Ancora State Psychiatric Hospital, NJ

yasmina3232 · Jul 30, 2008

I am also interested in Ancora. did you start? How is it so far?

nancynjnurse · Jul 31, 2008

i had my physical yesterday & the doc told me they are very short staffed on the weekends (i'm hired for w/e & 1 w/d program) and he's seen nurses who have been injured on the job by pts. i know its a rough place and have worked in other state facilities. it is not my dream job LOL but the $ and beni's are ok. i'll be starting 9/2 as it now stands.

luv2yoga · Aug 1, 2008

...and have worked in other state facilities. QUOTE]
Do you know anything about Hagedorn? good place to work?

nancynjnurse · Aug 1, 2008

sorry - i don't know much other than its a lot smaller than ancora.

i worked thru agency at new lisbon (state - developmental disabilities, PRETTY DEPRESSING WHEN U CAN'T TELL the staff from the patients!)

and nj juvenile justice system which i liked.

yasmina3232 · Aug 2, 2008

Nancy,

I am thinking of Ancora, because I live in New Jersey and want to get into psych. Maybe we could talk together? do you think it is really dangerous there? How have nurses been injured? I live about 20 minutes from Atco.

Eyefish999 · Aug 3, 2008

i did a rotation on larch D at ancora 2 years ago..interesting place.

nancynjnurse · Aug 8, 2008

Nancy,
I am thinking of Ancora, because I live in New Jersey and want to get into psych. Maybe we could talk together? do you think it is really dangerous there? How have nurses been injured? I live about 20 minutes from Atco.

is there any way to private message on this forum? or you can send me your email address but not sure you'd want to post it. n.

nancynjnurse · Aug 8, 2008

i did a rotation on larch D at ancora 2 years ago..interesting place.

how so???

what type of pts are on this unit?

tell us more please.

Cree8ive1 · Oct 11, 2008

I'm in my last year of nursing school, and just finished a rotation at Ancora. I found it rather intriguing, and wouldn't mind working there except I don't think there's much RN/patient contact, which would make me sad. We never even really saw the nurse...just sort of followed patients around all day. Fascinating...I know psych nursing is definitely for me, but probably not at a state facility where the RN stands in a bulletproof box ("office") and spends half her day doling out meds and the other half documenting that she doled out meds to 35+ patients.

We were on Cedar D. I really think I'm hooked on psych nursing, but maybe in an inpatient facility for adolescents or something. I'm not sure.

Any thoughts on doing some med/surg first? I've seen it discussed here, but am still on the fence. I see its potential benefits (doing some medical stuff first), but on the other hand, I'm 40 years old and could see doing psych for the next 25 years or so. I'm just so conflicted about this.

Guess I'd better get through school and the NCLEX first! :rolleyes:

IamRN08 · Oct 30, 2008

So for those of you who have actually worked at Ancora I would love to know more about what it's like there for a new grad RN. I hear that there is a lot of changes being put in place there so I would love to get some insight from someone already working there about what it is list.

IamRN08 · Oct 31, 2008

Was Cedar D the womans ward? I and am scheduled to start next month at Ancora but I have only heard horrible things about it since I did my interview so I am concerned now. I have heard that as a nurse, if you make some of the long time staff mad at you they have in the recent past done things to nurses cars and such. While I typically take things like that with a grain of salt it is a bit concerning. I would love to hear from Nancy and others who have since started to see what their thoughts are on the facility as a whole.