Austin New Grad/Residency/Internship programs

abbabask · Jan 11, 2009

I would apply at any of the Seton hospitals (Seton Medical Center and Brackenridge are the most popular) because they offer an 18-22 week Versant RN Residency program specifically tailored to the specialty area you are hired into. Seton is a non-profit hospital, which is always better.. plus it is Magnet. You kinda can't go wrong.

I've never heard great things about St. Davids in general.. there are some exceptions but you'll see when you search through different posts that Seton is far more popular with the nurses. St. Davids is slow slow sloooowww to return calls or schedule interviews too. They are for-profit, and they have a fairly weak internship from what I've heard, but that also depends on what unit you're hired onto.

If you haven't already graduated, apply during your final semester of nursing school and the timing depends on what Versant cohort you're applying for (Fall, Spring, etc.), you'll hear back fairly quickly. I think the cohorts start in February, June, and October. They may even have another one.. And if you're already out of school, just apply online now. Every GN applies for the same position online (just a general GN Nursing position, not a specialty) and then your app is forwarded to the areas you're interested in based on what you mark on your Residency application, which is separate. I would suggest calling Seton HR and talk to a Nurse Recruiter. They can tell you all about the process.

Hope that helps..

XYnurse2B · Jan 17, 2009

Thanks for the 411. I too am considering Austin with my wife. Both as new-grads. I'm checking into the Seton group of hospitals. I've touched base with the recruiter and am waiting to hear back. You made a comment about a non-profit being better... Out of curiosity, why is that?

abbabask · Jan 17, 2009

Well.. for-profit hospitals tend to nickel and dime their patients to death and skimp on every area possible in order to profit.. including nurses' salaries. You also tend to have to carry more patients per nurse as a cost-saving method. Non-profit hospitals, like Seton, usually have overall cost-saving programs instead, as opposed to raising prices and cutting paychecks, if that makes sense.. They're just usually better places to work for as a general statement. There's more focus on caring for the patients regardless of their ability to pay, and more focus on the employees and their happiness in their work environment.. namely because there's less emphasis on making as much money as possible. There's more to it than that, but those are the main things that come to mind!

XYnurse2B · Jan 17, 2009

Nice... I'm sitting herein West Virginia, freezing my A@@ off, day dreaming about Austin and getting more and more excited about the possibility of working within the Seton group. Seton almost sounds too good to be true, though there are plenty of people giving it it's due props!

FaLaLa134 · Jan 17, 2009

thanks so much for the info! i just applied and am working on my goals statement now!! do you have any idea how competitive the seton program is? should i go ahead and apply to st davids or other austin residencys?? (what other new grad programs are in austin besides seton/st davids??) THANKS!

abbabask · Jan 18, 2009

That's basically it, actually. Those are the 2 main hospital groups. There's a Scott & White up north I believe. Seton is the only network with a residency. St. Davids has a GN internship as well though. I would apply to both anyway and you can be the judge of the vibe you get. I'm sure there are great units to work for in St. Davids as well, and there are probably not so great units within Seton as well. That's just the overall vibe of the 2 networks.

Hope that helps!!

FaLaLa134 · Jan 18, 2009

last question: what do you know about the competitive nature of getting into the program and when do you find out if you're in!? i want to be sure to make other plans if this doesn't work out, and i asked the HR person when they typically let applicants know...and she didn't really have an answer!1

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Jan 19, 2009

Looks like I'd better get on the ball before all you carpetbaggers snag all the slots in Austin!

I'm kidding...kinda.

abbabask · Jan 19, 2009

Ok- about the competitiveness. It TOTALLY depends on your luck when you apply. I took a year off after I graduated to be with my new baby. At the time of my graduation, most of my friends that applied within Seton got the jobs they wanted and did the residency. But when I started applying a year later, it was kind of like "you're lucky to even get a slot, take what you can get". I don't know what it will be like when you apply. You may get lucky and the unit you want may have GN openings. It's all about timing!! I have a feeling it's generally that way though - you may not be able to start out in exactly the place you want to be. I would highly suggest just taking any position you can get within Seton and then you can move around after a year or so when your residency is over. They like you to stay 2 years in your unit since the Versant program is so expensive to put you through, but you don't have to sign anything and if you hate it where you are, you can always switch. I wanted L&D or peds and ended up in a Med/Tele unit. But it's okay! I'll end up in my favorite places eventually. You have such a long career ahead of you as a GN, get all the experience you can wherever you can and just have fun with it :)

IndiKast · Aug 12, 2010

I'd just like to say, as a native Austinite and soon to be RN, Austin is a flooded city. No shortage here. Competition is fierce. The $ isn't great simply because that's an Austin trait and always has been. And finally though the city is beautiful and a nice place to live, its really become pretty common in some respects because so many have come here from other places. Personally, I'm sure I'll leave at some point simple because I know there's better paying jobs elsewhere.