New to Nevada Nursing

jayrelic · Jun 10, 2005

Hello all! I am a recent BSN graduate from Colorado State. I moved here with my spouse and we now live in Las Vegas. I am looking for a new grad training program. It is interesting to me that in a city of this size how hard it is to find an employer willing to train a new grad. There is opportunities for new grads all over, but I can't find them here. I dont want to relocate because we have a lot of family we like to be close to here. I have a good base of nursing knowledge, but we all know there is only so much you can learn in nursing school. I have applied to 4 hospitals and a home health agency and so far only the home health agency and Sunrise have been willing to talk to me. One hospital said they do not hire new grads. Its almost as if everyone wants you wrapped up in a little box fully trained having every credential under the sun, but you got to start somewhere.
I have found that with the people who have responded to me they say they do not post their new grad positions? They mention to me that to get one you have to dig as I have been doing? Kind of makes me leery? As a new grad coming here is there anything I should be leery or concerned about? I dont want to sign a contract with someone and then find a horrible working environment, politics gone mad, high staff turnovers? I also am leery about what to ask about these things and not ask in my interview.
I thought that coming here there would be a lot of nursing opportunities for new grads, but there isn't or I am just not looking in the right places. I dont want to have my being naive and new to the profession murder me with the first job I take. My last job as an LPN was a nightmare, high staff turnover, the politics were horrible, and I was in training and the saying "nurses eat their young" happened a lot! There is a lot of nursing jobs here, but they all want experience. Experience I want to gain!
Also I am prepping for state boards? any advice would be great. I am taking Kaplan just trying to do the best I can.
Mr. Vegas RN

Hearing your story makes me worry a bit, so keep us posted. I"ll be relocating a year from now as a new RN. Good luck out there.

Twinkie1 · Jun 10, 2005

I just wanted to say hello and welcome to Vegas! :balloons:

I am a native of this great town. I am currently enrolled in a nursing program so I can't offer to much advice regarding employment.I hear that Sunrise is a good place to work.I also hear good things about St.Rose.

I wish you luck and hope you find a job you will enjoy!

Best Wishes :)

Twinkie

VegasRN · Jun 10, 2005

Thanks for your input guys. Dont take everything I say as gospel. Its just what I see so far. Remember I was an LPN in Colorado and I just moved here. There are probably resources out here I haven't found yet. my LPN job in Colorado was rough, I want a challenge and I want to learn. I am willing to admit when I am wrong, and I am not afraid to ask questions. I think if you have that attitude you will always be ok. I have a job interview with sunrise monday. I am sure they would not be hiring new grads into their program unless they had the means to be sure you were competent and ready by the end of it. I feel that in the long run once I figure it all out this will be a great place to work. There is a lot of work to be done here. I try to stay optimistic. Knowing many people come onto this site to vent a bad day they had. The fact is we all have bad days. We have a stressful profession. If you never take the bull by the horns and try even if its as scary as hell you will never know what you can do. I bet that those guys storming the beach at Normandy were scared to death, the odds against them surviving were huge, but some made it across! I will keep you all posted on my job search saga. I am sure that the same problems nurses face here are the same as what I dealt with in Colorado, the difference is I have learned how Colorado does things. I am still trying to figure out how to get to the grocery store here. If the job sounds legit I say "bring it on!"

good luck in school guys! thanks for the encouragement and help!

1Tulip · Jun 10, 2005

I find this curious. Up here in Reno, we hear that Vegas has a nurse-shortage worse than ours. (But maybe they just whine more. I don't know.) :chuckle You would think they would be snapping up anyone with a pulse and a Nevada license.

Up here they do advertise specifically for graduate nurses and (from what I understand) they put them into a pretty decent mentoring program. Not sure how the mentoring works, but at least they don't throw them to the wolves...the first week, anyway.

VegasRN · Jun 10, 2005

LOL I dont plan on pickin fights but I am going in to my interviews informed! That is the best I can do. and by doing so I hope no wool gets pulled over my eyes. I am excited to start my profession! Everyday I know I will learn something new.

