Introductions

I just wanted to say thank you, Brian, for starting this introductory post and I hope this turns out to be a wonderful forum for discussion. I am a BSU Nursing Student in my second year. I hope to find lots of useful information and plenty of feed back from others in Idaho.

this looks like a great way for us to keep in touch throughout the state -- Am currently working on a new unit in Boise -- 9WU @ St. Luke's -- It's the Women's Unit and should be unique to the area -- I look forward to seeing who posts replies and comments -- BTW -> Good luck @ BSU -- was a BSN graduate there this May -- great instructors.

I am originally from Montana but went to school in Nampa at Northwest Nazarene University and graduated in 2002. I was working in the CCU at St. Luke's in Boise but that is up in the air right now because of some ugly hospital politics. I love St. Luke's and really don't want ot work at any of the other hospitals in the valley so we'll see what happens.
Sue -- how many beds does 9W have? What kinds of patients do you guys have? (I know women, but are they mostly gynecological issues or lots of things or what?) Hopefully some of our colleagues will join us here!

Hello!
Anyone out there from anywhere north of Boise? I am way up north. I have noticed there are never a lot of positions advertised for Idaho jobs. Does your facility have not a lot of turn over, or not a lot of staff? Just curious.

There is fair amount of turnover. Right now there are about 25 positions open at St. Luke's. I don't see much abot the north end of the state though.

I just looked on the website for St. Lukes the other day and it depressed me. All I saw was that they were not taking new graduates. I still have a way to go, 3 more semesters for AS-RN (however you word that), but it's not very promising if no one wants to hire us when we do get done. I also just got my CNA and authorization to practice as a Nurse Apprentice, but it doesn't look hopeful for at this moment. I can't complain too bad though because I haven't looked that much. I applied at St. Als and downloaded the app for St. Lukes. I also applied at Elmore since I live in Mountain Home. Any advice?:stone

Don't get discouraged yet. They aren't hiring new grads right now, but they often do at the beginning of the year. I tried in August after graduation and had to wait until January to get on board. They are open to new grads, they just aren't hiring any at the moment probably because they have several already on board that they need to get trained first. Just keep after it. You'll find a job.

Thanks, that's encouraging. Like I said, I still have 3 semesters to go, but I did hope to find something as an Nurse Apprentice and that didn't look promising. On top of wanting to be a nurse all of my life, I felt this was a good choice for career after I read tons of articles on "the Nursing Shortage", then I look up on the website and they aren't hiring. It was scary. I do appreciate the encouragement.

Hi, everybody! This is Idaho Falls. Glad to see BSU people on, I got my RN at BSU "alot" of years ago! Not too many BSU people over here, most are ISU or Ricks (BYU-Idaho, now). The states forum is a great idea!

Hi,
I am glad to see that there is another nurse from I.F. (Idaho Falls) I do home Health but have spent most of my career since becoming a LVN/LPN doing LTC...just to much stress involved now with all the shortages and cut backs....alot less stress with home health and I can set my own hours which is really nice...I have been looking to up-grade to RN at some time......but not sure at this point.....Well take Care all......DJ :angel2:

9WU has 21 beds and is still looking for a staff -- we currently run a census around 10 -- yes the unit is mainly Gynecology, but we hope to expand that in the next few months --
One other hope for Students -- we do not hire new grads on our unit as of yet, but maybe by next fall we will.

I am from Idaho Falls, I work at Mountain View Hospital (yes, probably the most controversial hospital in the state if not the nation right now!) and, I love it!! It is the best place on earth to work. I work Labor and Delivery (for those of you that couldn't tell by my user name).