Austin Community College ADN Spring 2021

Hi!

In answering a few questions - I had landed my NICU position by going through a recruiter who helped me navigate PCT positions. I will say though, she told me not to apply for NICU because I had no prior NICU experience and that they “wouldn’t hire me” but I ignored her and applied anyway and got a call for an interview two hours later ??‍♀️ and then landed the job

I would recommend going to the Seton website and look at the pct openings which is what I did. I will say one of our PCTs just graduated and he got a job in PICU so a PCT position on my unit will be opening in July! Another good option to look at is we are always needing sitters in my hospital I work at . It may not be the same gig as a pct but it’ll get you through a door.

In regards to working NICU as a nurse I didn’t realize NICU would be a place I’d want to work at as a nurse (I wanted PICU) but now there’s no other place I’d rather be! Course I haven’t started clinicals yet obviously and that’s the nice thing about clinicals it’ll give you a chance to try out new specialities!!

Hope this helped !

5 hours ago, EDWannaBe2020 said:

@mariah0418 After your first semester of nursing school you can apply for a CNA license. My little 40 bed rehab place always needs techs (CNAs). We are short a lot, especially if someone calls out. Many times they will assign a nurse to be a tech when we are short. Lots of places are desperate for CNAs, you just need to look outside the huge hospitals. @Deannaleee1 is completely correct. ANYTHING in the medical field helps immensely. I was a unit secretary in the ER for 2 years on nights, not even a tech, and just working in that environment made concepts in nursing school make complete sense because you see and deal with so much. Just go apply for anything medical-field related.

How do you apply for your CNA after skills? And yeah I’ve mostly been just looking at hospitals... I’m a little scared to make the switch too because I know the pay sucks and I need money to pay for my bills and help me through Nursing school!

On 6/17/2020 at 11:53 AM, Deannaleee1 said:

Hi!

In answering a few questions - I had landed my NICU position by going through a recruiter who helped me navigate PCT positions. I will say though, she told me not to apply for NICU because I had no prior NICU experience and that they “wouldn’t hire me” but I ignored her and applied anyway and got a call for an interview two hours later ??‍♀️ and then landed the job

I would recommend going to the Seton website and look at the pct openings which is what I did. I will say one of our PCTs just graduated and he got a job in PICU so a PCT position on my unit will be opening in July! Another good option to look at is we are always needing sitters in my hospital I work at . It may not be the same gig as a pct but it’ll get you through a door.

In regards to working NICU as a nurse I didn’t realize NICU would be a place I’d want to work at as a nurse (I wanted PICU) but now there’s no other place I’d rather be! Course I haven’t started clinicals yet obviously and that’s the nice thing about clinicals it’ll give you a chance to try out new specialities!!

Hope this helped !

So helpful thank you! One more question though. How could I work with a recruiter? Did you just Google "healthcare recruiter"? LOL!

On 6/16/2020 at 9:24 PM, EDWannaBe2020 said:

Sure, I have two lab packs (one more used than the other) and will gladly give them away and get my closet space back. LVN is 12 months long without any semester break. I did mine from January-December and graduated December 2019. I took NCLEX in late January. I took all of my RN pre-reqs before applying to LVN, but wanted to get into the field ASAP, as I am a mom in my early 30's and felt like wasting no time. Now that I know nursing is for me, I'm going back to get my RN as soon as humanly possible bc RN's do have more opportunity in terms of specialty. I worked in the emergency room for a couple years before nursing school and really want to go back to my old dept as an RN. SO I planned on applying to the Spring 2021 traditional track, but the schedule will be too busy for me while working with my two kids and I don't want to deal with the competition after seeing how many re-applicants there are. So I'm settling on waiting and doing the Fall 2021 mobility track.

My husband and I actually talked about this last night. We both think that if I don't hear back from the RN program by mid August we should assume I didn't get in and I should apply for the LVN program, with the intent of going to RN through the mobility track. Thank you so much for helping us think of options! I have been a teacher for 8 years so all of a sudden not working for years on end seems very daunting for me, and I really want to begin working my way up in this new career. I do have a quesiton-- we are really hoping to have a baby within the next year or two. Our plan right now is to (try) time it so the baby is born over the Summer, so that I'd be in between semesters and have time home with the baby before going back. If the LVN program doesn't have a Summer break do you think having a baby during that year is even possible? We are in our mid 30s so we don't want to keep putting it off for years. I can't be the only woman trying to start a family during a career change..so I keep telling myself.