I have considered moving to Reno, but I love Vegas. I am sure there is something out here for me just got to be patient.

:) Thanks for all the input. I will keep yall posted.

Guest43184 · Jun 11, 2005

I found the same thing when I first moved here (as far as hospitals not wanting to train new grads). Different contracts were involved in order to work at hospitals here and it was challenging trying to figure out where I might want to work. The bottom line was that I didn't want to sign on to something that I'd regret down the line (the shortest contract was 1yr for new grads at the hospitals I'd looked at). I came from Omaha, straight out of nursing school, and the hospitals there felt light years ahead of the ones here. I tend to think that a lot of that is b/c this city hasn't developed based on 'normal' city growth - so health care, education, etc aren't always first and foremost.

Coming from a city where new grads were relatively embraced and training programs were well-established, I expected at least a bit of that here...especially considering the shortage. I've heard so much about nurses being overworked here b/c of the huge need but the process of me applying and actually getting interviews here was long and a little tiring. I practically had to beat down the doors of recruiters at 2 hospitals and my applications was lost 4x at one HR and 2x at another (including the online form).

All I can offer is not to get too frustrated :) For me it felt like the doors were closing and I was being pushed in another direction so I pursued a 'dream'. I had been looking into a military commission before moving here and that's the route I chose. I do have friends who moonlight at UMC, St Rose, Mountain View, Desert Springs, Summerlin, agencies, home care, etc. I've heard good things about St Rose overall. There are some hospitals here that have a reputation for not being good to their people but I can't speak from experience. Good luck to you in your hunt!!

On a side note, my brothers are at CSU...Go Rams!

1Tulip · Jun 13, 2005

My daughter and i were watching some program on Discovery Heath that had been filmed at UMC's genuinely excellent ER. She is a medical student who has done Ob and Surg rotations at UMC. She says that the wards are terribly understaffed and before admitting a patient to the wards they have to pass the "Holiday Inn" test. That is, if this patient could survive a weekend at the Holiday Inn all by him/herself, then it was safe to put him/her on a ward at UMC.

She says that it is not the nurses, but the lack of them that is the problem. It must be heart-breaking to be a nurse in that situation.

Guest43184 · Jun 13, 2005

My daughter and i were watching some program on Discovery Heath that had been filmed at UMC's genuinely excellent ER. She is a medical student who has done Ob and Surg rotations at UMC. She says that the wards are terribly understaffed and before admitting a patient to the wards they have to pass the "Holiday Inn" test. That is, if this patient could survive a weekend at the Holiday Inn all by him/herself, then it was safe to put him/her on a ward at UMC.
She says that it is not the nurses, but the lack of them that is the problem. It must be heart-breaking to be a nurse in that situation.

I've heard very similar stories about UMC. I was very interested in working there as Omaha had 2 different Level I trauma centers and UMC is the only one we have here. I've also read the stories of UMC's trauma center nearly closing its doors 3yrs ago b/c of physician's concerns of the increasing liability risk. Obviously they managed to work out a plan but many facilities here have a reputation for needing more staff. I think LV health care needs time to catch up to the RAPID growth as it doesn't even seem the infrastructure can support the need...

I know I'm a bit scattered in my reply but I do feel so much empathy for the nurses, and various providers, working their tails off every day here

LynRN04 · Jun 23, 2005

Wow! After reading all the posts on how hard it is to find a job, I'm beginning to rethink my long-term career plan. I have family in Boulder City and Henderson, so I was planning to move to the area when my daughter graduates in 2007. I just finished a year on a busy Med/Surg floor, and am transferring to ICU in August. My plan was to work agency in Vegas for a year so I could find out more about the various hospitals before signing a contract. If it is that hard to find a job there, maybe I should just move to Kingman or even Phoenix. It's closer to Mom than I am now, anyway. What do y'all think? And BTW, where does everyone work? Any advice?

