Hi all! Just became a NY RN!

Chloe'sinNYNow · Feb 12, 2008

I worked at AMC as a PCA in the NICU. I really enjoyed working there...I'm a nurse now but living down in florida. If i moved back to upstate i would def work at AMC.....learned so much there in the nicu even just being a PCA...

Nursingchick,

what skills does antepartum/pp bring to the table?

Are they electronically scanning w/ COWS?

Does AMC lock you into a contract?

I never even saw the NICU. Sure hope they give a better tour at Orientation! I feel like I'm walking in blind!

Chloe

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Feb 12, 2008

Nursingchick,
what skills does antepartum/pp bring to the table?
Are they electronically scanning w/ COWS?
Does AMC lock you into a contract?
I never even saw the NICU. Sure hope they give a better tour at Orientation! I feel like I'm walking in blind!
Chloe

Chloe, is there any way you could request a new precepter? Or talk to Human Services yourself so you can get an idea about what your job entails? You said you were hired to work in OB/GYN, am I correct? I think where you like to work is where you feel most comfortable. Unfortunately, I never got to after I got my license. Disability caught up with me. I just helped an elderly woman who I dearly loved feed herself, and walked her. Then I wrote a book. But during my clinical experience, and from being an EMT for 18 years, I loved the excitement of emergency nursing, and the fascinating things is saw in surgery, but I loved the baby area the best. Those little sweeties really touched my heart in a huge way.

I got my CPR instructor card in Albany, and Albany and Rochester (close by) are both fairly large cities. Hopefully, you will find your niche hon. I wish you success in your endeavor.

Chloe'sinNYNow · Feb 12, 2008

Well thanks Fran for your well wishes. But as I've written, I haven't even started orientation. Which means I'm not even in the facility yet. Still waiting. Apparently they offer orientation once a month?

So I have much to discover there. Right now, the parking is still difficult to figure out. Lots are filled and I'm supposed to know my shifts so I can get the right sticker for the right garage...OY vey!

I will be in the Birth areas tho. No ER here.

Chloe

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Feb 13, 2008

Yeah, parking is definitely a major problem in any city. When I moved to State College, I was shocked to see how expensive the parking was. I was used to either free or 10 cent parking in our rural part of New York. Now the Penn State campus is a nightmare for parking. I really feel sorry for the students who live in the outlying areas and don't have bus service; just their cars. They literally have no place to park unless they want to park in a downtown garage which probably will cost them a fortune.

May I suggest, since you havn't found your parking spot yet, and I feel your frustration at that, maybe for now just parking in a public garage? You know there is an underground mall right under the capital area, and there is an awesome museum called the New York State Museum if you're into that sort of thing and since you do have to wait.

Also, just across the River in Vermont, there are very beautiful sights to see. There are a lot of covered bridges, etc. I'm telling you about the freebies.

Chloe'sinNYNow · Feb 14, 2008

Aw Fran, you continue to try to help and it's not going unaknowledged, but you really have no idea how Albany is laid out. The Empire State Plaza that you speak of for parking is miles away and not free and certainly not easily accessible. The inbound 300,000 state workers are all competing for those spots and they work there!

I'll be sticking to the parking map that AMC handed out and doing the shuttle bus I guess.

As for the Vt tour, I'll definitely be heading there for R&R on my days off as I did when I lived here many years ago. This is G-d's country and it's beautiful, esp in the warmer months.

But I'm still curious if anyone knows how the comraderie is amongst the staff and how the chain of command gets along, etc...Are the benes good? Are nurses ever able to leave the floor for food, fresh air, a break???

Thanks all!

Chloe

:nurse:

RN-BSN, BA

candycane267 · Feb 15, 2008

the parking once you get the hang of it isnt that difficult. i work nights so i get to park in the main garage. days usually park behind the pharmacology school in what the call the notre dame lot. its a big hospital your unit usually becomes your world so to speak. i am eventually going to transfer to post partum or 23 hour surgical stay. i currently work on infectious diseases/aids treatmetn floor. plus our sister floor is the prison floor.

i am still getting used to the all units.

Nursingchicka21 · Feb 16, 2008

the parking once you get the hang of it isnt that difficult. i work nights so i get to park in the main garage. days usually park behind the pharmacology school in what the call the notre dame lot. its a big hospital your unit usually becomes your world so to speak. i am eventually going to transfer to post partum or 23 hour surgical stay. i currently work on infectious diseases/aids treatmetn floor. plus our sister floor is the prison floor.
i am still getting used to the all units.

i did clinicals on the ID/Aids floor and the prison floor....really really didn't like it....eeek

Jacobero · Mar 11, 2008

Albany Med is not unionized, but many in Capital District are not. I know that Ellis in Schenectady is.

Parking: employees part off site during the day, and take a shuttle in. Plan for 10-15 min on your commute time. There is a parking garage for visitors, and certain staff, and I belive that night workers can use the garage.