4 hours ago, Aislinn said:

I should apply for the LVN program, with the intent of going to RN through the mobility track. I do have a quesiton-- we are really hoping to have a baby within the next year or two. Our plan right now is to (try) time it so the baby is born over the Summer, so that I'd be in between semesters and have time home with the baby before going back. If the LVN program doesn't have a Summer break do you think having a baby during that year is even possible? We are in our mid 30s so we don't want to keep putting it off for years. I can't be the only woman trying to start a family during a career change..so I keep telling myself.

@Aislinn haven't looked, when is the application deadline for LVN Spring and fall 2021? I would recommend starting in the fall, as level 2 in the Summer is much more challenging as it is in the Spring (I know because I suffered through it!). Level 3 is also challenging in the Summer (according to the class that graduated right before me) but there are less clinical days and almost no care plans in level 3. But if you can't wait for a baby, start as soon as you're able. The LVN program is very challenging. I spent about 2-3 hours per day studying after 8 hour long lecture days and clinical days and entire weekends doing pass/fail care plans.

Don't be fooled by Summer breaks, though, because RN students spend a lot of their "break" in the lab practicing skills for the beginning of semester skills check off and pharmacology exams. Same with LVN, I spent my between semester breaks pretty much practicing in the lab. And the only campus LVN is offered at is Eastview, which I don't mind even though I live in Leander. The professors are great, the drive sucks, but such is sacrifice.

OK--- Babies and nursing school. I started nursing school with a 6 year old on the autism spectrum at home. Right before level 2 started in the Summer, I got pregnant. I was pregnant from May all the way until December graduation. It was hard, but it would have been much harder with an infant at home. When I got pregnant and told my instructors one of them said "Great! Just go through nursing school pregnant! No big deal!" You will just not be assigned certain pts in clinical (Shingles, pts with implanted chemo ... which we never saw anyway). There was also another pregnant girl in my cohort, and a girl who gave birth in the class behind us and came back 2 weeks later. It's just super hard with a new baby at home even with support.

I ended up taking NCLEX 2 weeks before my due date and passed. Started work 6 weeks postpartum. So, if I recommend anything for someone wanting to start a family, get pregnant during the program with enough time to graduate (hoping the baby doesn't come premature) or after you start your first job. My pregnancy was unplanned, and I graduated valedictorian with an almost 4.0 GPA. Study your butt off and practice NCLEX questions every day. Knowing the material isn't enough to pass, you must know how to answer NCLEX style questions.

Anyway hope that helped, you CAN do it no matter what route you choose.

As an LVN, I would say just apply for everything and if you get into both, choose RN. I'm going back for RN for a reason, but being an LVN has been an awesome experience so far, and is a good backup if I ever need a job. And now with this whole "healthcare heroes" thing, everyone and their mother wants to be a nurse even more than before so there will be a lot of competition. You don't need any pre-reqs for the LVN program, so it's quicker to get in. BUT, if you can, do RN. And even better, do BSN if you have the means and the time. I wish I could have just gone straight to BSN b/c that's what the hospitals want now. But, you can only do what you can when you can in life ?

@hellohello just chiming in here with an answer to your question (at least for my hospital which is Dell Childrens) my unit manager actually talked to me about this today since I didn’t make it into the program this round (I’ll be a reapplicant) that they do not hire ADNs only nurses with BSNs. Which is my ultimate goal after I finish the ADN program anyway but I hear more and more nurses only being hired with bsns (or hiring with ADN but giving a stipulation of knowing you’ll achieve your BSN by a certain point)

again, this is just my experience with Dell a children’s as I want to work in NICU (I work there now as a pct) as a nurse one day. All good info coming out of this page I enjoy reading it

As far as I am aware, most specialty departments will want you to have a BSN. If they are short staffed and need nurses badly, they will often hire ADNs with the whole "get your BSN in x amount of time." It's possible that on a floor like med surg or something you may have a better shot with ADN. My husband is an ER nurse educator and says they only hired BSN's this go round for the emergency dept. It isn't the manager's choice per se, it's the hospital adminstration. Hospitals need at least 80% BSN plus some other requirements in order to obtain magnet status. Now, if you work somewhere as a tech or some other position and stick with the hospital after getting your ADN, then you may have a better chance at getting hired there. Also, it's who you know sometimes too. Anyway, I'm going to switch to the mobility track forum and leave you guys, but if anyone wants a lab pack I have two of them and can do a doorstep delivery or pickup. Good luck everyone!