Critical Care - ICU - Kansas City - Good Hospitals

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Hi-

I am an RN with a BSN currently living in St. Louis. I will be moving to Kansas City in July. I have a year and a half experience in telemetry, ACLS certified, and I am looking to transition into critical care.

I would like to know:

1) What are the best hospitals in the area? I am looking at KU Hospital, St. Luke's, Menorah, Research Medical, and the KC VA - but I'm open to suggestions!

*** As a side note, I tried to call KU Hospital and they don't have a nurse recruiter or anyone I can speak to about employment. There are no job postings for RNs in ICU there. Does anyone know if they are hiring?

2) Do any of the hospitals offer critical care fellowship programs? If not, are they willing to train tele nurses to critical care?

3) Will I be able to work day shift?

4) What should I expect as far as pay/benefits?

Thanks in advance everyone!

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Specializes in MICU, neuro, orthotrauma.

I worked at St. Luke's for four years, on the neuroscience and later the ortho-trauma floors. I have since moved to another state, but when I come back I plan on working at St. Luke's again. It is a very well run facility. Level one trauma.

I was able to get to know a nurse rather well who was weekend nurse supervisor. ( I was weekend work, so we saw each other every single weekend) He had been in the MICU for a good long while before starting up as house sup, so I was able to learn alot from him about how the unit was run. It's the kind of ICU you want to learn ICU nursing in. The nurses are supportive of each other, especially on days, and welcome teaching. It's a teaching facility, and they are all interested in the process of learning. There is also an NSICU, a CCU and a CVICU, all of which I hear is a bit more tense, but full of challenging patients, which makes me jones for the experiences.

I started in MICU in my current city (in another wonderful unit) and can't wait to get back to KC, so I can work at St. Luke's again.

That said, the market is tough out there right now. I was just looking at KU, Truman and Luke's career pages and you're right, there isn't much listed. Still, if I were you, I would apply, because I remember that jobs were available that weren;t yet listed all of the time.

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Yeah, at St. Luke's right now all that is listed on their website are positions for med-surg float pool, surgical services, and for a radiology nurse. I'm not sure what I should do in this case as I do want to apply there but you have to apply for a certain position.....

Thanks for the info though!

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Specializes in emergency.

I would apply then went you go in for an interview with HR before the department and tell them what you are really interested. They may know of a position that they aren't advertising. You may have to work in a department that you really don't want to just to get your foot in the door and then transfer when there is an opening.

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I work in the CCU at Truman while it really isn't really ICU, it is an awesome place to be. Most people eventually leave the CCU for SI or MI as we are all under the same director. You get crosstrained in each of the ICU's regardless of where you work. I love Truman. I love the patient population and truly could not imagine being anywhere else. Certainly Truman has issues, budget being one of the main ones. That gets old but truly I just love so much about it. I also went to a med surg floor and the ER as a new grad and I also loved those as well. The ER was so great and I would love to work there eventually. No clue on pay for someone with experience. As a new grad in Jan I started at $21 and will get $3.50 more for nights. The have good benefits and anything you get done at Truman is 100% free. Which is nice.

Good Luck!

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Hi 4jen,

Are you still at Truman? I am a new grad and will be starting my orientation next week. I'll be working on 3 red and am so excited. Everyone I have spoken with there has been super nice. So needless to say, I'm am glad to be on board.

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I am still there and still loving it. Good Luck - you will do great. :)

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I'm also a new grad at Truman and was hired directly into the MICU.

I've done my Med-Surg rotation on 3 Blue and now I'm doing my ER rotation. I will say I LOVE being in the ER! I didnt have an ER rotation while in nursing school, so this is the first I'm getting to experience it. I was told since I'm going to the MICU, I can pick up extra hours in the ER after I get off orientation. I will think about doing that in the future.

That being said, I LOVE working at Truman! I love the patient population, I love the people I work with, and I love the working environment. It's a very supporting teaching environment, and I'm so glad I'm part of the team.

Good luck to everybody!

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The ER at Truman is awesome isn't it. I'm going to be in Tele for a while, but I may try to get down there in about a year. The nurses down there are awesome, especially Jamie. I was with her for 2 days and she is super sweet! I was expecting it to be different considering it is Level I trauma, but there weren't too many traumas the days I was there. Just a lot of frequent flyers.

I'm sure I'll see you around :)

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