Moving to Ft. Bragg area as NEW GRAD BSN- HELP ME? >.<

U.S.A. North Carolina

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Relocating from Ft. Stewart to Ft. Bragg somewhere around jan.30 - march 1, 2017. I graduated a couple of weeks ago with my BSN. I'm looking for a hospital within 30 (maaaaybe 45 minutes) of Bragg with a nurse residency program (hopefully in the ED) but one with a culture of mentorship. I'll take a slightly smaller check in a hospital that raises up strong new grads over one that is just looking to hire a warm body to care for 6-8 patients. So far i have applied to Cape Fear and First Health of the Carolinas - Moore - for their nurse residency programs bc that's all I have found so far. :/

If anything can someone give me the low down on local hospitals, residency programs, or units - the culture, benefits, salary, what you like and don't like, where I should avoid and why? Really any info you can give would be great. Thanks in advance for helping out a new nurse.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

Not much out that way. Everything is north (Raleigh-Durham) Tough area there. Cape Fear doesn't have the best reputation and everything else is small community hospitals. I live in Johnston County and I drive 45 minutes to Durham for my job. WakeMed is an hour plus.

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If you want ER, Cape Fear's residency program is what you make of it - it can be top notch if you want it to be. It's a 70+ bed ER at the main hospital on Owen Drive. You learn LOTS of stuff there that you won't see other places. The helicopter takes off regularly. It's very busy, but doable. Having gone through CFV med surg residency program, and then moved on to another hospital, I can tell you the education department there is top notch. The lady in charge of ER nurse residency did several overall trainings for us - she knew her stuff (like 5', black curly hair, her name escapes me but she was great!). It's a TOUGH program for all of their residencies, but you'll be able to take that education ANYWHERE you go. Be prepared, you usually are overworked and underpaid, but once you leave, you'll realize how much you learned.

Have you look at the base hospital? They don't have an ER I don't think.

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Well shoot,looks like I may be driving like I am now. Thanks for your input. Happy New Year

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I have driven by Womack they do have an ED but haven't posted any openings online.

Thanks for your two cents on CFV. I wish they had a better overall reputation, but the hospital where I work now sometimes gets a bad wrap even though we have great people (understaffing is a quick way to end up with unhappy patients) so maybe CFV isn't as bad as all the negative reviews it gets online.

I hope I hear back from them soon - proper training is my top priority. Thanks a bunch!

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