Christiana Care Internships for new Grads

Hi lsm-- I applied for the medical internship and the critical nurse internship and the ED internship. I got rejected from the ED internship and I got an interview from the other ones. He,y I thought it went pretty good and I thought I answered the questions the best I can. I heard they want to be magnet so theyll hire from within (their cnas) and theyll only hire bsns. plus i've never had any hospital experience, only nursing home experience.

what kills me is they make you wait for so long. most of the other internship programs ive applied to let you know in early april! this sucks b/c by then, they want you to sign a contract. christiana is my 1st choice and if they don't take me for somethhing, ive wasted the new grad application cycle and won't be able to apply until later this year..... oh well.

anyway-- i heard we will hear back sometime either next week or the week after. afterall, the internship begins next month.

Got the dreaded email today. Rejected......................................
Should I have gone into pharmacy???

At least you got an interview. I have a lot of experience as a tech/co-op/nursing assistant and didn't even get that. In fact, I didn't get any response at all.

Sorry to hear that you didn't get the internship. I am a Christiana employee and I was hired and I did not have ANY nursing experience, just clinicals from nursing school. I do know they hire from within a lot but that is not always the case. Right now there is a hiring freeze....no overtime...so far no layoffs. I know how hard it is for a new grad to get a job, let alone the economy and cutting back on hiring. Best wishes to both.

Hi All,

I decided to take an offer at a community hospital in Philly so I withdrew from consideration before finding out if I got an offer from CC. Since I live in Philly I felt more comfortable taking a job here and waiting out all freezes at the major teaching hospitals rather than making a 2.5 yr comittment out of state.
I feel really fortunate to have gotten a job at all. All I can suggest is to keep applying. Don't get bogged down in the negativity about the market-- if you put a positive face forward, recruitors will take notice. Also, make sure your cover letter and resume are MINT!

Good luck to all 2009 Grads!

I have been working in the Christiana ED for 1.5 years now and went through the ED Internship. I was the only one in my internship who never even stepped foot inside Christiana besides for my interview. I grew up in central-north NJ and have been living in PA the past 5 years with my wife. I went to school in PA and all my clinicals were in Philly and the surrounding area's.

I started applying for nursing jobs in the beginning of February 2007 and was offered a position at Einsteins CVICU and accepted it but changed my mind when Jefferson offered me a position.

I worked as a tech at Lankenau Hospital for 1 year. After graduating in May of 2007 I worked in the Neuro ICU at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience for 4 months and left prior to finishing my 20 week orientation because I did not like my coworkers that made the working enviroment very uncomfortable. I applied for the Christiana ED Internship in October of 2007 online and had not 1 single reference of an employee to give and was interviewed in the beginning of November 2007 and was offered the position at the end of my interview unofficially but got a call 2 days later from the recruiter asking me if I would accept the position.

Out of the 8 people in my internship only me and this one girl had prior experience, hers being 10 years in the OR and me with alittle ICU experience. I didn't have a BSN, which alot of places like. My graduating GPA wasn't perfect.

When I applied they were still hiring alot of people into the internships. After my internship the next group had like 10 people in it and now the groups are getting smaller and smaller.

I know for fact that the ED is on a hiring freeze and are very overstaffed so don't take offense if you weren't picked for the internship. If they are even hiring, they're probably only taking 1 to 2 people on.

JerzeyGirl, I don't know about where you work but we still get OT down in the ED, although its not as pleantiful as it used to be. And even though we are overstaffed, we are constantly short on the weekends even though everyone is required to work 1 weekend per schedule shell.

I understand where you're coming from and all but I hope you are not mad at me because I'm working out of state. If you are that is sad, you're just bitter that you're not getting hired at this time and taking it out on others. I gave my history because others were asking questions about requirements. I'm the only person who really answered the question asked.

At the present time, ALL STATES are not hiring like they were when I graduated. There are numerous nurses that work with me that aren't from Delaware, eg. MD, NJ, PA, etc.

I didn't take anyone's job. I think I'm very qualified for my job and do a damn good job at it.

I didn't have a ****** GPA, it wasn't perfect but it wasn't far from it around 3.5.

