CCAC Allegheny Evening ICU clinical opportunities?

carbon86 · May 9, 2014

Your best bet would be to get a PCT position at UPMC. You may not get a position in the ICU but you will at least get your foot in the door.

wmr5 · May 10, 2014

Thank you for the information carbon86.

wmr5 · May 10, 2014

Thank you for the information carbon86. I'm also searching for info about any insight into the specific clinical opportunities within the program, do you by any chance know what areas are covered and where they are? Or are they different for each semester based on availability and faculty? I am currently an EMT/prehospital healthcare provider for UPMC "occasionally " on the weekends, full time biomedical research tech Mon. thru Fri., and of course will be a nursing student evenings and weekends moving forward. I will go speak with someone next week at UPMC regarding your suggestion and see if I can arrange something within the critical care units though. Hope all is well and thanks for your comments, please keep them coming. I also hope to hear from current students, experienced nurses and any of the guests who have anything to contribute; please create an allnurses account and share your experience, no matter what it may be. It might very well be the best option for myself and others. Carbon86, you are already one year into the program, correct? Boyce fall 2013 start I believe. Are you happy with the program?

carbon86 · May 11, 2014

I love CCAC's nursing program. The instructors that I have had thus far are excellent. Each and everyone brings something new and unique to the table. You are not going to have much say as far as where your clinical locations are as its pretty much luck of the draw (they do a lottery) but I have yet to have a clinical instructor that wasn't excellent. Take every clinical experience for what it's worth, you may think you want to be an ICU nurse now but don't be surprised if that changes.

Mizz1371 · May 11, 2014

I second what Carbon said about doing whatever to try and get into an icu Pct position over the next two years in your program for the experience, the connections and to make sure you truly want ICU. Just graduated from allegheny evening last night and unless you luck out you will most likely not see an ICU except for shadowing during a day or two in NUR 240 or if you are lucky enough to get *randomly* picked for ICU for your internship. They will not put you where you want, I have a degree in Emergency Medicine from Pitt/CEM and after begging and pleading still couldnt get into the ED for Nur 250(transitions). Everyone changes their mind during the program so keep your options open and enjoy the experiences. The only ICU I went to was montifiore transplant icu and half the floor was hired as a brand new grad so that might be something to look into.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · May 12, 2014

If you are an EMT, then you would be eligible to apply for jobs at local ER's as an ER tech. While not ICU, depending on the ER you get into you may see a lot of critical pts, and will also get experience placing IV's, participating to codes, etc.

wmr5 · May 12, 2014

Hmm, a lottery system...random...I am empathetic for you Mizz1371; and for myself of course. I rarely get what I want in a "lottery" from my experience. :arghh: I guess I will just have to go with what I get then; being proactive about either an ICU PCT, or ER Tech position. I will look into Montefiore as well, I know a surgeon and a liver transplant fellow who work at both Presby and Montefiore I can talk with today.

ChristineN, thank you for the insight. I spoke with the Head ER Tech about a year ago and he said that the unit was full at the time, the nurses and doctors call the ER Techs "Barneys" because of their distinct purple scrubs. I will also pay him a visit. Mizz1371, have you applied for jobs yet as an RN in the ED? What is the market like from your experience in the Allegheny program and word of mouth from other students and RNs in all fields?

ChristineN, I have 2 friends who are CRNAs and they love it. They say I would make an excellent CRNA with my biomedical background, analytical skills, fun personality, etc... I am taking the stance to build on the foundation of nursing and place myself in a position to "be able" to pursue that goal if and when I feel that taking that step is what I want. Meaning, first I need to learn how to be a good RN regardless of where I am in the field, and then get the experience necessary to pursue that goal "if and when" I make that choice. Does that sound premature to those who are already tenured RNs? I am constantly reading comments stating,"how do you know you want to be an ICU nurse, or ER nurse, or a nurse mid-wife for example (which is not on my radar)?" Other comments like, "Nursing is not for everybody, it takes a special kind of person" etc... Yet, I feel that getting those pre-requisite years completed, regardless the difficulty, hours, friendly and/or miserable coworkers, extreme stress, or redundancy will only give me the insight into whether I enjoy it and/or will excel in that environment.

This is my goal, it makes perfect sense to me, any thoughts regarding my plan? I've heard that announcing my intensions of possibly pursuing a CRNA at this stage is not what any of the RNs in ICU want to hear. But I do want to make it clear that learning how to be the best ICU nurse, or even more clearly, learning how to be the best nurse I can in any setting, is my first goal. Focusing on what I already know from the 180+ hours shadowing experience I have with CRNAs, as well as my friends motivating me, is currently my bulk of knowledge and experience with nurses; I also have many friends who are nurses in Telemetry, GI, and Oncology. I have seen 4 CRNAs in action for many hours and can see myself doing this very clearly.

