New Graduate Nurse Residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital

Nurses Residency

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Hello fellow nurses,

I am a new graduate nurse who was recently offered a New Graduate RN position at Brigham and Women's hospital (BWH) in Boston, MA. I am excited about this opportunity, but also have other job offers lined up, so I wanted to see if anyone on this website worked/works at BWH, and can shed some light regarding workplace environment.

1. Pro's of working at BWH?

2. Con's of working at BWH?

3. Opportunity for moving up to different specialities? Ex. Starting in med/surg, and moving up to ICU/Step down?

I also wanted to ask if there are other fellow new graduate nurses who will be starting their job in Boston this fall of 2022. I love to have a roommate(s) to decrease cost of living!

Thanks!

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Hi! 

I am starting at BWH in August and will be relocating as well! I have heard its a wonderful facility to work for, especially as a new nurse. Some colleagues have mentioned it is the better hospital for nurses in Boston. I believe you can move forward to ICU after a year or two of experience. 

When do you start? 

Best,

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I retired last year after working at BWH for 19 + years.

The Nurses just signed an MNA contract which has very good rates.

The pros are that you get a raise of 5% each year. You are working in one to the best hospitals in the USA. The hospital is a nursing magnet hospital. The new graduate program is well designed.  The benefits the hospital gives are great.

The cons, difficult place to get to work unless you take public transportation. While the union provides many protections, it is seniority based, plan on not getting your first choices for a vacation week for many years.

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Hello!

My tentative start date is August 22. However, I understand from the interview that they are flexible with start dates, and will work around NCLEX dates, relocation timing, etc. which I appreciate, so I plan on starting sometime during September, or early October instead. 

Thanks for your input! The reason I am asking is because I also have an offer from Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and I am just weighing my options. Having a hard time deciding, as both are very wonderful facilities. 

What unit were you hired for?

Thanks,

Aaron

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On 6/13/2022 at 1:27 PM, Ginger's Mom said:

I retired last year after working at BWH for 19 + years.

The Nurses just signed an MNA contract which has very good rates.

The pros are that you get a raise of 5% each year. You are working in one to the best hospitals in the USA. The hospital is a nursing magnet hospital. The new graduate program is well designed.  The benefits the hospital gives are great.

The cons, difficult place to get to work unless you take public transportation. While the union provides many protections, it is a seniority based, plan on not getting your first choices for a vacation week for many years.

19 years! Wow that is amazing. Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate it greatly.

I'm not too focused on vacation timings, I'll take it when I can. What I am really concerned about is how often they allow for overtime work? I also wanted to ask which medical plan you thought was the best, as they do offer many options, but as a new graduate nurse, I am not too experienced in navigating benefits. 

If I may ask, what unit did you work on, and what did you like best about working at BWH or that specific unit? Also did you feel supported by management, and feel that the patient to nurse ratio and working environment was safe for you?

Thank you!

Aaron

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Plenty of overtime, rumor has it they cap you 78 hours in one week.

My last position was in case management for the oncology units. The patient ratio was from 2-3 on oncology. Med Surg floors up to 4 patients.

The nurses neogiated for very cheap HMO plan thru Havard Pilgrim  which covers everything. I choose the standard plan  since my PCP 

was not listed and was happy with the standard insurance. Transferring after the program wil be easy.

As far as management they are pretty reasonable, but being in the union if you have any disagreements the union will assist 

 

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aaro said:

Hello!

My tentative start date is August 22. However, I understand from the interview that they are flexible with start dates, and will work around NCLEX dates, relocation timing, etc. which I appreciate, so I plan on starting sometime during September, or early October instead. 

Thanks for your input! The reason I am asking is because I also have an offer from Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and I am just weighing my options. Having a hard time deciding, as both are very wonderful facilities. 

What unit were you hired for?

Thanks,

Aaron

Hey Aaron! 

Congrats, that's really exciting. My start date is also August 22nd. They are really flexible and I may have to extend due to finding an apartment. Most leases run September 1st - August 31st because of all the colleges in the area. Have you started to look for apartments? 

I'm starting in the intermediate resource pool (PCU). It will be 13 week assignments throughout all their PCUs except for oncology. I'm super excited about this, it will offer a lot of experience and help me find my next step - transferring to ICU or finding a home unit. 

What unit are you starting on? 

Also, a coworker of mine has a friend that worked at a different Boston hospital for years and transferred to Brigham because of the management. My manager told me that nurses are highly valued at BWN, that it is more nurse driven versus provider driven, if that makes sense. 

Best, 

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On 6/13/2022 at 9:09 PM, Ginger's Mom said:

Plenty of overtime, rumor has it they cap you 78 hours in one week.

My last position was in case management for the oncology units. The patient ratio was from 2-3 on oncology. Med Surg floors up to 4 patients.

The nurses neogiated for very cheap HMO plan thru Havard Pilgrim  which covers everything. I choose the standard plan  since my PCP 

was not listed and was happy with the standard insurance. Transferring after the program wil be easy.

As far as management they are pretty reasonable, but being in the union if you have any disagreements the union will assist 

 

78 hours per week?!?! That's freakin awesome! Thank you. I also found out that starting October this year they will be raising the entire pay scale by about 5% more!

Thank you for letting me know Harvard Pilgrim is probably the best plan to go for, all of the tables really confused and gave me a headache!

How do you feel new graduate nurses are treated overall at BWH? I was accepted onto the Orthopedic/Trauma floor, but my end goal is to eventually be in the ICU. Does management frown upon career changes such as that, or are they supportive?

I'm very grateful to have an experienced nurse like you as a resource! Thank you again!

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Hey!

Thank you! Congratulations to you too! PCU, that is amazing, I sort of wish I got a job in the PCU, but I guess I should be happy I got anything at all! I have started looking for apartments, and the hunt has been rough, seeing how expensive rent is, but I have only been looking. I plan to make calls and set up tours or arrangements after I take (and hopefully pass) my NCLEX in July! Definitely thinking a mid-late September start date is the most possible/convenient for me. I heard September 1 should be avoided as that is when college students all begin their lease, and it is incredibly busy!

I was offered a job on the Orthopedic/Trauma unit. I believe it is med/surg with telemetry capabilities. I have a background in orthopedics and trauma with my preceptorship experience in nursing school (trauma), and my job as a CNA/PCA (ortho), so it was basically a perfect match, I'm happy about it.

That's awesome to hear about BWH! As I research more and more, I'm starting to be thankful that I got a job at BWH instead of MGH. I thought the prestige of MGH would mean working there would be awesome, but from what I've heard and read so far, that is apparently not the case. If you hear any other interesting things, or benefits that BWH offers, I'd appreciate if you would share them with me ?

Thanks!

Aaron L.

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I will! Also try to get a place rear the T so you can take it into work. I would prefer to have a place before Sept 1st but it just seems like it really narrows the options, so we will see! hopefully we get lucky! 

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Hello everyone!

I'm a Spanish RN currently in the process of taking the NCLEX and I'm curious about the job-hunting process. When you say you were offered a job, do you mean you applied through the careers website, LinkedIn or how did you do it?

The job-searching culture is so different in Spain and I wouldn't want to give a bad first impression. 

 

Thanks!

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Nanaisu said:

Hello everyone!

I'm a Spanish RN currently in the process of taking the NCLEX and I'm curious about the job-hunting process. When you say you were offered a job, do you mean you applied through the careers website, LinkedIn or how did you do it?

The job-searching culture is so different in Spain and I wouldn't want to give a bad first impression. 

 

Thanks!

Hi! I did both, I applied through their website and connected via Linkedin. You won't leave a bad impression, just go for it ? 

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