Need Advice in So. Central PA

[jmallen]

York, PA area.... I am a stay at home mom that desparately wants a nursing degree, my dilema is this.....I need a job in order to help pay for school and all NA/Patient Care Tech jobs want experience. Those that don't, or that offer their own training(York Hospital) have been hard to get in to. I'm assuming they are giving the NA jobs to students at the local college. I've applied, but not been offered a position as of yet. I really want to just jump right in and am willing to work any shift in any department.

My question is this. Should I just attempt to get a non-nursing related job and go to school right away? If so, should I do a Practical Nursing program so that I am finished and can start working sooner or should I hold out and finish an RN - I'm not getting any younger.

Has anyone that's been in this situation got any advice?

[imenid37]

Try the Bretheren Home in New Oxford PA (they have a great reputation for pt.care in our area). They periodically have NA training programs. I think they pay for their staff for advancing their education in return for a work committment. Memorial Hospital in York used to advertise some kind of scholarship programs w/ their classified ads every week for nursing students, but I'm not sure if you already ned to be in a program. Doyou have other skills? Like could you start out as a receptionist/secretary or something else in the hospital, because they will often pay for college/nursing classes and as you get some further education, you could move into the pt. care area. My hospital pays for you to further your education if you are taking courses to do something else which is a job w/in the hospital. (ex.-nurse, rad tech, rep. therapy, etc). They give us up to $2500.00/year for full-time employees and pro-rated for part-time. Try Lancaster General too. I don't know anything specific about jobs there, but they do have an evening/weekend program for nursing and maybe if you worked there you could get a discount/assistance to attend nursing school there. Check the local papers and best of luck to you.

[slyhrtbt]

Another I would also recomend checking oout HACC lancaster for school's. They have a good RN program (I am in it) and are starting an LPN program in January. As far as a job I would recomend that you look at Nursing homes as most are always hiring and they will pay for your CNA training. I find that Being a CNA has helped a lot since I am in nursing school.

Best O' Luck

[LPN-n-2005]

As for getting a patient care technician job, I can offer you a few pieces of advice. Find two or three local area hospitals in your area and find out the Nurse Recruiters and their email and phone numbers. Go down and put in an application and then make a call to the Nurse Recruiters that you are interested in a NA/Patient Care Technician job. If you need experience try getting on with something secretarial such as a ward clerk or registrar. I called the Nurse Recruiter at my local area hospital and I got hooked up in no time with a patient care technician job. Hope this helps!!! :balloons: :roll