Internships at GW Hospital

U.S.A. Washington DC

Published

Hello,

I am interested in hearing from anyone who has done a new graduate internship at George Washington Hospital. Specifically, I am interested in the critical care internship. Are interns supported throught the process and given an apropriate amount of guidance and time? Is the program organized?

Thank you in advance for your responses. I look foward to hearing from you!

Specializes in TNCC CEN CPEN CCRN.

From a traveler's point of view. ;)

You'll get a good experience at GWU - better than, say, WHC. The reason being patient vareity. GWU means you'll see infants with bronchiolitis, chronic undomiciled EtOH abusers, drug addicts, multi traumas, GSW, CHF decompensations, the works. Places like WHC will only give you straight adult major medical patients: no pediatrics, no multitrauma, and only the GSWs when they're dropped off/hobble in the front doors. That's a real narrow slice of the world of nursing, and does you newbies (I mean that with a lot of love!) a disservice this early in your career.

Ultimately, you need to go with what makes you happy and what makes you feel comfortable. However, my vote is for the well rounded experience.

Good luck in your choice. Perhaps we'll meet up, since I work in both places.

:welcome:

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Perioperative.

quote=CraigBSN02;2402150]From a traveler's point of view. ;)

You'll get a good experience at GWU - better than, say, WHC. The reason being patient vareity. GWU means you'll see infants with bronchiolitis, chronic undomiciled EtOH abusers, drug addicts, multi traumas, GSW, CHF decompensations, the works. Places like WHC will only give you straight adult major medical patients: no pediatrics, no multitrauma, and only the GSWs when they're dropped off/hobble in the front doors. That's a real narrow slice of the world of nursing, and does you newbies (I mean that with a lot of love!) a disservice this early in your career.

Ultimately, you need to go with what makes you happy and what makes you feel comfortable. However, my vote is for the well rounded experience.

Good luck in your choice. Perhaps we'll meet up, since I work in both places.

:welcome:

Craig BSN, I totally agree with you regarding George Washington's diversity of patients. I am a new grad and am just finishing up my internship in Oncology/Med Surg. We get all types of patients and I'm seeing everything. Not just oncology. We also have Pulmonary Care, Hematology, general Med Surg, Telemetry patients, etc. We have homeless, lots and lots of AIDs patients and every sort of population. We work with a lot of central lines but also have alot of peripheral IV's. So I'm getting a great overall experience with these patients. I plan on getting chemo certified as well. It's very very hard. The patient ratio is generally 1:4 OR 1:5 depending on the acuity of the patients. Our manager is absolutely wonderful. The part of town is beautiful and I feel very safe. I feel like I made a great choice. But believe me, if I can get through this experience, I can do anything say in a year or two.

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Hey everybody!

I am also a nursing student...soon to be grad come august. I'm about 90% sure that I will be relocating to DC, and I'm really interested in the new grad internships at GWU, GU, and WHC. How do they compare? Any recommendations? I've heard a lot of about GW, but not much on the other two. ANY info would be great. thanks so much!

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I would also like to hear more info about the DC hospitals and their new grad residency programs. What positives and negatives do they have? I know each experience is based on the person but I would just like an inside view of some different experiences.

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Hey everyone. I currently am an RN @ GW Hospital. I went through the February 2009 internship for Labor and Delivery. I know it's a little different from the Critical Care internship you are asking about, but we had some classes together, so I'll tell you what the program is like. Basically the first week or so you are all together doing general hospital orientation. After that you spend the majority of the next couple weeks in the classroom. This is a "9-5 Mon-Fri" sort of schedule. During this time, you take classes and have guest speakers about different areas in the hospital, as well as focused info about your specific area. Examples are learning about pain control from the pain specialists, grief counseling, and pharmacy. After that, you begin spending time on the unit you will be working on as well as having some time in the classroom. You must pass written exams on the info you have learned, as well as clinical skill tests (IV insertion, using IV/PCA/other pumps, etc.) The farther you get into the program, the less classroom time you have and the more time you spend on the unit. You are generally paired with a preceptor (or more than one preceptor) and you work their schedule. My unit was different because it's much smaller than ICU, so we worked with several different preceptors. As you progress, you become more independent of your preceptor, and eventually begin working on your own. In my experience, the nurses who are preceptors are VERY helpful. They are specifically chosen to do that position, so they really WANT to help new nurses learn. If you find that ICU/ED are too intense for you right out of school, you don't just get kicked out of the program. They might try and put you on a less intense unit, such as Med/Surg, or another step-down type unit. They really want you to succeed and will do whatever they can to keep you (this is for ANY unit in the hospital). Overall, it's a wonderful program, and although I was nervous to be on my own after the internship, I felt "ready enough". You're never going to feel 100% confident, but they provide you with the skills to be independent. And there is always a ton of support after you complete the program, so you are never entirely "alone". The program ran from February to May. I would recommend looking into this program- the hospital really is wonderful and has a lot to offer. If you have any other questions, please feel free to write me!!

