Thought I'd get this started for the rest of us who, sadly, did not make it in for Fall 2010. I'm hoping to re-submit my application for Spring today (or this week). Does anyone know, do we receive the form from the nursing office? Or, is this something we should grab from the website?
My score upon re-applying will be 54.899. Dang, sure am hoping this will be high enough and get me in this round!
How's everyone else holding up? Did everyone complete the pre-req - 1105 already? I have not and won't (due to extenuating circumstances) until early Fall. Will this negatively impact my chances of getting accepted? According to Tammy and the office, no. But, wanting to get everyone's input. Hoping we will hear about acceptance by Sept. Does anyone know this date for sure? The application period closed July 15, don't know why it takes them so long to get this word out.
Anyway- good luck to you. This is my 3rd round of applying so I sure am ready to get in and get on with this career change!
And Radiation - I think we had skills together with Jeanie Ward hybrid in the Spring! I remember the two CNAs who were already comfortable doing everything :)
Did we?? I sat in the second row in front of the overhead screen. I think I was only the 3rd guy in the class. I sat next to my friend Gwen. Her and I were partners the majority of the time. Where did you sit?
Oops-forgot you asked about uniforms. Yes, they have a new uniform policy and RNs wear navy and PCTs wear sandstone tops and black bottoms. Not my first choice, but I'd wear a potato sack if they wanted me to
I also just accepted a PCT position at a big hospital on the Oncology/Hospice (med/surg overflow) floor. I am extremely nervous but I have worked as a Medical Assistant for a few years so I do have experience but I am totally scared of the change. I am a nursing student so I know I can get A LOT of experience on the floor. Also it is nights and I have never worked nights before. How did you like the Oncology floor. I hear alot of people telling me that I am not going to like dealing with death and not to get too attached to the patients but I am a people person and I love talking to patients and getting to know them.... So I know this is going to be difficult but I am ready. Any tips???
I also just accepted a PCT position at a big hospital on the Oncology/Hospice (med/surg overflow) floor. I am extremely nervous but I have worked as a Medical Assistant for a few years so I do have experience but I am totally scared of the change. I am a nursing student so I know I can get A LOT of experience on the floor. Also it is nights and I have never worked nights before. How did you like the Oncology floor. I hear alot of people telling me that I am not going to like dealing with death and not to get too attached to the patients but I am a people person and I love talking to patients and getting to know them.... So I know this is going to be difficult but I am ready. Any tips???
I love Oncology! I have done it for 12 years now and I plan to continue in it after I graduate. I work full time in a radiation oncology outpatient clinic and only PRN on an oncology floor at the hospital. It is definitely a field that is not for everyone. Usually nurses and other staff who work in oncology and last for years are people who have either had a personal experience with cancer or known someone close with cancer. Working so long in it you definitely do get "de-sensitized" to some things but let me tell you, it still rips my heart out from time to time. I love my co-workers and they are like a second family to me. Without each other and our weird senses of humor we would not mantain any level of sanity.
It is so hard to work in oncology and NOT get attached to the patients. You see them so many times. It isn't like cancer treatments are a one time/one day deal. Good luck to you and if you get into the field and decide after a few months that it just isn't for you, then do NOT feel bad. It happens to a lot of people.
It is so hard to work in oncology and NOT get attached to the patients. You see them so many times. It isn't like cancer treatments are a one time/one day deal. Good luck to you and if you get into the field and decide after a few months that it just isn't for you, then do NOT feel bad. It happens to a lot of people.
I have not worked in oncology but I did lose my mom to breast cancer just this past April. I think that the advice to not get attached to patients is not realistic (as Radiation alluded to, above.) #1, the patients and families will sense it if you don't care or are not attached to them...it's appropriate to be somewhat attached to them. #2, I feel that for a GOOD oncology nurse, doc, or CA, it's less "detachment" than it is "looking at life and death in a different way." Another good example of this would be hospice workers--it takes a special kind of person to balance that desensitization with compassion and genuine caring. I talked to the hospice nurses a lot about their jobs when my mom was nearing the end and it was not unusual for any of them to cry with me and also be ultra-capable and matter-of-fact when doing their jobs.
After losing my mom, I am both more sensitive and less sensitive to the deaths I hear about from day to day. More so, because I know how it feels to lose a very immediate loved one, and the compassion for that is completely inherent--I feel it in my stomach when I see someone who is grieving. And less so, because I look at death differently than I ever have before, and I feel like I have a changed outlook towards it, having been a close witness to a sad but natural life process.
