Frederick Memorial Hospital

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Hi ladies!

I will (believing in prayer) be starting school in September in pursuit of my BSN. My goal is to move to Urbana and work at the NICU at FMH. I'm so excited because I just heard that FMH just got upgraded to a level 3 NICU!! Many of my friends feel that I should travel to DC or Rockville for better pay but that's not my goal. The reason I want to work there is because I LIKE the hospital. I want to work close to my daughter's daycare and simply stay in the Frederick area. Helping people and being close to home is what I want to do.

I just want to know what the turnover is like there? The reason for my asking is weird because I'm at least two years away from applying but I'm praying that there will be room for me by then. I know hood college just started an RN program about two years ago to help get more BSN's. Have you ladies seen a big increase in nurses in the last couple of years?

Also, has it been very difficult to get into the NICU in the past? I can only imagine how much harder it will be now! May I also ask what the benefits are like and how are new grads treated there?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!:) Sorry, I just realized my post is just rambling all over the place.

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Hi Simplyblessed,

I am excited to see that you will be starting your BSN in the fall... Good for you.. Is this a second career for you?

As a nurse that went straight into a specialty as a new grad I have to tell you that when it comes down to job options you will not have many. So the best thing to do will be to keep an open mind, keep your options open and take an offer that gets you though the door. Then get your experience and reevaluate in two years or so.

You can PM with questions or concerns. I would love to chat with you further if you like.

Ciao,

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Specializes in Psych.

Hey there, I have just graduated from Frederick Community College and almost all our clinicals were done at FMH. I didn't get to spend a ton of time in NICU, but its my understanding that it is a pretty low turnover unit. As far as I know, they do not hire new grads. In fact, of my classmates who now work there (I think 3) 2 of them were techs before they were hired. I would really like to work there and have put in a gazillion applications, have gotten one interview. They generally don't take new grads into specialities. Within the past few years, they have been hiring new grads onto the med/surg floors. I don't know if the job market will change by the time you graduate, but since you are looking at living in Urbana, Shady Grove Adventist has a pretty busy NICU, not sure if they hire new grads or not. Holy Cross is also going to be building a new hospital in Germantown as well, but I don't know when its projected to open.

As far as nursing programs here in Frederick County go, FCC is the only one that's turning out new nurses. FCC graduates about 50ish in the Spring, 30ish in the Fall. We graduated 29 people this Dec. Hood's program for now is strictly RN to BSN, and FMH does have a partnership with them because they are going for Magnet right now.

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Hi Ladies, thanks so much for the input, I really appreciate it. @ Ilovenursing, yes it is a career change for me, but it's the one I should have started with from the start. Finances got in the way and I had to stabilize myself first.:)

I didn't realize FCC was the only one cranking out nurses right now. I am aware of the Holy Cross opening the new hospital in Germantown. I think they're going to have a contract with Montgomery College since the hospital will be built on their campus I think?

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@ Ilovenursing, I tried to PM you but your box was full. :-)

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Hi Simplybest!I cleared some space.. Try again :-)

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Hi! I just tried it's giving me the same message. I'll give it a few minutes, maybe the server needs to reset or something. I'll close my browser and try again.

But I did receive your message though! Weird

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I sent it, let me know if you got it. :-)

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I'm excited about the Germantown Holy Cross. Even if they have agreements with Montgomery college, they will need graduates from elsewhere.

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@ Leenak, I'm excited about it too. Your totally right about needing other graduates and I really hope it will open a lot of doors for RN jobs in Mo County.

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Hi Simplyblessed,

If you want to work at FMH or another major hospital I would recommend just going straight for your BSN. I am about to graduate from Towson University's BSN program but from the campus in hagerstown, md which is about 30 minutes from FMH. If you want to save money and stay in the urbana area I would do your pre-reqs at frederick community college then transfer to the Universities Systems of Maryland Building in Hagerstown so you can get your BSN from Towson. I'm not knocking the community college route but I think that if you want a better chance to get a job I would go to Towson because you will have your BSN. The teachers and students in Hagerstown are amazing and right now we have a 100% pass rate with the NCLEX.

Hope this helps

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Hi TUNurseStudent,

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! I'm actually in a BSN program, and will have it by the time we move down to Maryland. I didn't even know Towson had a program in Hagerstown, that's terrific!

Thanks for the info.

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