Latest Comments by Nici_StudentRN

I have been told COUNTLESS times that new grads should work in Med-Surg for a couple of years so that they will have a more rounded experience, however I have known several nurses who went right into the medical office setting upon graduation from nursing school and none of them have the desire to work in the hospital setting either. This is mostly due to the fact that they want the stable schedule. These are ladies that I have worked with at a general surgery practice, an orthopedic practice, and OB/GYN office. I've also known a few that have worked in various other settings that never worked in the hospital.

Depending on your area and the needs in your particular hospital you may or may not have an easy time getting into the hospital as a new grad.

Unless you have specifically given this potential employer permission to do a credit check, they're most likely only doing a criminal background check. Often times the only places you will find doing a credit check are those in which you will be handling money. And unless they specified that you had to be up to date on student loans I would not be concerned with this as far as not getting hired but you will want to contact whomever is servicing this loan and get it straight with them so as not to go into default, again this will not prevent you from getting employment unless that is a specific contingency to getting the job BUT they will garnish tax returns if you mess with the Federal Government for too long.

I am really unable to decipher what your true concern is here though by the grammar. If I am understanding your last question you are wondering if they will put your loan back in good standing without paying the full balance? The only way a loan will be in good standing is if you pay the past due to date. Unless you are granted a forbearance this balance will continue to accumulate.

But once again, this isn't something that you should be concerned with unless your job offer was contingent upon having a certain credit score (which again is unlikely).

I realize this is an old old thread but I am surprised (but then again not) that there is not more interest in this topic. I also wondered about CF nursing as my son was diagnosed just 2 years ago when he turned 14 (after being misdiagnosed from the time he started having symptoms at 1). We have a fairly large CF clinic here in St. Louis but once people get in there they tend not to leave so it is very difficult to find an open position. I guess I am more or less wondering how many other people may have sought out this specialty or have experience with it.

Honestly it depends entirely on the hiring standards in your area. Each state has their own requirements and each health system their own as well. I will tell you the CNAs are often hired in hospitals as Unit Clerks if they've had additional training such as medical terminology and if you have great computer and communication skills. It also helps to have as much experience as possible and it sounds like you're getting some experience in the hospital setting by volunteering. L&D and PP are difficult to get into mostly because so many people want to work in them. Another avenue you could check into is being a CNA at a peds office. While hospitals tend to hire less CNA/MAs as new grads, medical office settings are hiring them more and more because they're able to pay them less and the things required of them in these offices are not highly skilled. The reason I mention a peds office is because of being around kids but honestly even an OB/GYN or Family Med office would work. I am in St. Louis but it is quite the norm for medical offices to hire CNAs as receptionists or to room patients, take their vitals, etc.

The previous hospital in which I did work on Mother/Baby the moms were sent home with a diaper bag from the hospital that included "Chicken Soup for the Mothers Soul", a onesie for the baby, a small keepsake photo album, and several coupons for this or that. If they were bottle feeding they were also given a diaper bag from whatever formula company they were using that included several cans of formula, coupons, and usually a near book to document the first weeks.

They were also given the receiving blankets, wipes, diapers, and extra bottles of formula (if they were bottle feeding) that were in the bassinet cart. Every now and then we would be given a supply of this or that extra from various baby companies but most of that has stopped due to budget cuts (and because we no longer use their product exclusively).

If I were to put something together I would say a nice book for mom, a keepsake something or other for baby, a sample of herbal tea for mom to enjoy, and some nice lotion. While I agree with the ladies who say that baby is enough, moms aren't always pampered and certainly deserve to be!

What do you mean by community hospital? Suburban setting or more rural?

I've worked in a suburban hospital and the typical night you described is very similar to the typical night in suburbia as well.

Do you have any connections with primary providers that are within your hospital network?

The reason I ask this is because many of these offices have referral coordinators whom are aware of special services such as ETOCH programs that are in the community. Although in my experience these tend to be providers offices that have a higher demographic of low income patients.

I actually do this very thing myself in the family med office in which I work. It is my responsibility to seek out and network with a variety of agencies and specialists offices to provide to our patients. We have a VERY HIGH Medicare/Medicaid demo in our practice and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find providers and agencies that will take these individuals :-(

I agree with previous posters stating that when he is ready is when he will be ready but I also believe that as long as you make it clear to him that you are there to assist him when he is ready he will be more likely to come to you when he is ready. He states he is more of a loner and if he trusts you that says a lot. There is nothing wrong with seeking out to help people, that is why we chose this profession, is it not?

Is that your only option as far as school? I know that there are several LPN to RN bridge programs in my city and not a single one that I went to speak with stated anything about what work experience they thought better for their program over others. The ones I went to simply took you if you were an LPN and passed the exam!

Nursing in 2012 is vastly different than it was 20+ years ago that is for sure.

Because of the advances in medicine and the fact that nurses are the primary caregivers to patients (no matter what the MDs want you to believe :-) nursing school simply cannot be a cake walk!

The most important thing to remember is you got in and that is half the battle my friend. I had an OR nurse tell me yesterday that she was talking to a patient that wants to go to nursing school but her GPA isn't high enough...the ironic part about that is this same woman just finished a Masters Degree program!

I've known plenty of nursing students that maintained a social life and still did very well in their courses and passed their boards the first time. This will be just as much about prep and motivation than anything else. There is a saying "Study smarter, not harder".

You'll do just fine. Just take a breath and enjoy it! These are only the basics and the real learning begins when you hit the floor.

In school you're trained as generalist but if you know where you'd like to end up then you can start by seeking out opportunities to do internships, take advanced courses, attend conferences, and the like. Of course there are plenty of departments that do not veer towards new grads because of the highly specialized nature of the patients needs but if they see that you're going above and beyond in seeking knowledge and experience outside of school you'd be surprised at who would be willing to take on a new grad.

That also depends on the area in which one lives or chooses to work. There are plenty of places that are in need of nurses in all fields and others that need very few nurses. More and more private physician offices are hiring less skilled workers (such as CNA/MA) and not as many nurses as they previously were but if you're a new grad and not demanding a lot of money and simply want the experience then again you may be surprised who hires whom.

I currently work as a CNA in a Family Medicine practice and I also worked as a CNA in a General Surgery practice. Every opportunity that I can I seek out on the job training, inservices, and I have attended a couple conferences with the NP in our office that are geared towards Women's Health, which is where I want to ultimately end up in my career. It is all about education, motivation, and resume building I've received an offer to stay on as an RN in the office where I currently work but I have not decided as of yet simply because I'd like to be in L&D or in OB/GYN over a Family Med setting.

My mind was always stuck on L&D. If I were to stay in an office setting verses going to a hospital setting I would choose either Pediatric Pulmonology (my son has CF so this one is close to my heart) or an OB/GYN office.

Ultimately I would like to become a Women's Health NP and my office specialty would be pregnant and parenting adolescent girls, again this is something near and dear to me because I was a teen mom myself and I would choose a neighborhood in my city that desperately needs both the healthcare and the role model.

In the end, just like we're all finding out as we start school or advance through our program the options are endless. I have no idea where I will end up but I know that my heart will lead me to the right place.