Need Advice: First Hospital Job as a PCT!

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Hey guys,

As the titles suggests, I just landed my first hospital job as a Patient Care Technician!

Some back story... I am a 20 year old Nursing major. (Not in program, just doing pre-reqs with my major as "Nursing"). My future goal is to be an ARNP. Two months ago I got my HHA, CNA, EKG, Phlebotomy & CPR certifications at a technical school. (I test next Friday for my CNA License). I have spent the last two months working for an agency in home health. It was okay, but I decided to step it up and go for a hospital position. I applied to like 10 places, and got three calls back for interviews. I went to two of the interviews, and got offers from both (surprisingly).

First, I accepted the offer from Hospital A, and when I called Hospital B to decline their offer, Hospital B wanted to know what Hospital A had offered me.. I told them, and they made me a higher offer! So I took Hospital B's second offer. It's a little higher than average for the area, and it's full-time day shift with great benefits! I am so stoked.

With no prior hospital experience, I am worried about my technical skills. Mostly worried about taking blood, and manual b/p. In school we only had 4 days to practice doing venipunctures on our classmates. Some veins I got easily, others I never got.

Just being on the hospital floor makes me nervous. I am worried about being able to keep up with the fast paced routine and time management. Is there ANY advice you can offer? Whether you're a CNA, PCT, LPN, RN, or whatever it doesn't matter.

***It's a 20 bed Neuro-Telemetry Unit. My preceptor-ship will only be 2 weeks long! (The other hospital, whose offer I declined, offered 6-8 weeks...). Also, this floor usually only hires PCTs with 2 yrs acute care experience. They only gave me the interview because I'm a nursing major (that's what HR said) And that makes me more nervous ****

1. If you could go back in time to when you started your first hospital job, what advice would you give yourself?

2. If you're a Nurse, what do you wish to see from your PCT/CNAs? (Or NOT wish to see?)

3. Are there any common mistakes that I can try to avoid?

4. Any tips specifically for drawing blood?

5. Is a 2 week preceptor-ship long enough for someone like me? I hoped it would be longer..

6. Anything else you can think of... Thank you in advance!

And thank you for reading this mini-novel! I just REALLY want to be great at this. It's important to me because I feel that this is the start of the rest of my career.

By the way, Orientation starts September 12th!! :) Helppppp

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Practice makes perfect! Any skills that you have make sure that you stay somewhere you can continue to use them. I haven't drawn blood in years now and I suck horribly. If you stay a PCT you may have a better chance (not guaranteed, but better) of getting an RN job later as you will be labeled an internal candidate. Hope some of this helps :)

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