I think (I hope) that a great oncology team member may undergo this same mental transformation: close proximity to death can desensitize, and gallows humor or emotional withdrawal can be healthy or at least necessary, but you have to maintain that compassion and truly connect with the people you're caring for. One thing that I think that helps is that it's not the same type of "sadness" that you'd expect as you get more seasoned on the job. The mystique is somewhat gone once you're around the very sick or dying and you learn to relate to them in a normal way...being sad when they are gone is an ache that you still feel, but it's not something that tears you apart every single time. Just my 2 cents.
Kudos to all of you who are (or aim to be) in oncology or hospice!
Texasceleste...don't give up hope! Just keep applying and eventually SOMEONE will give you an interview...
Thanks! I haven't even tried to apply yet, still at my (non-medical industry) job and finishing up here. I am volunteering in the ER at Seton main to get some experience and I totally love it...but it's going to be a little harder for me as I have no prior medical experience.
An AIDS hospice sounds like SUCH an amazing opportunity. You'll have to fill us in on how that goes...many congrats. :)
I have not worked in oncology but I did lose my mom to breast cancer just this past April. I think that the advice to not get attached to patients is not realistic (as Radiation alluded to, above.) #1, the patients and families will sense it if you don't care or are not attached to them...it's appropriate to be somewhat attached to them. #2, I feel that for a GOOD oncology nurse, doc, or CA, it's less "detachment" than it is "looking at life and death in a different way." Another good example of this would be hospice workers--it takes a special kind of person to balance that desensitization with compassion and genuine caring. I talked to the hospice nurses a lot about their jobs when my mom was nearing the end and it was not unusual for any of them to cry with me and also be ultra-capable and matter-of-fact when doing their jobs.
After losing my mom, I am both more sensitive and less sensitive to the deaths I hear about from day to day. More so, because I know how it feels to lose a very immediate loved one, and the compassion for that is completely inherent--I feel it in my stomach when I see someone who is grieving. And less so, because I look at death differently than I ever have before, and I feel like I have a changed outlook towards it, having been a close witness to a sad but natural life process.
I think (I hope) that a great oncology team member may undergo this same mental transformation: close proximity to death can desensitize, and gallows humor or emotional withdrawal can be healthy or at least necessary, but you have to maintain that compassion and truly connect with the people you're caring for. One thing that I think that helps is that it's not the same type of "sadness" that you'd expect as you get more seasoned on the job. The mystique is somewhat gone once you're around the very sick or dying and you learn to relate to them in a normal way...being sad when they are gone is an ache that you still feel, but it's not something that tears you apart every single time. Just my 2 cents.
Kudos to all of you who are (or aim to be) in oncology or hospice!
Oh I am so sorry for your loss. That is so recent.
I lost my dear momma on April 16, 2003 after a 16 year battle with metastatic breast cancer. Everything you said in your post is spot on. Heck, if I didn't know it, I would've thought you had worked in oncology also. My mom was on home hospice the last 6 months of her life and the staff were excellent. Working in oncology for me is my way of giving back and giving thanks for the great care my mom received throughout her 4 different bouts with cancer.
You are so right. I learned to dettach myself to a certain degree but I am still a caring human. If we lose a patient who we have become attached to, then we are all right there crying with the families. As cheesey as it may sound, throughout most of these people's treatments you spend so long and so much time with them that they sort of become part of you and vice versa. In radiation treatments especially we see the same patients monday through friday for sometimes as long as 8 weeks. It is IMPOSSIBLE to not become emotionally attached to some of them.
Hey, y'all. I'm wondering if anyone knows what the highest ranked person to be admitted is? I think number 152 was admitted last week. Has anyone with a higher number than that received an acceptance letter?
Crispier, that is what I am wondering, too. If we add that post from a few days ago (person deferred to have a baby), we are at least up to 153.
Do you think if we e-mailed the nursing dept they would give that info out? If I remember correctly, you and I are both painstakingly close to the top of the list. ugghhhh!
Just checked w/ reliable source, and I'm next on the Spring 2011 RN list @ # 157. Expect maybe five or six more openings according to the source. Good luck & keep ur fingers crossed. :cheers:
so I sure am ready to get in and get on with this career change!
RADIATION_RN
401 Posts
Did we?? I sat in the second row in front of the overhead screen. I think I was only the 3rd guy in the class. I sat next to my friend Gwen. Her and I were partners the majority of the time. Where did you sit?