I just want to clue you in on something, just because you have a BSN, doesn't mean you know more than someone with a ASN or will be a better nurse. We all take the same nursing classes and clinicals, you guys just have more nursing theory classes. I have taken all the sciences that BSN courses require in the past, it just wasn't a good time in my life to get a BSN. I think I'm alot more skillful than alot of the nurses I work with that have higher degrees. I'm not being cocky, just honest.

The job market in nursing isn't good right now so its not my fault you're not getting a job.

I'm not going to just work at any hospital because in my home state or PA because someone from DE can't find a position.

I'm sorry for you, but I graduated 2 years ago and should not be affecting whats going on now.

Hey Azzurri,

Thanks for your insight and perspectives on things. I will tell everyone pretty much there are hiring freezes although hospitals are NOT bragging about it for PR reasons. I was in a meeting with the big CEO of Nursing at a hospital in Philly. Basically she came out and pretty much admitted that this is the situation all over--and that it isn't good for PR. . .so. . .

I agree about the degree business. I just think baseline RN should be BSN for professional growth reasons--both individually for people as well as for the profession as a whole. The differences in face-appearance on the nursing programs doesn't give us much credibility as a profession. Just the way it is. Check out other respected professions, and it isn't tough to see.

I will say that I have seen an increased advantage to places hiring nurses that are male. (The term "male nurse" annoys the daylights out of me. Way too sexist or silly or something.) Generally in the unit culture within hospitals, well, let's just say it is often to the nurse's advantage if he is male. I'm sure that may not always be so; but it's pretty much what I've seen. . . . and I enjoy men so. . . LOL But I am a woman, and I will tell you that it is no lie that women can be catty and try to polarize the males in the group. LOL

There are quite a number of nurses out there that have many years of strong clinical experience and guess what? They are having a tough time finding jobs. Sometimes it is a disadvantage to have experience and not be a GN. They can hire the GNs for much less, and they can control the dickens out of their schedules--shifting them all over the place--denying vacation time request one after another--you name it. I worked at a famous pediatric hospital and let me tell you. That was so the case there. Nice place to work. . .many good things. . .but forget about having any control over your work schedule or getting your vacation time--unless you kiss the right person's bottom the right way at the exact right time.

Anyway Azzurri (Sorry if I misspelled your name, but I couldn't get the quote post to work today for some odd reason.)you really have absolutely nothing to apologize about. It's just a bit tougher out there in general for nurses in general--and really a lot of it is absolutely a reflection of the current economy. The needs are still there, but admin. will just ask staff to work with less and cut back in every way possible.

And depending on how this whole healthcare package deal comes down--well, I fear it will only make the economy overall as well as healthcare's economy much worse. (Plus there's that and I have a host of other very serious concerns!)

People aren't shifting jobs as much either--as nurses are renowned for doing--b/c people are trying to hold on until hopefully things open up. Right now it isn't a good time to job jump unless you are really being squeezed and you have no choice.

This is a tough field GNs, novice nurses, and student nurses. I wouldn't be one to kid your about that. And it isn't just about the economy. It's really a very hard field to work in--not so much b/c of the patients. At least for me, as challenging as that can be, that's not the big thing. It's just changed so much over the years I've been a nurse--and that has been a good bit of time. In general, there's much less genuine teamwork--except in places like many EDs where you really need that. There's way too much gameplaying as compared to a few decades ago. The units can be WAY catty and cutthroat--and I am NOT kidding.

Most people would not think that a caring profession like nursing could be so cutthroat. It's a bit of a culture shock and reallly then some. I graduated in the late 80's and there was definitely culture shock--but nothing like today. I still can't get used to how so many butt-kissers get promoted while those that are really smart, caring, and dedicated get brushed aside or weeded out. It's much more dog-eat-dog--more than it ever was as I remember back. I miss the days when mostly the nurses in the units, floors, whatever worked together, had each other's backs, were there for the patients and each other. There was so much commaraderie amoung everyone--new nurses, older nurses, docs, you name it. I'm not the only experienced nurse that feels this way.