but were working in another type of facility?? Any suggestions of other PEDS opportunities for NEW grads in SD?? I really didnt think I'd have this much trouble finding a position but it's already feeling way too overwhelming. Any and all comments are greatly appreciated!!! Thank you

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Specializes in Home health, Med/Surg.

Tapple,

No one can really answer this question. If you are moving alone and have no gaurantee of a job you should stay where you are and save money. Even if you apply to the Childrens new grad program there is no gaurantee that you will get in. I am not trying to be pessimistic, you might get in. But if you have no resources to rely on until you find a job then you need to make a back up plan. Childrens hospital is well known and many apply there. I did an ER externship there and learned soooo much in just a few months but they were not hiring (1997) and I had to go elsewhere. It turned out OK because I love adult med/surg.

Best of luck!!!!

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

Have you tried Kaiser? I thought they had inpatient peds. Another option would be taking a new grad position in the NICU at any of the area hospitals with OB units. Who knows, you may end up loving NICU.

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.

Have you tried Sharp? They offer new grad programs (not sure when/how often) and they have peds and Peds ICU units....Here's the link

http://www.aftercollege.com/linko.asp?path=http://www.sharp.com/

at least you can contact them and get the specifics. Hope that helps

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

I don't think any of the Sharp campuses have peds units anymore. They have NICUs but I don't think peds.

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Kaiser has 4 med surg peds beds with mostly adult med surg overflow, sharp has only a couple peds med/surg peds as a back up at Grossmont, UCSD no longer have peds, and paradise valley the same as the other 2!!!!!! This is insane. I spoke with a really great recruiter at Children's today and he said the only option for me is to either wait until September which is 7 months after graduation or he thinks maybe Balboa has peds but doesnt know if they hire civilian new grads at all. I have tried calling them daily to no avail. I did see that Palomar medical center has peds but i do not know anything about that hospital??? And it would be quite a commute unless I decide to live North county which I would prefer not to. So....... I appreciate all of your great responses. Any more input would be greatly appreciated as I seem to be exhausting my resources.

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

So, will you still not consider NICU? It would be easy to transition to Peds later and with experience, you will have more chance of getting into the unit you prefer, because you will no longer be a "new grad".

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Specializes in ICU.

cherokeemedical.com sometimes runs ads for RN jobs at Balboa. They might not act as the "agency" for new grads, but at least they could give you the right phone number to call.

It seems to me like Balboa hires civilian RNs. The website is:

http://www.nmcsd.med.navy.mil/command/hro.cfm

I don't work at Balboa... just happened to have this info at hand.

Good luck!

Kaiser has 4 med surg peds beds with mostly adult med surg overflow, sharp has only a couple peds med/surg peds as a back up at Grossmont, UCSD no longer have peds, and paradise valley the same as the other 2!!!!!! This is insane. I spoke with a really great recruiter at Children's today and he said the only option for me is to either wait until September which is 7 months after graduation or he thinks maybe Balboa has peds but doesnt know if they hire civilian new grads at all. I have tried calling them daily to no avail. I did see that Palomar medical center has peds but i do not know anything about that hospital??? And it would be quite a commute unless I decide to live North county which I would prefer not to. So....... I appreciate all of your great responses. Any more input would be greatly appreciated as I seem to be exhausting my resources.
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I will give cherokee a call b/c they could at least tell me if they hire new grads- THANKS!!!!

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