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Hi boilernurse23, thanks so much for your post!! The program at GWU sound great. I'll be graduating in early August and I'm really interested in the new-grad program at GWU. I tried contacting the nurse recruiter last week to find out how to apply for the program, but I haven't heard back. Is there a website that describes the internship? Also, how did you apply for the program, and how far in advance did you apply? Thanks so much!

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Specializes in Informatics; Labor & Delivery; Med-Surg.
Hi boilernurse23, thanks so much for your post!! The program at GWU sound great. I'll be graduating in early August and I'm really interested in the new-grad program at GWU. I tried contacting the nurse recruiter last week to find out how to apply for the program, but I haven't heard back. Is there a website that describes the internship? Also, how did you apply for the program, and how far in advance did you apply? Thanks so much!

I am also a nurse at GW and went through there Med/Surg internship in August. Your experience really depends on what program you go through. I have heard that the specialty interships are better. What I did was apply to a regular position and then the recruiter called me back. They usually have internship listings on their website. They dont have any information on their internships listed on the website. The only thing I have seen was the posting right outside of HR office.

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Specializes in telemetry, ortho, med-surg.

Hello all! I just received an email from the nurse recruiter at GW requesting an interview. I am super excited! Can anyone tell me what to expect from the interview, i.e., types of interview questions, case scenerios (if any), etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

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hi kimima 01!

how did you apply for the internship at GW?

congrats and goodluck on your interview!

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Specializes in telemetry, ortho, med-surg.

I didn't apply for the internship. I took a chance and applied for 3 different positions. I was turned down for 1 and then a nurse recruiter emailed me to request an interview for another. I decided not to limit myself to applying for internships or fellowships. I figure the worst that could happen is to be told I am not qualified!

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Hey everyone. I currently am an RN @ GW Hospital. I went through the February 2009 internship for Labor and Delivery. I know it's a little different from the Critical Care internship you are asking about, but we had some classes together, so I'll tell you what the program is like. Basically the first week or so you are all together doing general hospital orientation. After that you spend the majority of the next couple weeks in the classroom. This is a "9-5 Mon-Fri" sort of schedule. During this time, you take classes and have guest speakers about different areas in the hospital, as well as focused info about your specific area. Examples are learning about pain control from the pain specialists, grief counseling, and pharmacy. After that, you begin spending time on the unit you will be working on as well as having some time in the classroom. You must pass written exams on the info you have learned, as well as clinical skill tests (IV insertion, using IV/PCA/other pumps, etc.) The farther you get into the program, the less classroom time you have and the more time you spend on the unit. You are generally paired with a preceptor (or more than one preceptor) and you work their schedule. My unit was different because it's much smaller than ICU, so we worked with several different preceptors. As you progress, you become more independent of your preceptor, and eventually begin working on your own. In my experience, the nurses who are preceptors are VERY helpful. They are specifically chosen to do that position, so they really WANT to help new nurses learn. If you find that ICU/ED are too intense for you right out of school, you don't just get kicked out of the program. They might try and put you on a less intense unit, such as Med/Surg, or another step-down type unit. They really want you to succeed and will do whatever they can to keep you (this is for ANY unit in the hospital). Overall, it's a wonderful program, and although I was nervous to be on my own after the internship, I felt "ready enough". You're never going to feel 100% confident, but they provide you with the skills to be independent. And there is always a ton of support after you complete the program, so you are never entirely "alone". The program ran from February to May. I would recommend looking into this program- the hospital really is wonderful and has a lot to offer. If you have any other questions, please feel free to write me!!

Hey boilernurse23, I just read your post and wanted to know more about the Labor and Delivery internship at GW. I am a senior (graduating in May) and I am looking everywhere I can think of for RN residency or new grad programs in L&D. I have recently been looking into GW, do you have any advice for me? I don't see the internship listed on the website so I am going to call the nursing office after the holidays and hopefully get to talk to a recruiter. I am so glad you posted this because I am having trouble finding hospitals that will hire new grads into L&D or OB! Congrats on this opportunity. I hope it is still going well for you and you are adjusting to being on your own (if you are on your own already) Again, any advice would be appreciated. I cant PM because I haven't had enough posts yet but please let me know if you have any advice. Thanks in advance!

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