pie123 · Jul 7, 2005

Hello all! I am a recent BSN graduate from Colorado State. I moved here with my spouse and we now live in Las Vegas. I am looking for a new grad training program. It is interesting to me that in a city of this size how hard it is to find an employer willing to train a new grad. There is opportunities for new grads all over, but I can't find them here. I dont want to relocate because we have a lot of family we like to be close to here. I have a good base of nursing knowledge, but we all know there is only so much you can learn in nursing school. I have applied to 4 hospitals and a home health agency and so far only the home health agency and Sunrise have been willing to talk to me. One hospital said they do not hire new grads. Its almost as if everyone wants you wrapped up in a little box fully trained having every credential under the sun, but you got to start somewhere.
I have found that with the people who have responded to me they say they do not post their new grad positions? They mention to me that to get one you have to dig as I have been doing? Kind of makes me leery? As a new grad coming here is there anything I should be leery or concerned about? I dont want to sign a contract with someone and then find a horrible working environment, politics gone mad, high staff turnovers? I also am leery about what to ask about these things and not ask in my interview.
I thought that coming here there would be a lot of nursing opportunities for new grads, but there isn't or I am just not looking in the right places. I dont want to have my being naive and new to the profession murder me with the first job I take. My last job as an LPN was a nightmare, high staff turnover, the politics were horrible, and I was in training and the saying "nurses eat their young" happened a lot! There is a lot of nursing jobs here, but they all want experience. Experience I want to gain!
Also I am prepping for state boards? any advice would be great. I am taking Kaplan just trying to do the best I can.
Mr. Vegas RN

I live in Las Vegas. I applied at a new hospital & was told that I needed to apply at its sister hospital because they do not offer any training for new grads. I applied for positions at the sister hospitals, only to see in the job posting that at least 1 year of experience was required. WTF? Also, the entire time that I was in nursing school, there was ONE nurse manager from St. Rose Dominican ICU that came in to speak about her unit & encourage new grads to apply! I worked at St. Rose DeLima as a nurse apprentice (student nurse) and my nurse manager was busy going to places like Houston & Japan to recruit nurses...forget about the locals! One day, I ran into her in the hall & she told me, "I was supposed to go to UNLV today to speak with the 5th semester students about St. Rose, but the traffic is too bad, so I changed my mind." Now, I mentioned that I worked at St. Rose, so you might ask why I did not return. I did not pass NCLEX, so I spent time studying for it. Now, I am an RN, and I might go back to St. Rose, if they'll have me :). Good luck to you.

pie123 · Jul 7, 2005

Thanks for your input guys. Dont take everything I say as gospel. Its just what I see so far. Remember I was an LPN in Colorado and I just moved here. There are probably resources out here I haven't found yet. my LPN job in Colorado was rough, I want a challenge and I want to learn. I am willing to admit when I am wrong, and I am not afraid to ask questions. I think if you have that attitude you will always be ok. I have a job interview with sunrise monday. I am sure they would not be hiring new grads into their program unless they had the means to be sure you were competent and ready by the end of it. I feel that in the long run once I figure it all out this will be a great place to work. There is a lot of work to be done here. I try to stay optimistic. Knowing many people come onto this site to vent a bad day they had. The fact is we all have bad days. We have a stressful profession. If you never take the bull by the horns and try even if its as scary as hell you will never know what you can do. I bet that those guys storming the beach at Normandy were scared to death, the odds against them surviving were huge, but some made it across! I will keep you all posted on my job search saga. I am sure that the same problems nurses face here are the same as what I dealt with in Colorado, the difference is I have learned how Colorado does things. I am still trying to figure out how to get to the grocery store here. If the job sounds legit I say "bring it on!"
good luck in school guys! thanks for the encouragement and help!

I have an interview tomorrow with Spring Valley hospital, which is part of the Valley health system. I will keep you posted on how it goes. I have a list of questions given to my class by an awesome 4th semester instructor. They cover everything!