Benefits: Medical for a single person is cheap, think that it is an HMO, where you use Albany Med services first. Not entirely sure. Dental used to be Delta Dental and was $40/family. I was a tech when I worked there, and didn't bother with the medical as was covered by my husbands insurance.

The units tend to work well together inside themselves, there is some inter-unit bickering. Everyone think they're the smartest and provide the best care :) Most of the units are pretty specialized....the 6th floor is all OB/GYN, L&D, mother baby, and gyn surg and antepartum. 5th floor is vascular surg, neuro, and pulmonary/renal (used to work there). There is a MICU, SICU, PICU, NICU, HTU (heart transplant unit), and CPS (Cardio-pulmonary services). There is a renal transplant unit (worked there too), and a locked unit, a blood/cancer disorder unit, a cardio-thoracic surg unit (c8), two ortho (at least when I last worked there) units.

I know that figuring out who to call doc wise was confusing for some, since there are residents, interns, fellows and attendings. I never figured out the system, but I never really had to either as a tech :)

Phlebotomy, Resp thrapy, EKG are centralized, and pt's usually leave the floor for dialysis and go to C2. I don't know about computer charting, but know that meds are scanned/computerized MAR's.

Pay is comparable to other hospitals. Most of the time AMC is compared to St. Peters (which is right down the street). I was offered a position recental at AMC and they offered me $22.80 as an RN3.

A colleugue that works there told me that recently the tuition reimbursemet was increased to $2500/year.

If you have any more questions, I'll check in. Hope this infor helps!

Chloe'sinNYNow · Mar 11, 2008

Wow Nursing Nurse,

all good info and then some!! I didn't realize that RN III was just shy of RN II. Interesting. Thank gawd for the differentials and PEP incentive pay!

I'm guessing fr your ID that you work as a OB/Gyn nurse?

What'd you like best about AMC?

Worst?

Where are you now and how would you compare?

Thanks so much!! Great info here.

Chloe

Jacobero · Mar 12, 2008

Actually, no...I currently am transitioning from pulmonary/med-surg to the NICU.

I go by nursing nurse because when I registerd for this site, I was breastfeeding my daughter (we nursed for 2 years), and it's kind of a silly joke in our family that I'm a nurse that was nursing (a baby, that is...). Although I honestly would love to work in OB/GYN and still might someday after the NICU wears me out :)

Right now I work down the street at St. Peter's a like it. It's smaller, but it's not a small hospital...we have around 450 beds (that's an estimate). Our ICU is smaller, don't think that there is as much specialization among the floors. Cardiac stuff is the big thing. I think pay wise we might be just slightly higher, and I really mean just slightly. Benefits are about the same. It's a werid place, becuase it has a community hospital feel without actually being a community hospital, if that makes sense.

Best thing about AMC is that one will really be able to learn alot there, and if you don't like the floor you're on, it's not a big deal to find something else. They have a very well organized, regimented orientation program that I think more hosptials should follow. Once you have some expirience there, you'll be able to get a job anywhere.

Worst might be all the interns/residents floating around. A close friend of mine that is working there feels that she spends alot of time chasing people down for stuff and trying to figure out who to call is frustrating for her, but she's fairly new there as well.

I turned down the position there because even though they offered me more money for my base rate, the differentials there are a flat rate, where at my hosptial we do ours as a percentage of your base pay. So I'd make more working where I am now, because of the way that shift differentials are calculated.

I'm really sure that you will like albany med, and will find that you will learn alot. There are ton of opportunities to train/learn and alot of additional classes that they offer at a low cost to employees. I actually paid to go to a conference that they put on and it was really work the $150 for all the CEU's I got in one day.

Good luck!

Chloe'sinNYNow · Mar 13, 2008

Best thing about AMC is that one will really be able to learn alot there, and if you don't like the floor you're on, it's not a big deal to find something else. They have a very well organized, regimented orientation program that I think more hosptials should follow. Once you have some expirience there, you'll be able to get a job anywhere.
Worst might be all the interns/residents floating around. A close friend of mine that is working there feels that she spends alot of time chasing people down for stuff and trying to figure out who to call is frustrating for her, but she's fairly new there as well.
Good luck!

Nursing Nurse,

thanks for all your input. After a couple of weeks on the unit, and orientation, I can say that I agree w/ your friend who c/o the interns and residents and awful paging system there and trying to figure out who you should call for what, but must say that the orientation there SUCKS!

Sorry to be blunt, but I've had my schedule so mangled, so many times and changed in so many ways. Too many people giving incorrect info, and too much paperwork w/ untimely follow up...But once I finally understand my job, and can do my job w/out having to worry about procedure check offs and validations and judgement, I think I might actually like it there.

Hermance, thank you for your input about the parking. I understand it now, and LOVE the shuttle service!!! I"m gonna miss that when I go nights.

Time to make dinner now so I can crash in another couple of hours! :clown:

Chloe

:nurse:

RN-BSN, BA

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2008

It's good to hear from you!

I'm glad things are finally working out. Seems like Year One of nursing is some sort of a hazing, doesn't it?