ANY NURSES IN ARIZONA KNOW OF FACILITIES THAT HIRE NEW GRADS w/ INTERNSHIP INTO ICU??

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Hi All-

I am thinking about maybe relocating to Arizona, preferably Tucson or Phoenix. I am currently in an 8 week Cardiothoracic ICU internship at a very prestigious cardiac hospital in NYC. I am tired of the cold weather and thinking about going somewhere warmer. I have family in Arizona. Please let me know if anyone can suggest a hospital in the above mentioned areas that have an ICU Fellowship program. My goal is to go back to anesthesia in a few years, plus I am very passionate about ICU.

Thanks

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Specializes in Telemetry & PCU.

The job market for new grads is getting very tight here. Maricopa county has the highest rate of new grads per capita in the US and the competition is getting tougher as many hospitals have hiring freezes. IMO, I think it would be much easier to get an ICU job here with 2 years of experience first. Good luck!

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

Plus you could very well be viewed as flaky for bailing out on your ICU fellowship so quickly. These types of new grad training programs are *quite* expensive, and hospitals aren't looking for new grads who have a history of hopping around. Such a new grad could be viewed as a bad investment for the hospital's limited training resources.

Even if you could find a new grad fellowship like that here (doubtful), it would be a bad career move.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Short answer is, no.

New grads are too expensive right now for the ICU. We are saving our money and hiring experienced nurses.

And to be honest, the very few, scant, precious ICU new grad jobs are going to go to the students doing their ICU preceptorship with that hospital already. And/or those students who also work for the same place. So these people are already experienced.

So to be honest, coming from across the country and competing against people are are already working at or doing thier preceptorship at these hosptials with few new grad openings is a little far fetched.

IF you still want to come out here, you might have to consider starting someplace else such as medsurg and then moving on later.

Or, you might have to consider staying at your hosptial that you are at now. There are probably people eyeballing that position that you are leaving behind, so be careful.

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Its not a matter of bailing out, I will have fulfilled my commitment by the end of the month.. Actually I am highly valued at my facility, just that everywhere in NYC is on a hiring freeze right now, including the facility where I am doing my internship. The nursing director already said she would give me an excellent reference for any opportunities that may come my way. My hospital will be hiring in end of April early May, however I have financial obligations to fulfill and cannot wait several months before beginning a position. I do have an interview at another hospital for an ICU position tomorrow. I guess I was misinformed by someone when I heard that Arizona is desperate for nurses... It sounds to me from the responses that Arizona is in a similar situation to NYC.

Thanks for the replies!

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

I think I scanned your post too quickly and misunderstood.

AZ is no longer in the midst of a nursing shortage. The crappy economy has taken care of that.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Good luck with your interview tomorrow. This crappy economy sucks right now, doesn't it? That's too bad, because it sounds like where you're at is pretty good...

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Its not a matter of bailing out, I will have fulfilled my commitment by the end of the month.. Actually I am highly valued at my facility, just that everywhere in NYC is on a hiring freeze right now, including the facility where I am doing my internship. The nursing director already said she would give me an excellent reference for any opportunities that may come my way. My hospital will be hiring in end of April early May, however I have financial obligations to fulfill and cannot wait several months before beginning a position. I do have an interview at another hospital for an ICU position tomorrow. I guess I was misinformed by someone when I heard that Arizona is desperate for nurses... It sounds to me from the responses that Arizona is in a similar situation to NYC.

Thanks for the replies!

Things are very similar. Prior to the economic meltdown, lots of hospitals hired directly into their ICUs. In these times, though, I would not even dream about relocating here without 2-3 years experience. Too many students/externs have the inside track on what few New Grad jobs exist. Once you have the experience, or you are absolutely hell-bent on moving here, try Banner Good Samaritan in downtown Phoenix. They have a huge number of ICU beds and pre-recession hired lots of new grad RNs (including myself when I got out of school). I would stay put and put that recommendation from your nursing director to good use where it has some weight...

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I recently graduated for nursing school in philadlephia, relocated to tucson, and was hired into ICU with a 12-week orientation/training at Northwest in Tucson. They have and 18 month commitment for this program, and it's a very nice place to work! I applied in October for the cohort which started in february. Good luck!

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
I recently graduated for nursing school in philadlephia, relocated to tucson, and was hired into ICU with a 12-week orientation/training at Northwest in Tucson. They have and 18 month commitment for this program, and it's a very nice place to work! I applied in October for the cohort which started in february. Good luck!

Violety,

Would you mind sharing what kind of experience you had? Did you work as a tech, EMT, or paramedic, etc?

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I had no real experience-- i graduated from an accelerated BSN program with no nursing-related job experience at all. i actually was offered an ICU job at UMC in tucson, also, but I preferred the training offered at Northwest. I know things may be a bit tighter now than they were even a few months ago, but i know that both places hire new grads without experience into their ICU's.

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Specializes in Telemetry & PCU.

The states that have been hit the hardest with the housing turndown (FL, AZ, NV,etc) will have the fewest opportunities. States like TX, KY, TN, AR, OK, NC, SC, GA, WI, where home values haven't recently plummeted will be a better bet.

Go to the hospital library and look at the ads in the current "AACN News" and other nursing magazines and start calling recruiters. I surely wouldn't move across the country until I had a job. There are opportunities out there for those that can be flexible. Even if you have to go Mud Sock, WV to get 2 years of experience first it would set the stage to get a better gig and then you will probably be able to move anywhere you want.

I too am getting ready to graduate and would love to start in an ICU. Yesterday I was talking to the Director of ICU at a Phoenix hospital and she asked me what shift I wanted. I told her that I would prefer 1st but I am willing to "pay my dues" and work nights. I went on to tell her that I am willing to start in any department that she thought would be a good career path to ICU, again stressing that I am willing to "pay my dues". It all went very well and hopefully it will pan out.

I think being flexible is the key to finding a job in this market.

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