I have also read that many CRNA programs do not consider the ED as strong clinical experience on applications, yet I also really enjoy my time in EMS. I am choosing to get the prereq years in ICU and then see if I'm still excited about becoming a CRNA or if I enjoy assessing patients so much to advance to a DNP. Let me know if you have heard this strategy before, or what your thoughts are in general; if you do not mind. I want to be prepared for any comments from faculty or fellow nurses moving forward regarding this stance.

wmr5 · May 12, 2014

Ok, just spoke with the liver transplant fellow and he did say that many ICU nurse managers do not like to hear that your reason for becoming an ICU nurse is for the purpose of becoming a CRNA, because, for one it takes the hospital and unit nurses months and approx. $50,000 dollars to train a new nurse how to be a good ICU nurse. They, perhaps, do not want to go through all of this to see a well trained nurse leave in 2 years after the prereq is met. He also said that it is, on the other hand, a win-win for both parties being that many ICU nurses come and go and many nurse managers see some of these positions as a rotating door; "everybody can be replaced" and some units nurse managers know that a percentage of all staff will explore other pastures so to speak. He said it is a game that everybody plays, even in residency and fellowships for GI for example; meaning they interview on the pretence to do research in internal medicine and then get into the best fellowship for GI down the road based on the internal medicine research background, ultimately focusing on more clinical time and less research as a GI, "scoping for dollars" in the end.

So, I will focus on just becoming a very good ICU nurse, and show both appreciation and respect to the nurses I have the opportunity to learn from. After I have done my time and paid my debt to the department that took the time to train me and gave me the opportunity to learn and treat patients in the ICU; I will then revisit this concern. I feel that is the only way to accomplish this goal moving forward while being honest and respectful. This could very well be much longer than the 2 year prereq, which is perfectly fine with me; "if you take the time to do something, take the time to do it right!"

ChristineN, BSN, RN · May 13, 2014

Hmm, a lottery system...random...I am empathetic for you Mizz1371; and for myself of course. I rarely get what I want in a "lottery" from my experience. I guess I will just have to go with what I get then; being proactive about either an ICU PCT, or ER Tech position. I will look into Montefiore as well, I know a surgeon and a liver transplant fellow who work at both Presby and Montefiore I can talk with today.
ChristineN, thank you for the insight. I spoke with the Head ER Tech about a year ago and he said that the unit was full at the time, the nurses and doctors call the ER Techs "Barneys" because of their distinct purple scrubs. I will also pay him a visit. Mizz1371, have you applied for jobs yet as an RN in the ED? What is the market like from your experience in the Allegheny program and word of mouth from other students and RNs in all fields?
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Head ER tech where? Every hospital in the city utilizes ER techs so if you are holding out for Presby, yeah you might be waiting, but you could use your time wisely and look for opportunities elsewhere including AGH (which is a Level 1), or other hospitals in the city Children's (Level 1), Shadyside (major cardiac center), etc. You will get great experience that will look good on a new grad resume anywhere

I did not graduate from CCAC, but from another nursing program in Pgh. Back when I graduated nursing students had their pick of jobs, including ICU. I have heard that positions are more competitive now, but obviously anything you can do now to set yourself apart from your classmates helps

wmr5 · May 13, 2014

Thanks for the feedback. Presby ER was the place. I first spoke to the ER attending about volunteering as an ER Tech. He looked at me in my lab coat (I work in a research lab in Scaife and just walked down with a friend who is an Internist attending at Presby) and he said, "You want to volunteer as a Barney?", I just looked at my friend in confusion...he then directed me to the nurse manager, who then pointed me to the "Head ER tech", an older gentleman who stated that all the positions were full and to speak with the nursing manager next month or so. I never made it back down to follow-up; tried to pursue a artificial heart unit as well.

I will check West Penn, AGH, Shadyside, Presby, etc. for something; unfortunately I can only commit as a volunteer because I am booked-up throughout this endeavor: all week 8-4 pm at PITT, weekday evenings for classes/weekday evening clinicals/study time and weekend clinicals and study time. Whatever I can do, I will. Keep the suggestions coming. :up:

ChristineN, BSN, RN · May 13, 2014

Thanks for the feedback. Presby ER was the place. I first spoke to the ER attending about volunteering as an ER Tech. He looked at me in my lab coat (I work in a research lab in Scaife and just walked down with a friend who is an Internist attending at Presby) and he said, "You want to volunteer as a Barney?", I just looked at my friend in confusion...he then directed me to the nurse manager, who then pointed me to the "Head ER tech", an older gentleman who stated that all the positions were full and to speak with the nursing manager next month or so. I never made it back down to follow-up; tried to pursue a artificial heart unit as well.
I will check West Penn, AGH, Shadyside, Presby, etc. for something; unfortunately I can only commit as a volunteer because I am booked-up throughout this endeavor: all week 8-4 pm at PITT, weekday evenings for classes/weekday evening clinicals/study time and weekend clinicals and study time. Whatever I can do, I will. Keep the suggestions coming.

Keep your eyes open on the hospital's job listing sites for positions that are "casual" or "PRN" these are positions where you get paid, but are only required to work 2-3 days/month. You don't get benefits, so you do get paid at a higher rate that regular full or part-time staff.