How to get into hospital?

[anurse5yrs]

I graduated from nursing school with an RN in July 2005. Landed hospital job, but hospital told me to go out and get more experience. Since March 2006, I have worked with a peds pt in the home for close to 4 years and 2 geriatric pts for almost a year now in the home. While I have gained experience, I feel I am lacking needed hospital experience. I am wondering if any of you fine nurse out there have any suggestions? Should I take a refresher course? Do you know of any of state of Washington? Thank you, I would really like to get into a good hospital job and do well at it!

[CVmursenary]

your gonna have to go into the hospital and introduce yourself to unit managers, be bold.

[Crux1024]

Firstly, did you try opening the door?

Ok, so all joking aside, I think a refresher course would make you more marketable and woule perk up your resume. Yes, you have experience, however it is very specialized and may be of little use in the hospital (depending on what unit youre most interested in).

Go to job fairs, if youre able. Check out the internet postings in your area and see what theyre looking for ie like requiring ACLS?

Good Luck with your search.

[OttawaRPN]

DO NOT go to the floors and introduce yourself to unit managers, they do not have the time to speak with you and you'll become hit listed quickly.

If you personally know some employees, have them put in a good word for you, but that's as far in the door you need to get. Otherwise, just keep applying to all available positions and keep racking up any/all experience in the meantime.

[anangelsmommy, ADN, BSN, RN]

so you actually had the job and THEN they told you to go out and get more experience, instead of giving you the training? OUCH...did they feel they had somehow miscalculated your experience when they hired you? I guess there wasnt any way to get some on the job training? that would have been my input but i realize it is too late. There are some hospitals where I live that have internships / preceptorships but usually they are for new grads and not always paid positions, they are very competitive. I would see about the refresher courses and also see what other courses you can take to make yourself more marketable, if there is an area that you are interested in, then there might be required certs for that job that you could get instead of waiting for an employer to pay for them. it would give you a real edge on getting that job....Do you just want Med surge? how about taking a skills refresher course and an iv training course?

angels mommy