ro'smom

Nearly a month since my interview....still nothing. Anyone else hear anything?

I'm a new nurse, looked for a hospital job for almost a year, and then found work at an LTC in the sub-acute unit. I love my patients, and while I'm still planning to move into Med-Surg in a hospital, I'm grateful for this job. I'm learning a lot, and my co-workers are extremely supportive. It's been an interesting cultural immersion, because I'm an Anglo girl and literally 99% of the rest of the staff are Filipino. I've been treated very warmly, and am enjoying the experience--lots of laughter, kindness, and a fantastic work ethic. So I have a question for the Filipino nurses out there--I've noticed that there's a lot of polite forms of address in use--"Ate" for a female colleague, "Kuya" for a man--and I'm starting to feel as though I'm being rude when I address someone by just their bare name! Would it be considered weird or pretentious if I were to adopt these terms? I want to show respect. Thanks for any insights you might be able to offer!

I'm excited about this program. Looks super competitive but seems like a really great system of hospitals.

Anyone have any experience with Beverly Hospital in Montebello? I had an interview there for telemetry this week, looking for context. The HR and unit managers were all really nice, very warm and receptive. Anyone know what a new grad RN might expect to be offered in terms of pay? Thanks!

NurseRR, how did it go? What unit did you interview for? I got a voicemail today to schedule an interview in the ICU. Very excited!

Hey there. Just spoke to Nurse Recruitment. He said that some units are still making calls for interviews. He said that due to the high number of applicants (over 700) they are sticking to folks who had a senior preceptorship in the kind of units that are hiring. There are only 10 job openings total. ICU didn't request any new hires, so that leaves me out. Good luck to everyone else! The guy in Nurse Recruitment was very friendly and helpful, so if you have questions go ahead and call him.

I just called the Nurse Recruitment office, and the woman on the phone said that they've finished screening the applicants and that they're working with the units to see which ones will take new grads. She said they haven't started making calls to schedule interviews yet, which is weird, because people are reporting having gotten calls! So perhaps her info isn't up to date. Apparently the guy in the know is ---------, who was out of the office when I phoned.

Anyone know how many people they're planning to hire for the adult units?

Say, chansen, that's a really good response!

jl11, as far as I know there are not really any student discounts for BART or the trans-bay bus. Sometimes it's possible to buy large-value BART tickets for a slight discount, and I think they do have them for sale in the Student Center, but it's not much of a discount. Though of course, every penny helps. Another way to save money is to team up with another classmate to buy the book bundle; that way you can both use the online access codes, and one of you can buy the older versions of the textbooks online for much cheaper.

Hi all, I'm in my second semester at SFSU. Lots of my classmates commute in from all over the East Bay, some from much further away than Berkeley. If you can take public transit (BART), it's a bit less stressful than driving. Some people carpool together. However, bridge tolls and BART fares can really add up, so unless it's a lot cheaper for you to live in Berkeley, you might want to consider living in SF (I do.) I take public trans, drive, or ride my bike, depending on the day. It's really important to have reliable transportation for clinicals, too--even living here in SF, some of the sites are way across town from me, and shifts either start REALLY EARLY or end REALLY LATE. :) Anywho, congratulations everyone! It was a year ago that I got my acceptance letter, and I screamed, I was so happy.

It's about time! :) I am expiring with anticipation, here!

Afro81, I think the bigger question you need to consider is where you want to be living while in school--Chico is very laid back and much more inexpensive. It's also kind of out in the middle of farm country, so if it's important to you to be in or near a big city center, you may feel a bit isolated. It's by no means a tiny podunk town, however; there's lots to do, especially if you enjoy the outdoors. Have a look at a Google map of the area and figure out driving distances to other places you may want to visit during school. San Francisco is a fantastic city, with lots of everything--racial and cultural diversity, food food and more food, access to public transit, clubs, museums, proximity to airports, etc. It's also expensive, hard to park, and traffic can be very congested. I've heard great things about both nursing programs, so it may boil down to whether you prefer to live in a big city or a small city.

I'm currently volunteering at a mid-sized urban hospital, with two weekly shifts, one in emergency (which includes a small urgent care) and one in outpatient surgery. It's FANTASTIC. I've been there about six weeks now, and it's really giving me a close look at what nursing is like. I'm doing everything from running samples to the lab, bringing snacks, changing linens, holding hands while people get stitches out, entertaining small children, translating (I speak Spanish just well enough to be helpful) and in the outpatient surgery, the nurses have me taking vitals and removing IVs. At first I was wondering if I should have tried to volunteer at the big 'ol Level I trauma hospital in town, which is the most popular and hardest to get a shift in, but now I wonder if I'm not getting to do more stuff here because they're less busy and have more time to instruct me. All of the nurses I've worked with are friendly, helpful, instructive, and very appreciative. It's been great--I say get in there, show your willingness, and people will welcome your presence and teach you.

I got in for Fall at SFSU! I'm so excited, I just found out today!